Canberra Cavalry keep their Australian Baseball League playoff hopes alive

For the first time in four years, the Australian Baseball League club has made it through an entire seasons' worth of home games without being belted in the back pocket.

The Cavalry closed out their series with a thrilling 9-8 win over the Perth Heat at Narrabundah Ballpark on Sunday.

Two runs at the bottom of the seventh gave Canberra a lead they would not relinquish, boosting their playoff ambitions in the ABL's northeast division.

The Cavalry ultimately split the series with Perth, who were 8-3 victors on Thursday before securing a resounding 14-1 triumph on Saturday, while Canberra clinched a pair of nail-biters having already won 7-6 on Friday.

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With their playoff hopes alive and strong crowds in over the previous two nights, Cavalry general manager Sunny Singh can say with confidence that baseball is back in Canberra.

"It's probably the first time in a number of years when we haven't had a series or a game impacted by rain, COVID, or bushfires. We were waiting for the locusts to swarm this year, I think that's the next plague on the list," Singh said.

"It was good to finally get some continuity during the season. It was just great to see big crowds back this weekend in particular. To see 1300 and 1600 over the past couple of nights, it's good to see baseball back in Canberra.

"It's huge. It gives the boys an extra kick on the field when they see they're playing in front of a full house. They go in with that little bit of extra pride knowing they're representing a city."

First it was the smoke haze blanketing the capital during the summer of 2019-20, which threatened to sweep away more than half of the Cavalry's already tight budget for the year. Games were cancelled and fans avoided the ballpark.

Then the 2020-21 season was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the club faced with the prospect of withdrawing from games due to players impacted by border restrictions or fielding teams that looked more like Frankenstein in a Cavalry uniform.

Through it all they never missed the playoffs - but the worst was yet to come.

The entire 2021-22 season was wiped out by the pandemic, with league officials citing uncertainty around border closures. Club bosses were adamant the Cavalry were only going over a speed bump, not off a cliff.

So now they find themselves in the hunt for a fifth consecutive playoff appearance ahead of their final regular season series against the Sydney Blue Sox - who boast the worst record in the league - in Blacktown this week.

"We know we have destiny in our own hands. We've got to go into next week assuming we've got to win every game to give ourselves every chance to be playing in the playoffs," Singh said.

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