Softball: Big-hitting Saints game away from club premiership

Star batters Michael Crowley, Tim Howard and Michael O'Neill hold the key to the Saints' chances in today's Dunedin premier club final at Ellis Park.

The Saints will face the winner of the major semifinal between the Dodgers, the defending champion, and Ellis Park in a best-of-three final series.

Saints captain Mark Ahlfeld hopes his line-up will continue the hot form it has shown in the post-Christmas leg of the competition.

"We've pretty much had every player in our starting nine put the ball out of the park," Ahlfeld said. It's not all about home runs but we've certainly had a lot of success with the bat."

Saints batters have hit two grand slams - home runs with the bases loaded - this season, one by Ahlfeld and one by O'Neill's brother, Mitchell, last week.

Ahlfeld holds down another key role for the Saints as he will start on the pitching mound in the first game, with Sam Jones scheduled to start the second.

The Saints beat Ellis Park last week to qualify straight to the final, while the Dodgers beat the bottom-placed Cardinals to get into the semifinal.

It has been a close-fought competition all summer. The Saints (5-1) claimed the post-Christmas title but could only finish third pre-Christmas after losing both their games on the final day.

The Saints' only setback in the second half of the season was a shock 6-5 loss to the Cardinals.

The Dodgers, who beat the Saints in last year's final, were 8-4 before the break but just 2-4 after it. They will again rely on the leadership of experienced Otago player Scott Cartwright.

Ellis Park, led by Daniel Tarapi, won the pre-Christmas title with a 9-3 record and went 4-2 over second half of the summer.

The Dodgers v Ellis Park game is at noon on the main diamond, with the first final at 1.45pm and the second at 4.30pm. A third, if needed, will be played tomorrow.