Ashley Lightfoot's hard yards secure title

Ashley Lightfoot was the toast of her team as Richmond Keas turned on a tripleheader treat to win the Canterbury women's softball premiership title.

Lightfoot produced some pressure-batting poise to bat in two runs to give Richmond a comeback win over Parklands-Christchurch United (PCU) in the semifinal.

She went one better with a bases-loaded grand slam home run in Richmond's 9-4 Eureka Trust Cup grand final win over Halswell at Mainland Foundation Ballpark on Saturday.

The Canterbury age-group representative also did a good job on the pitching mound, holding a Halswell lineup stacked with Canterbury Red Hawks to six safe hits.

TJ Gutsell, Tracy Ria and Elisha Smith also did the damage in the batter's box for Richmond and Smith and Lightfoot split the pitching load in three back-to-back games.

Richmond – who will represent Canterbury at next week's national interclub tournament in Wellington – showed plenty of spirit to make the final. They came from behind to beat Papanui 10-9 in the seventh inning and then edged out PCU 8-7 in similar fashion in the semifinal. Arnora Hesp and sister Oriana scored Richmond's winning runs against Papanui.

Gutsell slammed an in-the-park home run against PCU.

PCU needed just three outs to close out a 7-5 win but Richmond rallied with hits to Gutsell, Tracy Ria and Elisha Smith. Lightfoot drove a hit down the rightfield line to bat in two runs and earn Richmond a place in the final.

Halswell had edged out PCU 5-4 to make the final but they ran into a rampant Richmond who took charge from the first inning when Gutsell and Ria scored after a triple by Smith.

Richmond produced their big inning in the third frame to score seven runs thanks to Lightfoot's grand-slam homer. Emma Frost was the best of the Halswell hitters with a triple and an infield single.

The Kearneys Rd clubrooms – home of Richmond Keas – would have been humming after the club's league-leading men's team celebrated a good 9-4 win over arch-rivals PCU Devils.

Left-handed hurler Aiden Cocker collected his second win of the season against the Devils, taking eight strikeouts for six safe hits.

The game started dramatically after PCU coach Ted Forrester was ejected in the top of the first inning after reacting to a base umpire's call.

Richmond leapt out to a 4-1 lead after two innings and cemented victory with four runs in the sixth frame after a double by Matt Holmes. The consistent Clayton Ellis collected two hits and Richmond proved particularly effective at the hit-and-run play.

Black Sox star Daniel Milne struck a solo shot automatic home run for PCU and Blair Murphy homered on an open diamond in the Devils' 7-0 shut out of the Albion Pirates.

The Papanui Tigers beat the Halswell Hawks 5-3 at Papanui Domain.

- © Fairfax NZ News