A shattered Canberra Cavalry is struggling to comprehend missing the play-offs in sensational circumstances after a loss to Melbourne last night.
An away win over the Aces would have secured Canberra second spot, and the double chance in the Australian Baseball League's four-team finals series.
However, somewhat incredibly, a 10-7 loss relegated it to ''also rans'' after an unbelievably tight finish to the regular season.
With runaway ladder leader Perth already secure, Melbourne (21-24) leapfrogged Canberra (20-25) with yesterday's victory, while the Cavalry had already lost splits to Brisbane (20-25) and Adelaide (20-25).
A Cavalry win would have set up a clash with Perth in Western Australia next week, with the winner to host the championship series. Instead Canberra will miss the play-offs for the second consecutive season.
Canberra endured a barren run midway through the season, when a number of its overseas imports returned to their domestic leagues. That proved critical.
''We have the best fans in the ABL and there's no one that cheers and supports their team like the people of Canberra,'' Canberra assistant general manager Thom Carter said.
''It breaks my heart a bit we won't be bringing play-off baseball to The Fort for them this year, we broke stadium records and had so much fun.
''The guys wanted to win not jut for themselves, but for the city.
''You can look back and say if we've scored a couple of extra runs here or there it would have been different. It's tough to look back, but we'll evaluate how we ran the team and make next season better.''
This reporter is on Twitter: @tuxy81
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