A tight fought game that ended in darkness and (as usual) in heavy rain. After falling behind early a 7 run 4th innings gave us a lead we never then looked like losing. Charlie from the Lions did us proud with several outfield catches and a 3 for 3 perormance with the bat. Bev put in an excellent display at 3rd, Jeremy was his normal professional self on the mound and showed some form with the bat, Dean coped well with injury and the whole team gane another impressive defensive display.
3 days after playing the Outlaws in the Edinburgh tournament final we played them in another close game and revenge was on the menu as we pulled away in a controversial 7th innings to record the win. Jeremy again pitched a fine game, Dean showed impressive range at shortstop, Gary was perfect at the plate and Chris took an exceptional catch in right field. Once again though the most impressive thing was that we didn't let our heads go down at any time, kept battling to the end, played as a team, and got the win.
Lots of good individual performances all contained within a great team display. Jeremy pitched a gem. Rob was great as the lead off hitter and just as good at short stop. Sally got a couple of great hits, Michelle was good again in the outfield and 3 for 4 with the bat. Darrell was also 3 for 4 and strong in the field. Dave also went 3 for 4 and salmon looked on with envy at his mighty leap to catch Mel.
With 7 players missing we always faced an uphill struggle against a classy Thunder team. In the field we did well to keep the scoring under some kind of control, but the bats just never got going. Lots of good points to come out of the game though, Jeremy's pitching was excellent again, Dean did a fine job at short, Bev kept everyone's heads up with her vocal encourament, Tom did a manful job in the outfield and lots of people did an excellent job of coping with playing in unfamiliar positions. Thanks to Ash and Louise for turning out on a Wednesday, and special thanks to Dee of the Hackers who played her first ever game tonight.
An injury packed, curiously flat game (too hot ?) which was settled by a 7 run top of the 7th for the Phoenix. Jeremy pitched well, Manda made some good plays on 3rd, Dave caught a season's worth of pop ups in one evening, and defensively the whole team did well, but the bats stayed in the locker for the whole game. Nhan took a nasty blow to the back of the head whilst running to first in the bottom of the 7th and that was an unfortunate and unsatisfactory end to an unsatisfactory night.
Eleven - Nil down after an innings and a half it would have been easy to give up and accept the loss, but instead we played with real skill and determination, pulling level after 5 innings, and then again after 6, before winning the game in the bottom of the 7th. There were many good performances, but two players in particular stood out, Rob hit two home runs and was his normal excellent self in the field, Fi went 2 for 3 and was just awesome on second.
We looked much better defensively than last week, but forgot to bring the bats along for most of the game. A 7 run top of the 7th showed what might have been, but in the end we just didn't score the runs we should have done. Michelle was excellent all game, Dave caught everything at first and Darrell looked good again. Dean and Rob both went 4 for 4 with the bat.
Lots of home runs but a fairly flat performance in awful conditions. Darrell was the stand out player, perfect at the plate with two home runs to boot. Gary and Jeremy also went 4 for 4 with the bat, and Michelle, Rob and Tom get honourable mentions for their 3 for 4 displays. Defensively we took the week off (and paid the price).
A game that was nip and tuck for the first 5 innings, but we pulled away in the last 2 frames to get our Play Off Division campaign off to a winning start. Dean returned from injury to star in the outfield, Rob looked good again at shortstop and Jeremy pitched a fine game. Dean, Manda and Tom batted 1000, with Nhan and Emma also looking good at the plate. Darrell's 7th innings homer put the seal on the win.
The Division 2 cup provided a bit of light relief in the middle of the season and gave us a chance to move a few people round in the field. In week 1 a strong performance against the Runners was followed by a thrilling tied game against a Hackers team whose performance suggested better things may be on the way for them in the second half of 2008. Despite the tie we progressed to the final on the rollback rule, but in Week 2 (the final) we were bested by an impressive Thunder team. In the first two innings it looked like the Thunder would run away with the game, but we fought back strongly and the game was nip and tuck through the last 3 innings.
An already weakened team never properly recovered from an injury to Manda in the second innings. A lengthy break for a dislocated knee threw us off our stride, and whilst we fought hard we never regained control of a game in which we started brightly. Fortunately the knee was back in place, and Manda back in action, before the end of the evening. After sliding gradually behind for most of the game a strong (8 run) 6th innings brought us level and gave us hope, but after the Outlaws went ahead again in the bottom of the innings we failed to score in the top of the 7th. Bright spots included an excellent all round performance from Dean, capped by a homer and a cheeky 'hidden ball' out at first, "He throws, oh actually he doesn't, he tags instead !". Gary batted well with another two homers, Dave was perfect at the plate, and Manda showed us all how to throw off injury by returning to the fray ! Will also made a welcome return to action after his own long injury lay off.
Gary's two homers were the highlight of another good performance, closely followed by Fi's excellent play on 2nd. Base hits and plenty of them, together with a decent defensive display, laid the foundations for another win. Michelle probably also deserves another mention, but we don't want her getting too big headed !
The girls led the way in a professional performance against an overmatched Piranhas side who were even more under strength than we were. Bev's home run was the highlight, closely followed by Michelle's two triples, but all the women hit well, Fi and Sally in particular hitting the ball with new found authority. The two C Lions also put in strong performances with some good hitting from Andy and a fine pitching performance by Pete. Gordon also did us proud with a couple of home runs.
A much improved performance this week. We played well and were always ahead, though we never got the really big innings that would have allowed us to relax. The Gnus never really got going but always looked dangerous. Star performers were Gary, who combined a fine pitching performance with multiple homers, and Michelle who made a great full debut in left field and was perfect at the plate. Dave hit well and Rob was impressive in the outfield.
Lots of home runs this week but an error strewn performance, that included some suicidal base running, left us on the losing side for the first time in the season. It wasn't an awful performance, but we never quite clicked, and a hard hitting Bats team were too good for us on the day.
After a slow start we got our second league win by overpowering a fractious Thunder side that were less than the sum of their parts. After a sluggish batting performance last weeks we got the sticks out to some effect with Rob, Tom and Dean the best of the bunch. Michelle also stood out, hitting well and with some real power on her debut. In the field we also had a sluggish start, but got back on track by the middle of the game. Two weeks, two wins, but still only one home run, Gary looked odds on to double our total but was robbed by a fantastic running take in the outfield.
We got our league season off to a solid start with a hard earned win against a Runners team much changed from 2007 (though perhaps not much changed from 2000 !). With the bats Rob was the hero going 4 for 4 with a home run. Dean, Jeremy and Tom also recorded 1000 batting averages. The women spread the load, Emma showed the way going 3 for 4, with almost everyone going 2 for 4. In the field Dean looked good at short, Chris and Nhan took some nifty catches in the outfield, Bev was excellent at second and Darrell was solid at first. Gary pitched a fine game in his first appearance with a 0-0 starting count. The Runners hit 4 home runs to our one but their lack of other base runners cost them dear.