WP chase national baseball honours

RAIN seriously disrupted the national baseball championships this week, but hosts Gauteng have secured a semi-final spot, with Western Province strongly represented in the play-offs too.

WP A, Gauteng A and WP B have secured three of the semifinal places for the matches this morning.

WP A are on seven points from three wins and one draw. Gauteng A and WP B are both on six points with each having three wins and a defeat.

Gauteng U23, WP U23 and KZN are all on two points, vying for the fourth semi final place.

On Thursday afternoon Gauteng A gave WP A a scare and raced to a 5-0 lead after the first inning. The rain forced the game to be suspended and the teams returned Friday morning, with WP A bouncing back to demolish the hosts 20-5.

WP U23 are somewhat unlucky as their games against Gauteng U23 and KZN were rained out – these are opponents they would have targeted for maximum points .

The semis will take place this morning, with the finals following at 2pm.

In the B section Gauteng B and Mandela Bay lead the way with eight and seven points respectively, and wait for their semi-final opponents, who will come from Eden, Gauteng C, Zimbabwe and Cape Winelands who all have three points.

In the junior tournament, the WP U15 side took their division for the third year running, but Gauteng grabbed the U12 and U18 titles.

WP U15A narrowly beat Gauteng A 5-4 in a closely-contested final, the win sweet revenge as the Gauteng side comprehensively beat them 15-3 earlier in the tournament. WP B finished in 3rd place. In the U12s, Gauteng A downed WP B 20-4 on the final morning which was enough to secure the championship which WP A had held for two years.

Gauteng A crushed WP A 15-2 to take the U18 crown..

The teams played out to a 11-all game earlier in the tournament.