Cardinals defended the Champions Cup with a marathon win over Saints in a best-of-three finals series at Ellis Park on Saturday.
The first (Cardinals 9-8) and second (Saints 5-3) games were relatively close encounters, but as the darkness encroached, Cardinals romped to an 8-1 win in the decider.
It was the culmination of a season in which Saints led the competition virtually all the way, only to be pipped at the end by a Cardinals team hitting form at the right time.
The opening game told the same story. Saints leaped into a 6-2 lead with some consistent hitting, including two-RBI singles to both Lachlan Brensell and Kyle O'Neill, through the first two innings.
Cardinals responded with a three-run homer to Hoani Iva-Keen in the third inning, but Saints fired straight back with their own long-range blast from O'Neill.
Cardinals cribbed back runs in the fourth and sixth innings, but still trailed by one heading into the seventh. The unlikely hero was pitcher Jacob Wedlock, who batted in a run and then scored the winner on an error.
Game two was tight most of the way, with scores tied 3-3 after six. The key play came at the top of the seventh, when Michael O'Neill batted in two runners for Saints. Cardinals could not respond.
Cardinals took charge in the deciding game with three runs in the second inning, including RBI singles from Lyall Scott and Hayden Carey, and four in the sixth, including another home run from the in-form Iva-Keen.
Saints managed just one run, in the third inning, and a Cardinals insurance run in the seventh sealed the championship.
