2 May, 2002
The final day of the regular season. Auckland, Otago, and Canterbury are fighting to see which playoff spot they'll get. Meanwhile, in Australia, Queensland and Illawarra are fighting to see if they'll make the playoffs at all. An exciting day of baseball!
The River Bandits go all in for their final game of the season as they take the Thunderbolts to 12 innings. Waikato Catcher Tye Gaynon was the player that proved the difference as the hit to get the River Bandits that game winning run. Otago lose, they'll need to see what else happens to see what that means for them.
The Steamrollers continue their dominance of the Red Knights with this win. Sweeping this individual series 3-0 and going 10-2 for the season. The Red Knights are not going to relish the chance of having to face the Steamrollers in the first round. They are looking good.
There was some nerves at Eden Park as the Giants started to pick up some runs late in the game but Auckland picked up the win! With their Southern rivals going down, the Auckland Aces jump into second spot.
Otago is judged to win the tiebreaker against Canterbury so the Thunderbolts will go to 3rd and Canterbury will be 4th.
The Hawks eek out a narrow 5-4 victory over the Zips. The Firebirds will go through on tiebreakers if they win so the Zips can only hope that the Newcastle Ducks can come through for them.
Well, this game was nuts. The Ducks went into the 8th innings with a 5-0 lead, they thought they had it. The Illawarra Hawks were already making playoff plans but the Firebirds weren't done yet, a combination of hits and walks saw the Firebirds accumulate some runs until the game is tied. We've got 2 outs on the board, bases loaded, and RF Randolph Fewings steps up to the plate for a 412ft grandslam home run.
The Ducks are quickly bundled out in the top of the 9th and the Firebirds will be in the playoffs!
So final standings for the 2001-02 season. The New Zealand teams win their interleague series 323-277.
And the playoff picture.
A representative from the league head office confirms that the owners will discuss tiebreaker games in the winter meetings