A win over Layritz in a dramatic final last Thursday gave the Duncan Renegades their second South Island midget AA baseball championship in as many years.
It didn't look good for the Renegades early on as they trailed 9-2 after four innings, but the team rallied in impressive fashion, scoring three runs in the fifth and one in the sixth before tying the game on a two-run single by Ty Rennie in the seventh.
Layritz went ahead by one in the top of the ninth, but the Renegades rallied again in the bottom of the ninth. Jordy Frost led off with a single, and Duncan's next batter, Adam Sakuma, was hit by a pitch.
Keir Backnes singled to score Frost, and Spencer Martin singled to drive in Sakuma for the winning run.
"It was a really good game," head coach Jim Frost said.
The powerhouse Renegades went 10-3 in the regular season, then turned it up a notch as they won all five playoff games in the run-up to the final.
"We did well," Frost said. "We really put it together for the playoffs."
A Derek Hayes home run was the highlight of the first playoff contest, a 14-7 win over Ladysmith.
Pitchers Jordy Frost and Reiya Tomida led the way in the next game, combining for 10 strikeouts while surrendering just three hits in an 8-1 win over the Duncan Braves.
Moving on, the Renegades beat Peninsula 17-6 in five innings, then crushed Layritz 22-8 in four and a half innings, with both Blair Robertson and Ty Rennie going 3-for-3. In the semifinals, Duncan got a two-run double from Tyson Eliason and a bases-clearing twobagger from Noah Bergstrom before Sakuma blasted a tworun walk-off homer as they mercied Gordon Head 13-2 in five innings.
The Renegades will start the summer season this Sunday with a doubleheader in Victoria. They play a doubleheader at home at Evans Park on July 6 with games at noon and 3 p.m.