Round 13 of the Maitland and District Cricket Association first grade competition wrapped up on Saturday and helped paint a clearer picture of this month's play-offs.

With now just one week remaining in the regular season Mercury sports reporter Josh Callinan takes a closer look at the state of play for 2014-2015.

Eastern Suburbs batted out the day to save an outright loss and prevent semi-final bound Western Suburbs a shot at finishing higher up the competition ladder.

The Griffins ended up nine wickets down at the close of play at East Maitland Park on Saturday, 11 runs shy of the 249-run lead held by the fourth-placed Plovers.

Callen Sargent survived the final five deliveries from man-of-the-match Michael Rees to ensure the Griffins gave their supporters at "old boys day" something to cheer about on what was the last home game for retiring three-time Maitland player of the year Jason Allen.

"It felt like we had won the day," Griffins skipper Andrew Vickery said.

"We were still beaten but there were a lot of positives to take out of that for us.

"A few of the boys put their hand up today - which showed some encouraging signs for next season, was good for the old boys and all at Jase's last home game."

Josh Hicks (68) top scored for the Griffins with Allen (40), Vickery (33) and Cody Little (27) all making contributions in a total of 9-238 from 75 overs.

Vickery said he was unsure why the Plovers opted to bat for the opening five overs of day two, which added an extra 32 runs to the overnight total of 6-333.

At the start of play the Plovers led by 217 after dismissing the Griffins for 116 in 33 overs on day one, but visiting skipper Tom Irwin wanted more.

"We really wanted to take the wind out of their sails and let them know we were on top," Irwin said.

"They hadn't batted any more than 74 overs in three seasons and we figured that 75 overs was the same as 80 anyway."

Rees took 3-51 from 18 overs of off-spin after the district's top run scorer blasted 99 last week for the Plovers.

Wests opening bowler Mitch Fisher (2-23) ended up with match figures of 5-55 and left-arm seamer Mark Curran (2-30) was 4-40.

Blake Walmsley was unbeaten on 68 when Irwin declared at 7-365.

Regardless of results this weekend Wests (41 points) will now finish fourth with fifth-placed Easts (30) unable to jump them on the competition ladder.

Wests will play minor premiers City United (66) in one semi-final next weekend (March 14-15) with Northern Suburbs (50) and Kurri Weston (50) to face off in the other after meeting in a one-day fixture at Lorn Park on Saturday.

Three-quarters of the way through the season Raymond Terrace hadn't won a single game.

Now the Lions have recorded back-to-back victories after successfully defending 257 against Thornton Park at Thornton 1 on Saturday.

The visitors finished 21 runs ahead with Raymond Terrace skipper Nick Savage the chief destroyer on day two, taking 5-85 from 28.2 overs after scoring 43 the week before.

The return of Will Maher (2-44) was also helpful for the Lions with Brandon Smith, Luke Ekert and Aaron Sherritt the other wicket takers.

Matthew Gabriel gave Thornton hope of a third win this season but when the opener was dismissed for 95 it triggered a collapse, going from 3-125 to 8-160.

Skipper Ricky Dent (39), as well as the last three Elliott Thompson (11), Matt Thompson (43) and Jacob Northey (23 not out), were the only others to reach double figures.

Thornton (22) remain slightly ahead of last-placed Raymond Terrace (20) with one week left in the regular rounds.

Minor premiers City United suffered just their second loss of the season after going down by 50 runs to title holders Northern Suburbs at Robins Oval on Saturday.

In what was the only one-day fixture of round 13, after last week was washed out, City kept the visitors to 9-223 from their 50 overs but were bowled out for 173 in reply.

Ed Hodges (40) and Karl Bowd (32) put on 77 for the first wicket and skipper Matthew Trappel continued with 21 but a steady flow of wickets saw City fall short.

Norths opening bowlers Lincoln Mills and Tim Field both finished with figures of 2-34 from their 10 overs while skipper Josh Callinan (5-13) took the final five wickets of the innings.

Mills earlier rescued his team with the bat, scoring 64 after Norths were 3-8 courtesy of left-arm veteran Paul Brownlee (4-38).

Matthew Wilks (45) and Terry Humphreys (36) also contributed for Norths to guide the visitors beyond 200.

Norths will now meet Kurri Weston in the final round to decide who finishes second and third on the competition ladder while City have an unassailable lead and will remain in top spot despite having the bye.

City United 66

Northern Suburbs 50

Kurri Weston 50

Western Suburbs 41

Eastern Suburbs 30

Thornton Park 22

Raymond Terrace 20

Breakout Box

Raymond Terrace v Eastern Suburbs at East Maitland Park

Northern Suburbs v Kurri Weston at Lorn Park

Thornton Park v Western Suburbs at Thornton 1

Kurri Weston bye

Breakout Box

Luke Maher - Raymond Terrace

Michael Rees - Western Suburbs

Matthew Gabriel - Thornton Park

Blake Walmsley - Western Suburbs

Lincoln Mills - Northern Suburbs

Mark Curran - Western Suburbs

Nick Savage - Raymond Terrace

Michael Jordan - City United

Josh Callinan - Northern Suburbs

Chris Archer - Thornton Park

Mitch Fisher - Western Suburbs