Jack Mahoney lets fly for the Cavalry. Photo: David Tate.
It is hard to imagine a more implausible scenario. The Canberra Cavalry left it until as late as possible to give themselves a chance of qualifying for the ABL playoffs.
The Cavalry needed to beat the Bandits in their final regular season game in Brisbane and rely on Adelaide defeating the Melbourne Aces.
This was no mean task. Canberra had lost the first three games of the series in Brisbane, putting the Bandits in contention for the playoffs.
But led by the impressive Jason Matthews with a home run, the Cavs remarkably accounted for Brisbane 9-2 in their final game of the regular season.
The win provisionally moved the Cavalry into fourth but their place in the playoffs depended on the result of the Melbourne-Adelaide game taking place simultaneously.
As they wrapped up their victory, things weren’t going their way in the other game as Melbourne was leading Adelaide 7-3. Melbourne seemed to be closing in on securing a playoff spot at the Cavalry’s expense.
But in the craziest of days, the unexpected became the expected.
Niko Hulsizer hit a three-run homer to turn the game around for Adelaide as the Giants surged to lead and eventually win, 9-7.
What started out as an improbable equation for the Cavalry slowly morphed into reality as the day progressed, and the Canberra team had secured a place in the playoffs.
They will face the Sydney Blue Sox in the three-match semi-final series starting on Friday at the Blacktown International Sports Centre.
At the same time, Perth faces Adelaide.
The semi-final series winners will battle it out for the ABL title.
It’s a title that has proven relatively elusive for the Cavalry. They have just one Claxton Shield to their name, that success coming in 2013.
The Cavs almost won it the following season, only to go down to Perth, while in 2018, they made the final series against Brisbane, only to lose the series 2-1.
As they head into this weekend’s semi-final series against ladder leader Sydney, they go knowing that the resilience shown against Brisbane on Sunday is evidence enough that they have the ability to win the ABL title.
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