"It's not over yet!" Craig Biggio urged on his clubmates, "We've got to finish this thing!"

The Urapunga Nature Boys, perennial bottom-dwellers in the West Division, led the West by 3 games with just a week to go. Could they finally wrap up their first ever division title?

Salmon Gums helped them by beating Rum Jungle 4-3 on Monday. Magic number 3.

On Tuesday, Craig Biggio screamed plateward to Fernando Vina to end this thing. After Neifi Perez led off the bottom of the 9th of a 1-1 game with a triple. Biggio was the 2nd of 2 intentional walks. Vina faced Kingoonya's Ricardo Rincon, a tough lefty. After falling behind 0-2, Vina just wanted to protect the plate, just wanted to get wood on the ball, just wanted to give Perez a chance to score. Vina flailed at the 0-2 curve from Rincon and popped it toward, no, not toward, OVER shortstop! Biggio dashed for 2nd, slid in, popped up, and saw that the game was over. Urapunga had won, and the magic number was 2.

In the clubhouse, no one showering, no one moving to take off one stitch of his grimy uniform, the entire Urapunga team watched the drama unfold in Rum Jungle. In the bottom of the 9th, Glenallen Hill led off a 0-0 game against Kevin Millwood. Millwood looked tired, but manager Rip Richardson made no move to replace his righthander. Hill uncoiled like a snake, and a moment later the ball disappeared over the leftfield wall. Salmon Gums 1, Rum Jungle 0. The magic number was 1.

On Wednesday Urapunga batted in the 9th down 5-1. A Will Clark error and a 2-run triple by backup catcher Brian Johnson made it 5-4. But that's where the game ended, and the champagne stayed on ice.

David Wells stopped Rum Jungle's bleeding with his 10th win, a 6-5 victory over Salmon Gums. The division race was still on.

On Thursday Kingoonya beat Urapunga again, this time with 3 runs in the 9th for a 7-4 victory. With 3 games to play, Urapunga led the West by 3 games.