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Hemel Hempstead, 7th Sept 2003 The Mavericks ended the season on a disappointing note, with probably their worst performance of the season. Playing a Herts side, who they had run very close in their intial encounter earlier in the season, and if anything with a slightly stronger side, they were completely outplayed, losing convincingly. The
most disappointing aspect from a Maverick point of view, was the
hitting. Despite having much the better pitching throughout, Guildford
could just not put bat to ball. It was infectious right down the order,
with only the number of walks allowed by Herts, giving Guildford any run
scoring threats. Ross
Pennington (2 for 3 with a HR), Pete Hammer (2 for 3) and Ben
Martin-Dye, who walked in every plate appearance, did at least put some
runs on the boards for the Mavericks, but once again, it was the old
story of leaving the bases loaded, and not hitting with enough
conviction, that was at the root of the problem. On
the defensive side of the ball, the Mavericks continually made it hard
for themselves, by having to make 4 or 5 (or even 6) outs every inning.
Some of this may be attributed to an end of season feeling, that
generally pervaded the performance, certainly even some of the more
experienced players were guilty of perhaps just taking their mind of
things. However it didn’t disguise just where Guildford have fallen
down this season. Of
course, it wasn’t all gloom. With such a lot of inexperience in the
Guildford squad, there have
been many plusses over the course of the season, and indeed yesterday.
Marty Poulter showed once more that he is a good contact hitter. Ramon,
although not perhaps showing the consistency of his last appearance,
certainly had too much on his fastball for some of the hitters, and
Heather with her fearless approach behind the plate, and also in front
of it with the bat, all pointed towards a better future. As
for the game itself, although the Mavericks, jumped out to an early 1-0
lead, it really should have been more, as they left the bases loaded,
and then of course paid the penalty when the Falcons scored 8 times in
the bottom half the inning, which really should have been less that half
that number. That
set the tone for the rest of the game, and by about the fifth inning,
both sides were getting all their bench players into the game, as it
drifted along to it’s anticipated conclusion. No
doubt the two teams will meet again next season (hopefully with
Guildford at home, so that we can drive them all around Surrey in order
to find the pub afterwards! – only joking, as it was at least easier
to find the motorway afterwards), and hopefully it will produce an
exciting to game to match the first one this year. The game brought the curtain down on the 2003 season, although with the large size of the squad, and the high degree of enthusiasm for learning the game, training is going to continue throughout the off season (see the training page). For a review of the season go to 2003 in review.htm Guildford MVP: Ross Pennington |
