It was tough times as usual for the Southern Pride teams at the national fastpitch championships on the North Shore at the weekend.
Both the men and women picked up a sole win and finished last in their respective competitions.
But it was not all doom and gloom, especially considering the gulf in depth and class that exists between the Pride teams and their northern counterparts.
The Southern men had their best performance on the opening day, when they beat traditional powerhouse Hutt Valley 7-5 and challenged North Harbour in an 11-7 loss.
After a 17-2 shellacking by Wellington, the Pride competed well in losses to Auckland (8-4) and Canterbury (7-2).
There was some disappointment on the final day when Southern was beaten 4-2 by newcomer Hawkes Bay.
Southern's Dylan Tomlin led all batters after the opening day with three hits from four at-bats, while both Jerome Raemaki and Derryn French batted above .400 over the three days.
The Southern women struggled on the opening day, conceding 37 runs and scoring just three in their first three games.
But they finished day two with a bang, beating arch-rival Canterbury 6-5, and then had losses to Canterbury (5-3) and powerful Wellington (7-0) on Saturday that were far from one-sided.
Melanie Gulbransen batted .375 for the Pride through the first two days.
Back in Dunedin, just two games were played in the premier competition.
Cardinals beat Waverley 12-2, and Dodgers beat Ellis Park 9-3.
