Softball: Rare feat for Ellis Park

Ellis Park saved its best for last with a rare win under tiebreaker rules over Dodgers on Saturday.

All four games on the penultimate day of pre-Christmas softball featured teams coming from behind to win.

Ellis Park staged a furious comeback against Saints, then held its nerve in a sudden-death eighth inning, to win 8-7.

Tiebreaker rules feature an automatic man on base, meaning one safe hit can be all that is needed for victory.

Dodgers went three up, three down, leaving Ellis Park with a golden opportunity. Mark Christian duly singled, advancing runner Will Meiklejohn, who then scored on an error to win the game.

Dodgers would have been stunned after throwing away a 7-1 lead after four innings. Their best inning was the third, with a four-run blast featuring a Cam Watts two-RBI single, while Jamie Robinson tripled in the fourth.

But Ellis Park is made of tough stuff. The comeback began with a Ryan Williams RBI double and a Mark Christian RBI double, before Williams came back to the plate for an RBI single.

Suddenly, it was 7-6, leaving Mark Ludlow to bring home Adam Mathieson with a clutch hit in the bottom of the seventh that led to the tiebreaker.

Dodgers also squandered a lead in their other game, an 8-4 loss to Saints.

Dodgers led 4-2 after the top of the fourth, Robinson powering the offence with a walk, a steal, a run and an RBI single.

But Saints scored three runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings, capitalising on errors and the stellar batting of Lachie Brensell (two doubles, single).

Saints made it a double for the day with an 8-1 win over Cardinals.

Cardinals led 1-0 but Morgan King sparked a Saints rally with a two-run homer in the second inning.

Tim Howard added a two-RBI single in the fourth as Saints finished strongly.

Cardinals wrapped up the day of comebacks by beating Ellis Park 5-2.

Ryan Williams' two-RBI single in the first inning gave Ellis Park the early lead, but the rest of the game was dominated by Cardinals' batting and a rare error-free fielding performance.

Crete Whaanga hit a clutch RBI double in the fourth with two strikes and two outs, Glenn Forrester doubled and reached home on errors, and Jacob Wedlock completed the scoring with a two-RBI double.