The powerful North Island schools dominated the 12-team tournament. Mt Albert Grammar beat St Patrick's College in the final.
King's finishing fifth and Otago Boys' High School finishing eighth was a pleasing reflection on the talent at the Dunedin schools.
King's had two big wins - thumping Cashmere 13-0 and St Thomas of Canterbury 17-0 - but a feature of its effort was its ability to close out close games.
Wins over Marlborough Boys' (3-2), Hillmorton (11-10), Tawa (1-0) and Wellington College (6-4) showed King's had some steel.
The only sore point for King's was losing to Otago Boys', despite earning a higher overall placing. Otago Boys' won the derby 7-2.
Mitchell Finnie (King's) ranked among the top five pitchers at the tournament. Finnie, Nelson Yorston and Jake Burtenshaw all ranked in the top 10 for home runs, and Finnie's batting average was over .500.
Liam Sharples (Otago Boys') was one of the leading base-stealers, while Jacob Wedlock performed well on the mound for Otago Boys'.
In the secondary schoolgirls tournament, just seven teams participated. Dunstan High School (sixth) and Maniototo Area School (seventh) represented Otago.
Games between the Otago girls teams were split. Maniototo won the first 22-9, but Dunstan won the second 15-13.
Dunstan also beat Kaiapoi 9-5. In the playoff for fifth and sixth, Dunstan was pipped 9-8 by Kaiapoi.
