New Zealand Final: Bay of Plenty Steamrollers vs Northland Giants
A sense of deja vu for the Steamrollers and Giants. Both teams were in this final last season, the Steamrollers won that 4-2 and went on to win the Trans Tasman Classic.
The Steamrollers were coming off a 100+ win season while the Giants managed to repeat their exact 95-win total from last season as well. Will history repeat? The Giants had the edge in the regular season, with 7 wins over 12 games.
Both teams sent out their top pitchers, Northland with Rex Uridge and Bay of Plenty with Randolph Vankrimpen and it was certainly Uridge grabbing the advantage here as he shutout the Bay of Plenty attack allowing his team to get a 4-0 win in game one.
The Giants win didn't come easy though, it wasn't until Vankrimpen was taken off that Northland put significant runs on the board via a 3-run home run from 1B Willem Ladds in the 8th.
Game two was a tight affair with neither pitcher giving up a lot. We were looking at extra innings but a sacrifice fly in the 9th by Northland SS Callum Macdonald got them the run that'll turn out to be the winner.
Bay of Plenty managed to get Domenic Sheelah to third in the bottom of the 9th but couldn't get him home. Northland are now up 2-0, amazing start as the series swings back to Whangarei for the next three games.
The Steamrollers were home run happy in game three, sending three into the crowd over the course of the game against the solitary one by the Giants.
But the Steamrollers were demolished anyway. Their pitchers gave up 10 walks throughout the game as the Giants gleefully kept the runs flowing in a 13-4 win.
The Giants are now up 3-0 and are only one win away from the New Zealand title and the Trans Tasman Classic!
The Steamrollers aren't going to go down easy though, they power through game four to get their first win of the series. They're still down 3-1 but there's a new spring in the step for the Steamrollers now. The Giants need to regroup.
After Rex Uridge got the upper hand in game one, it was Randolph Vankrimpen's turn to shut out the opposition. Vankrimpen allowed only 4 hits and no walks during his 8 innings The winning runs came from a Finlay Mackay single, a Ciaran Mackay double, and a Domenic Sheelah single to get both Mackay brothers home.
The series is now at 3-2. We shift back to Tauranga for the final two games. Will the Giants blow this?
The Steamrollers put in a big performance for their home crowd to tie the series up. The highlight moment came from pinch hitter Hanrahan van der Bijl who sent a 3-run home run into the stands. This series goes to a game seven. Can the Giants hold on to win or will this comeback by the Steamrollers be regarded as one of the greatest of all time?
BAY OF PLENTY ARE THE NEW ZEALAND CHAMPIONS ONCE AGAIN! Though, boy did they have to work for it. They had to go all the way to a game 7 and
that game had to go down to the 13th innings until we got ourselves a winner.
A relatively simple Ciaran Mackay single got the Steamrollers the winning run but it was a heavy grind to get to that point.
The Steamrollers conducted an amazing comeback against the Giants, they were down 3-0 in the series before hitting back to win the thing 4-3.