By RICHARD MURRIHY
THREE preliminary finals awaited the sides on Saturday at Caboolture for the 17 Blacks, 17 Whites and the men’s softball teams.
It was an amazing day as Noosa scooped two out of three, and now have three teams in the grand final this Saturday.
Noosa White was first to step up and the game went down to the wire. The first dig saw Noosa get one run and Focus one run, Charles helping out with a catch at Shortstop taking the score to one all after one.
The second saw Charles and Jacob get home and Dylan strike out three, Jarred Brown hit a home run and Josh got around the bases for Noosa to get another two runs in while they kept Focus to one run. The fifth innings saw Jarred score another home run to give Noosa a 6-2 lead before Focus came up to bat, and it was all or nothing for both teams.
Focus edged closer as the crowd grew louder; it was a tight fight but Focus’ next batter hit one out of the field, bringing home four runners and the win at 7-6.
But what a great effort by the Whites.
On the adjacent diamond, the Blacks took on the Demons in a game full of twists, turns and thrills.
The Demons were ahead after the first innings but the second innings saw a Emma take a catch and shut them down.
For the Blacks, Lewis got a safe hit, running to third and then stealing home; William hit a good two bagger and Coady stole home two runs giving Noosa a 2-1 lead after two innings.
Noosa again strangled the Demons; Josh and Lewis were on a collision course as Josh took a catch and William sharked one in front of Emma while Shinai struck out the third.
Noosa were 2-1 after three innings. The fourth and fifth innings were both no-run innings.
By the sixth innings, the tension was building and the Demons picked up a run while Noosa again went run-less, making the score 4-2 to Noosa before the Demons picked up two runs in the final innings with Noosa still to bat.
The game came down to a tie-breaker with the Demons taking two runs, leaving Noosa to make up three runs for the win.
With the first and third base ready to run, Lewis is up to bat, and he smacks it past third base past the fielders bringing home three runners and the win for Noosa at 7-6.
Noosa Men won their prelim-final 10-6, and I must mention Leigh’s home run of the first pitch and Riley’s home run on an error topped off a day of excitement.
The Noosa teams will now enter three grand finals next week. Don’t forget, the first game starts at 8am.
