Softball: The Saints go marching in

Mark Ahlfeld belted a grand slam home run to lead the Saints to a 14-10 win against the Dodgers in Dunedin premier club softball on Saturday.

Ahlfeld came to the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning with the scores tied 10-10 and team-mates Sam Jones (walk), Michael Crowley (single) and Tim Howard (intentional walk) on base.

Ahlfeld fouled off his first ball but then connected sweetly with a pitch from Scott Cartwright to clear the fence and win the game in the grandest possible style.

Earlier, Howard had squared the game at 2-2 after the first inning with his own two-run blast off promising pitcher Ben Watts.

The Saints pushed ahead with seven runs, including a two-run Crowley homer, at the bottom of the second, as the Dodgers started to commit errors.

The Dodgers rebounded with four runs at the top of the fourth before Travis McIntosh led off the fourth inning for the Saints with a home run.

Cartwright then struck out two batters before the Saints onslaught.

Ellis Park could not produce quite the same level of offence but won the day's two other games, against the Dodgers (2-1) and the Cardinals (7-1).

It was 0-0 in the first game after three innings and BJ Taylor actually put the Dodgers in front with a homer at the top of the fourth.

Steady Ellis Park offence produced the winning two runs at the foot of the inning.

The Cardinals took a one-run lead in the final game with a Ben Steele homer at the top of the second.

But Ellis Park belted four runs at the bottom of the inning and added three more, including a Cody Clark two-run homer, at the bottom of the fourth.