Suiside double stuns Martians as Marlins come through in last dig to qualify for grand final

Suiside are through to another Geraldton Softball grand final after twice beating the Martians in the elimination finals on Saturday.

By virtue of finishing third Suiside had to beat the Martians twice on Saturday to keep their hopes of a three-peat alive.

They started strongly, with Dylan Percy leading off with a single and Jy Thurstun and Kael Corlett hitting back-to-back doubles to give their team a 2-0 lead.

Martians managed to score one run in the third, but Suiside responded with Jack Garland hitting a double and scoring on a sacrifice fly by Dylan to extend their lead to 3-1.

However, Tane Brott pitched a great game and the Martians threatened with runners in scoring positions to tie up the match.

But Suiside’s left fielder Jack Garland made a clutch catch and throw to catcher Joshua Thompson, who tagged the runner out at the home plate to end the inning and seal the victory.

The first game was tight but the second was a demolition as Suiside continued their dominance, with Cooper Jefferies, who also hit a home run, pitching a shutout and striking out eight batters.

They won 8-0, securing their spot in the grand final against the Rams.

Suiside coach Dylan Percy was overjoyed with this team’s performance and was looking forward to the grand final.

“The team is taking confidence into next weekend. We know Rams are a quality team and it should be a hard-fought game,” he said.

In the div1 women’s game, the Marlins defeated the Martians 8-7.

The teams had gone back and forth all night and Martians led into the final inning 7-6 with the pressure all on Marlins to score.

But Martians had a poor dig in the field as Marlins loaded the bases capitalising on defensive errors.

The tying run was scored off a Kyria Lumley hit to bring Taiya Foley home, with Miley Jupp advancing to third base before she scored to win the game.

Despite the loss Tamara Kuipers pitched a fantastic game for the Martians, and Anzel Van Niekerk made some impressive plays in centre field while also batting well.

For the Marlins, Taryn Purcell had a standout performance, both pitching a great game and getting a few hits, with Ava Gould providing plenty of energy.

Purcell was pleased with how the team came together and was hopeful the confidence displayed would carry through to the grand final game.

“We are feeling good and very proud of our teams who made finals and looking forward to the chance to go back to back,” she said.

In the div2 women’s game, the Suiside team faced off against the Martians Black.

Suiside started off strongly, with Asura Cartwright hitting a single to left field and quickly stealing to third base before Charli Bidwell brought her home with a double.

Susan Mundy then hit a two-bagger to score Charli and increase Suiside’s lead to 2-0.

The third innings saw Susan Mundy hit a four-base hit to extend Suiside’s lead to 4-1 and tight field work and a textbook double play by Bidwell kept Martians from scoring too many runs as they won 7-3.

In the men’s div2 game, Rams White lost to Rams Blue 9-8.

Brad Harrison proved to be the star performer, going three for three with a massive home run that tied the game with just 12 minutes remaining.

In the end, it was Darren Clark who sealed the victory for his team with his clutch performance, hitting a walk-off single.