Yass will have to wait for their first win in the O’Farrell Cup after Leeton’s successful defence on Sunday.
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After making the long trek to Mark Taylor Oval for just their fourth challenge in the competition, Yass fell six runs short of what would have been a historic result.
Teenager Hugh Collins and captain Nathan Carn picked up four wickets each to halt the visitors chase.
Carn was thrilled by how his team responded after Yass loomed dangerously.
“We got there eventually but it went down to the wire,” Carn said.
“It was closer than we would have wanted.”
Backing up from last week’s impressive batting, Daniel Muir preformed well with both bat and ball.
He topped scored with 56 before snaring two early wickets to have Yass on the back foot chasing 202 for victory.
However Yass captain David Field (57) and Nick Pollack (42) got things back on track.
They put on 86 for the third wicket before Collins made his presence felt.
The 17-year-old dismissed both and then ended a 38-run stand between Craig Irwin (15) and David Brown (33).
Yass had both wickets and overs in hand at 7-178 before Carn removed Andrew Swaffield (9) to trigger the beginning of the end with the visitors bowled out for 195.
Carn thought Collins really helped turn the tide.
“He picked up both batters that were in which stemmed their run rate and allowed us to get on top halfway through the overs,” he said.
He was also a strong contributor with the bat, making 34, while Matt Dedini (36) and Jameson Booth (30) at 10 played good innings.
Carn thought his team could have been 20 runs or 30 short of good total after being bowled out for 201.
Beau Walker led the way for Yass finishing with 4-19 while Lachlan O’Mara claimed two wickets
After winning the cup twice in the past two seasons, Leeton were finally able to defend it this time around.
Carn was really pleased with the team’s energy coming off a big win against Griffith.
“It was a really good team effort,” he said.
“The boys all backed each other up and there was a real good energy.
“You are the hunter when you are looking for the cup but when you are the hunted it is an even bigger task to hang onto it.
“The last two years we’ve won it and lost it the next week so it is really good to hang onto this year.”
Up next is Wagga.
Wagga has the penultimate challenge of the season and Carn is looking forward to the clash.
“Everyone loves beating Wagga,” he said. “It will be a really good challenge for us.”
