Rain put a damper on proceedings at the Michael Preece Softball Stadium causing eight postponements. Nevertheless, the games that were played were some of the most competitive and intriguing contests of the season.

In the C Division, Killawhat put the brakes on Mike’s Trucking and needed two extra innings to secure the victory. Brandon Ray’s three-run shot in the bottom of the fifth inning erased a two-run deficit to give Mike’s Trucking a 3-2 lead. They must have felt confident of victory when Mike Oliveira blasted a two-run shot in the sixth inning to extend Trucking’s lead to 5-3. However, Corey Boyce homered, driving in two runs in the top of the seventh inning to tie the score and Killawhat pitcher Dwayne Daniels sat down the next three Trucking bats on fly-ball outs to extend the game. In the top of the ninth inning, it was once again the hero, Boyce, delivering a three-run bomb that highlighted a four-run power surge. Trucking scored one run in the bottom of the ninth inning and threatened with runners at first and third with two out and the tying run at the plate. But Daniels was able to strike out the batter and secure a 10-7 victory for Killawhat. In victory, Boyce (two homers, six RBI), Troy Hall (3 for 4, two RBI) and Mike Olivera (two RBI) were Killawhat’s top batters. Mike’s Trucking, although losing, were able to secure the C Division League Championship with a 9-3 record just ahead of second-placed Killawhat.

In the A Division, although the divisional title game between Paraquet Flyers and Moongate Brewers was unable to be played, the sudden-death game to determine which team would join the other three contestants in the play-offs was. Fully Loaded Allstars sent X-Bats on an early summer holiday with a 16-12 win. The closely contested affair was blown open by Allstars in the bottom of the sixth inning when they plated their last ten runs, highlighted by a Steve Simons grand slam — his second long ball of the game to go with a three-run shot in the first. X-Bats made a valiant effort in the bottom of the seventh inning, scoring four runs including a two-run dinger by Andrew Kuzma, but Mark James grounded out to second baseman Trevor Corday to end the threat. Steven Simons (3 for 4, two HRs, seven RBI), Trevor Corday (3 for 4, three RBI) and Jason Simons (3 for 4, two RBI) did most of the damage for Allstars, while Brett Farlow (3 for 5. HR, five RBI), Mark James (3 for 5, HR, two RBI) and Andrew Kuzma (2 for 4, HR, two RBI) were the top batters in a losing effort.

The women’s play-offs started with high drama as bottom-placed Hardknockz took a one-game lead in their best-of-three series against league champions Western Stars Angels with a 9-8 win in a nail-bitter. A three-run homer by Keisha Eve in the bottom of the second inning aided Angels in taking a 5-3 lead. Latisha Daniels drove in two runs in the third inning and pitcher Latreece Fray singled in Jade Weaver to put Hardknockz into a 6-5 lead. Debbie DeShields put Angels on level terms in the bottom of the sixth inning when she doubled, driving in Marissa Brangman. Hardknockz’s Tache King came to the plate in the top of the seventh inning, with two runners on and two out, and launched a three-run out-of-the-park home run, which proved to be the winning runs for Hardknockz. Angels scored two runs in the bottom of inning, but with runners at second and third, Fray nullified the threat. King (3 for 4, HR, four RBI) and Daniels (2 for 4, two RBI) led all Hardknockz batters, while DeShields (3 for 3, RBI) and Keisha Eve (1 for 3, HR, three RBI) were the standouts for Angels.

In the B Division play-offs, league champions Hakuna Matata Lions played to form, as they overcame fourth-placed finishers FIU-Scared Hitless 23-21. Lions scored nine runs in the first inning, including a two-run double by Aaron Bloom, and Scott Barnes hit a grand slam in the third inning to open a commanding 17-9 lead. Scared Hitless batted around the order in the fourth inning, plating 12 runs with Kendrick Richardson driving in five with a three-run homer and a triple that plated two. He was assisted by Marcelos Thomas who had three RBI on a single and double. Their run production dried up like the Sahara and they tried desperately to hang on to a 21-17 lead. Lions scored one run in the fourth inning and five runs in the fifth, including a pair of two-run doubles by Troy Hall and Brian Hall to seal the victory. Barnes (3 for 5 , HR, five RBI), Troy Hall (4 for 5, four RBI) and Brian Hall (4 for 5, four RBI) did most of the damage for Lions. Thomas (4 for 5, HR, seven RBI), Kenrick Richardson (4 for 5, HR, six RBI) and Mike Smith (2 for 4, HR, four RBI) had outstanding stats in a losing cause.