Otago were three balls away from making the Ford Trophy playoffs.
And three more overs of cricket in Alexandra would have helped them slip into the Super Smash finals.
The margins were that narrow this season.
Otago eventually finished fourth in the Ford Trophy and fifth in the Super Smash.
Those results do not reflect the quality of cricket they played at times.
Take the Ford Trophy, for example.
The Volts finished the back half of the tournament strongly.
They edged Wellington by 18 runs, cruised to a five-wicket win over Central Districts and thumped Northern Districts by seven wickets.
But it was the back-to-back heartbreak in Dunedin that cost them a spot in the playoffs.
The one-run loss to Canterbury was particularly gut-wrenching.
The visitors posted 322 for seven and Otago produced almost the perfect chase.
Llew Johnson stroked his maiden list-A century, Jamal Todd (56) and Leo Carter (42) made valuable contributions and Jake Gibson injected some late momentum with a whirlwind undefeated 51 off 22.
Otago needed 12 off the last over to win.
When Johnson deposited the ball over the rope at midwicket second ball, most of the hard work had been done.
He scampered through for a brace next ball, leaving the Volts requiring three to win from three balls.
And that is where the perfect chase unravelled.
A nice push into the leg side would have netted another run or possibly two. But Johnson holed out at midwicket and the next man in repeated the shot for the same result: caught Matt Boyle, bowled Zak Foulkes.
Andrew Hazeldine was left needing three to win but got yorked and Otago ran through for a leg bye to lose by the narrowest of margins.
Those four competition points would have been enough for Otago to qualify for the playoffs.
There was a close encounter of a different kind in the Super Smash which proved costly as well.
The Volts came in hot into the T20 campaign.
They had three games at Molyneux Park and beat Canterbury by 10 runs and Central Districts by seven wickets.
But it was the game in between that tripped them up.
They rolled Auckland for just 106. The "W" was in the bank, except it rained and it never rains in Alexandra at that time of year.
Otago had swatted 26 for none from 1.5 overs.
Three more overs and it would have been a legitimate game and they would have won via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.
They had to share the four competition points evenly and the two they missed out on would have got them into the playoffs.
Post-mortems aside, they lost their last four games, so they had ample opportunity to make it but were not good enough.
It is worth noting, though, the teams placed third, fourth and fifth were all tied on 18 points.
The third playoff spot was decided on net run rate, so the Volts were certainly competitive.
That said, they only had one player featured in the list of top 10 scorers.
Max Chu was in eighth equal with 230 runs at a strike rate of 155.41, while left-arm quick Hazeldine (13 wickets at 19.77) was the only Otago name in the list of top 10 wicket-takers.
The Volts enjoyed more individual success in the Ford Trophy.
Dale Phillips was the leading scorer in the competition.
He flourished at the top of the order, whacking 457 runs at an average of 45.70.
Johnson was more consistent this season. He collected 390 runs at 43.33 to claim sixth spot.
Leo Carter (333 at 47.57) and Chu (290 at 36.25) made some telling contributions as well.
Matt Bacon led the way with the ball. The experienced right-armer nabbed 21 wickets at 19.10. That was four more wickets than anyone else managed during the round-robin.
Hazeldine (15 at 29.80) bled runs at times but he also took a lot of quality poles. His pace is an asset even when his direction is not.
The Volts lost the services of their captain, Luke Georgeson, midway through the one-day campaign. He is a proven match-winner.
And experienced seamer Jacob Duffy missed the entire list-A tournament and half the Super Smash due to national commitments.
