The end of baseball marks an important time: the end of summer. While the rest of Australia will wrap themselves in scarves (yes, winter is real in this country) the Canberra Cavalry will protect itself from the cold with the Claxton Shield.
This is the first time, in 78 years and 12 championship series, that Canberra Cavalry has won the title and they took out the reigning two-time champs, the Perth Heat to do it. Not to mention, they did it in front of a sold-out, record-breaking crowd, which doesn’t happen often in the ABL.
For those who don’t know, the ABL championship is a best of three series that takes place in February. The Cavalry beat the Adelaide Bite at the end of January to secure their spot in the championship while the Heat defeated the Sydney Blue Sox.
The Cavalry defeated the Heat in game 1 with a score of 6 – 4 on Friday, making the Saturday game a must-win for the Heat if they were to have a shot at the best of three series. The game started out back and forth. Cavalry scored. Perth scored. Cavalry scored again. Perth scored again. Then the Cavalry pulled away, making the score 6 – 2, which the Heat later tied in the bottom of the fifth.
Although there was a lot of fight from the Heat, making it an amazing game to watch, their two errors throughout the game were enough to send Cavalry to the top.
Michael Wells was the hero of the game, hitting a solo run to make the score 7 – 6, and secure the win for the Cavalry.
Next season will start in October and I can’t wait to see how the Cavalry will defend their title. It took them twelve tries to get it – I’m sure they won’t give it up next season without a fight.
