One of the more disrupted Dunedin club seasons in recent memories will come to a close with the Champions Cup today.
Dodgers and Cardinals will play twice at Ellis Park for the traditional season-ending cup, and will play a third game next week only if necessary.
Cardinals have already banked the regular-season title with an imposing 15-3 record, ahead of Dodgers (12-6), Saints (5-13) and the Central Otago Panthers (1-11).
The usual issues - weather, and tournament clashes - affected the premier grade this summer but the bigger problem is player numbers.
Ellis Park pulled out before the season started, Saints just managed to cobble together a team, and the Panthers made a promising start before making a premature exit from the competition.
''It's been pretty messy, really,'' Otago Softball boss Jill Johnson said yesterday.
''We've very much had an up-and-down season.''
Softball, like other traditional summer sports, is battling to keep senior players in the game, and Johnson wants her organisation and the clubs to get proactive to keep the top grade going.
''I don't know what it is, but it seems to be happening right across the board.
''Obviously, people have so many other commitments these days. I know work commitments have changed things for a lot of our players.
''We really need to look at next season and where we're at. We'll hopefully be back to four teams for the whole season.''
Lower down, things are looking reasonably healthy. A competitive Dunedin reserve grade had 10 teams, and junior numbers are strong.
Dunedin is hosting the South Island division two secondary schools tournament, with 10 boys teams, from Tuesday to Friday next week.
Dunedin softball
Champions Cup
Game 1: 1pm.
Game 2: 3pm.
- Both games today at Ellis Park.
