Softball: Saints start with two wins

Dodgers pitcher Cameron Watts prepares to fire one down during the premier men's softball game...
Dodgers pitcher Cameron Watts prepares to fire one down during the premier men's softball game against Ellis Park Maroon at Ellis Park on Saturday. Photo by Craig Baxter.
Ellis Park's outfield fence proved a tempting target as the Dunedin premier club season started with a swag of home runs on Saturday.

The most dramatic of the big blasts was a rare walk-off homer from Saints batter Lachie Brenssell.

Ellis Park Gold had led Saints all game and held a 3-2 lead going into the bottom of the seventh inning.

Saints got a man on base and then Brenssell launched into his game-winning home run over the right-field fence.

Saints made it two from two with a 15-4 win in four innings over Dodgers.

A feature of Saints' performance on opening day was the return of the talented Michael Crowley, who batted .750 through the two wins.

Cardinals beat Ellis Park Maroon 6-5 after a tiebreaker inning.

Maroon held an early lead before Cardinals scored a flurry of runs in the sixth inning. Steve Wallis was walked, Simon Maole smashed a homer over the left-field fence, and Crete Whaanga cleared centre field.

It was 5-5 through seven innings, before Wallis struck out three Maroon batters at the top of the eighth. Whaanga then batted in the winning run.

The opening game of the season was a 33-run, 170-minute epic between Ellis Park Maroon and Dodgers.

Maroon, inspired by veterans Greg Hurley, Andrew Melville, Scott Kindley, Wayne Vial and Alex Arkis, won 23-12 on the mercy rule.

Kindley, Vial and Ryan Williams all smashed homers in Maroon's 16-hits-to-8 win.

 

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