CHANDIGARH: Defending champions Punjab men suffered humiliation at the hands of  hosts Chandigarh who surprised them by 13-3 in the crucial super league match on a rain-ruined penultimate day of the 30th Senior National Softball Championship at the Panjab University Campus here today. With this win, Chandigarh led to Punjab's ouster from the race for the trophy in the men's section.

Ravinder and Aditya displayed agility and determination to score. They completed three home runs each. Karan made two runs. Dapinder, Arjun, Pankaj and Vishal contributed one home run each for the winners.

With Chandigarh, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh having scored two victories each, there was a three-day time among them. Chief umpire Laxman Singh Gehlot said that the issue was resolved on the basis of better run rate. Chandigarh had the best run rate of 1.133 (17 home runs in15 innings). Madhya Pradesh's run rate was .857 (12-14) and the defending champions had .800 (12-15).

The men's semi-final line-up is: Madhya Pradesh vs Andhra Pradesh and Chandigarh vs Kerala.

As the afternoon heavy rain rendered water-logged, barring the women's semi-final encounter between Kerala and Madhya Pradesh, all other semi-final matches were washed out.

Kerala got the better of Madhya Pradesh by 3-1 in women's semi-final. The Kerala women owed their triumph to Danya, Ramiya and Somiya who completed one home run each. Apeksha reduced the margin for Madhya Pradesh by scoring the solitary run for her team. In the first innings Danya and Ramiya completed one home run each to give Kerala 2-0 lead. Madhya Pradesh's Apeksha then reduced the margin by scoring a home run in the second innings. Somiya completed the winners' tally with a run in the third innings.

The second semi-final between holders Punjab and Chandigarh was interrupted by rain as Punjab were going for their third innings. At that stage, Punjab had gained a 3-0 lead. If Punjab had also completed their third innings they would have won the semi-final match.

Results: Women (semi-finals):</strong> 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.

<strong>Men: Super League:</strong> 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.