The team went down by six wickets to the Magicians in a one-day match at Rangiora yesterday.
Otago was bowled out for 195, which the home side chased down with 10 overs to spare.
The loss came in the last of a three-match series against the Cantabrians.
The first two games, a twenty20 and a one-day match, were both abandoned because of rain.
Things did not start well for the Sparks, who batted first.
They lost Morna Nielsen, Polly Inglis and Caitlin Blakely cheaply in the first 10 overs.
Middle-order batsmen Leigh Kasperek and Katey Martin set about getting their side to a respectable total when they found themselves at the crease with three wickets down for just 35 runs.
The pair did a mighty job of a rescue mission. Martin got to 57 runs before she was caught.
Kasperek was left at the crease with the total at just 110 in the 23rd over and was in need of help at the other end to get the Sparks to a decent total. Beth Langston added 15 runs and Megan Gibbs 18, before they were both out. Kasperek eventually fell for 63 runs in the 45th over, when the Sparks had worked their way to 192.
The side was all out in the 48th over for 195, a total Sparks coach Nathan King described as too small to defend.
"We should have got more. We lost a lot of wickets at the end for not many runs," he said.
"We were looking at 230 to 240 for a large part of that innings but it obviously fell well short of that."
"Our key players didn’t quite score enough runs and their key players did and that was the difference."
Auckland managed a much steadier first 10 overs to its innings and got through to 57 before losing its first wicket in the 14th over.
Opener Frances Mackay was out for 31, caught by Beth Langston from the bowling of Megan Gibbs.
Six overs later, Leigh Kasperek chimed in with the ball, taking the wicket of Eve Jones for 28 runs, leaving Canterbury 82 for two in the 20th over.
Erin Bermingham then joined Kate Ebrahim at the crease to begin what was a game-winning partnership.
Ebrahim saw Canterbury to victory with an unbeaten 61 from 72 balls.
Bermingham added a vital 40 runs before falling to the bowling of Kate Heffernan in the 36th over, when Canterbury was on 168.
By that stage, the match had slipped out of the Sparks’ reach and the Canterbury tail helped Ebrahim chase down the match-winning score of 196 with 10 overs to spare.
The Sparks will now turn their attention to three-match series against the Central Hinds in Oamaru, starting on January 26.
