SWEET SWING: Rangers hitter Mick Locke takes on the All Stars pitching on Sunday. Kevin Farmer TOOWOOMBA Rangers won through to the Greater Brisbane League A1 grand final in emphatic fashion by recording a 10-0 mercy rule victory over arch rivals All Stars in the major semi-final at Commonwealth Oval.
Rangers have lost just one game all season and are now just a solitary victory away from claiming the big prize.
Rangers will contest the grand final at Darra in a fortnight.
They head into that game on the back of a dominant performance.
Rangers gradually built a lead in the early innings before the offence ignited in the fifth inning to get out to a 9-0 advantage.
They added another run in the bottom of the sixth to end the game early due to the mercy rule.
Phil Vanderneut threw five shut-out innings despite a bit of rustiness before Shaun Clarke came on to pitch in the sixth and sat down the first three hitters he faced.
Rangers coach Darryl Luchterhand was thrilled to have qualified for the decider in such emphatic fashion, especially after his club had fallen just short the past few seasons.
"You've got to be happy to win 10-0 in a major semi-final," he said.
Luchterhand was also impressed with the hitting of Matt Jones, Sean Linley and Sean Rodgers in an offence that sprung to life in the latter innings.
"Normally we've been jumping out to big leads and then pretty much going to sleep, so today it was pleasant to show that we can do it in the back end of a game," he said.
Luchterhand was at the centre of some uncertainty in the fifth inning when his two-run single to left-field was originally thought to have got Rangers to the mercy rule victory but it was discovered his two RBI's brought the score to 9-0 and not 10-0.
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