After a false start the previous weekend because of poor weather, a four-team men's competition began at Ellis Park on Saturday, with Saints included despite looking unlikely participants due to a lack of numbers.
Their resurrection is partly due to the acquisition of some players, notably rising star Will Meiklejohn, from the Ellis Park club, which has not been able to pull together a team.
Saints predictably battled after a rough beginning and were well beaten in both their games.
The talking point of the day was the rather nutty clash between the league's newcomers, the Central Otago Panthers, and Dodgers, which ended in a 21-20 tiebreaker win to the defending champions.
Twice, the Panthers built a four-goal lead; twice, Dodgers pegged them back.
Cam Watts created some early offence for Dodgers with a double and a triple, and brother Matt also had a three-bagger as Dodgers leaped to a 6-2 lead.
But the Panthers are loaded with talent, and they capitalised on some errant pitching to lead 10-6.
The third Watts boy, Ben, brought Dodgers back with a two-RBI triple, before a Panther produced the play of the game. Tahnae Wilson-Brown cracked a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth to restore the Central Otago side's handy lead.
Cam Watts responded with a home run of his own, with two men on base, and Dodgers led 19-18 going into the bottom of the seventh inning. With two outs, the clutch play came from Panthers batter Scott Cameron, whose RBI single sent it to a tiebreaker.
Dodgers capitalised on four walks to immediately score two runs, and the Panthers could only manage one.
The Panthers found the going tougher in their other clash, and were thumped 15-0 by Cardinals inside three innings. Glenn Forrester (home run) and Hayden Carey (triple) provided the batting highlights for Cardinals.
Cam Watts fired a home run and a triple to lead Dodgers to a 16-6 win over Saints, and Cardinals beat Saints 15-7.
