Southland won 5-2, riding home on a good pitching performance by Daniel Perry, who grabbed seven strikeouts in the game.
Otago would have had some confidence going into the clash, having won a warm-up game earlier in the day 17-9.
But in the match that mattered, Southland came out early and slowly edged in front.
Then, in the fifth inning, Jimmy Campbell put the ball over the centrefield fence for two runs to give his side a 4-0 lead.
Otago did not give up and came back strong in the next innings. Daniel Mulvena got on base with a nice turn of speed and then Ben Moody planted the ball over the centrefield fence to give Otago two runs and get within striking distance. In its last turn at bat, Otago managed to get two men on base and there was the tying run at the plate. But some solid pitching from Perry extinguished any hopes of an Otago fightback.
Otago pitcher Nelson Yorston had two strikeouts and had some good support in the field from Mitchell Finnie.
The game was marked by a minute’s silence at the start to honour Otago softball stalwart Aran Bailey, who died earlier this month. Both teams wore armbands throughout the game.
The Otago women’s team also had two games yesterday, the side’s first games in Dunedin for nine years.
However, the team found it tough going in the two matches with Southland.
Southland won 7-5 in the first encounter and then had a more comfortable 16-1 victory in the second.
