Kerala women in final; holders Punjab men shocked

Chandigarh, June 29 (UNI) Kerala stormed into the women's final by prevailing over Madhya Pradesh by 3-1 in semi-final of the 30th Senior National Softball Championship at the Panjab University Campus here today.

Defending champions Punjab were leading 3-0 against hosts Chandigarh when heavy rain prevented further play in the second semi-final.

Chandigarh had played three innings while Punjab could complete only two. Had Punjab completed their third innings they would have emerged winners.

The men's semi-final matches were also affected by rain which rendered the ground water-logged. Madhya Pradesh are pitted against Andhra Pradesh and hosts Chandigarh will cross swords with Kerala in the semi-finals.

The highlight of the day's proceedings was stunning exit of holders Punjab men from the Senior Nationals. Chandigarh were responsible for Punjab's ouster as in their crucial super league encounter Chandigarh shocked hot favourites Punjab by 12-3. Ravinder and Aditya were virtually proved wrecker-in-chief of Punjab as they made three and two home runs, respectively. Dapinder, Arjun, Pankaj and Vishal contributed one home run each for the winners.

With the outcome of the match, there was a three-way tie among Madhya Pradesh, Chandigarh and Punjab as they have two victories each to their credit. Chief umpire Laxman Singh Gehlot said that the issue was resolved with run rate. Chandigarh had the best run rate of 1.133 (17 home runs-15 innings). Madhya Pradesh's run rate was .857 (12-14) and the defending champions had .800 (12-15).

Results: Women (semi-finals): Kerala (Danya, Ramiya, Somiya 1 home run each) bt Madhya Pradesh (Apeksha 1) 3-1.

Punjab 3 vs Chandigarh 0.Rain prevented further play after Chandigarh had played three innings and Punjab two.

Super League: Punjab (Manjeet, Sukhwinder, Veerpal 1 each) drew with Maharashtra (Madhu, Savarna, Sarika 1 each) 3-3.

Maharashtra (Supriya 2, Madhu, Sarvana, Sarika, Deepali, Neelam 1 each) bt Chattisgarh (Chittranjana 1) by 7-1.

Chandigarh (Sonia, Sangeeta, Gurpreet, Sunita 2 each, Amanpreet, Manju, Jyoti, Pooja 1 each) bt Madhya Pradesh (Seema, Neelu 2 each, Roma, Bhumika, Aarti, Priyanka 1 each) by 12-8.

Kerala (Daisy 3, Remya, Dhanya, Soumya 2 each, Sherija, Gayatri, Amrutha, Soumya 1 each) bt Chattisgarh (Priyanka, Rashmi, Sadana 1 each) by 13-3.

Chandigarh (Gurpreet 4, Sonia 3, Amanpreet 2, Sunita, Nitika , Vandana 1 each) bt Himachal Pradesh (Sonika 1) by 12-1.

Men: Super League: Kerala (Nishant 2, Sameer, Lubin, Kevin, Nitin, Sanu 1 each( bt Himachal Pradesh (Kishore, Pawan, Vijay, Amit 1 each) by 8-4.

Andhra Pradesh (Srinath 2, Ashish, Karunakar, B Vindo, Santosh, Krishna, Narender 1 each) bt Manipur by 8-0.

Madhya Pradesh bt Jammu and Kashmir by 7-0 conceded.

Chandigarh (Ravinder, Aditya 3 each, Karan 2, Dapinder, Arjun, Pankaj, Vishal 1 each) by 12-3.

UNI XC HS MMS2100