Washington Freedom 238 for 6 (Gous 73, Smith 43, Owen 42, Bartlett 3-36) beat San Francisco Unicorns 231 for 6 (Short 121*, Dwarshuis 2-44) by seven runs

Unicorns came very close to chasing down the massive target as they needed 22 from the last over, which Short began with a six and a four against Mitchell Owen. But with 12 to get from four, Owen fought back with a couple of yorkers and conceded only four runs off his last four balls to seal the game.

In response, Short walked in at No. 3 for Unicorns to single-handedly keep them in contention. He struck 11 fours and eight sixes, but kept losing wickets around him. With five overs to go and 79 runs still needed, Short and No. 8 Xavier Bartlett gave Freedom a scare by taking 17, 14 and 19 runs over the next three overs that brought it down to 29 to get from 12, but Saurabh Netravalkar conceded just seven runs in the 19th over to stall Unicorns’ momentum.

Short gave the last over the start his team needed but Owen’s reply meant Unicorns couldn’t make their second final.