Guildford, 24th August 2003 The Knights clinched the Division One championship with a comfortable victory over the Mavericks. Although both they and the Milton Keynes Rebels have one game left to play, Richmond with a one game lead, clinch the title due to the fact that the Milton Keynes loss was a forfeit, and that unless Richmond forfeit next week, the Knights will win the tie breaker, even if they lose to next weeks opponents.......who just happen to be the Rebels! A bit unfortunate that it should end this way, as a title decider between two unbeaten teams in the second half of the season would have been a classic end to the season. However, it must be said, that it is better for baseball, in that Richmond take the title in this manor, as they are a much better run club, and exemplify the way the game in this country should be run. The Rebels, although possibly the strongest team in the division do not appear to have organisational commitment that Richmond have.

Looking back at the season in Division One from the perspective of a mid table side, there probably wasn't that much separating the top 4 sides. Of course, it always has to be taken in account, that you may not always be facing the strongest side a team can put out. Certainly from a Guildford viewpoint, there was not one occasion, when we were able to field the strongest nine, although this is probably a luxury, that only teams running more than one team can do, if they are not to put off the less experienced members of the squad. It has to be said, that from the first half of the season, Windsor and the Milton Keynes Bucks looked to be the strongest sides. Windsor without out a doubt, were the best hitting team that we faced, and Milton Keynes probably the strongest defensively. Both Richmond and Herts appeared to play an all round solid game, although the formers batting probably edged it for them. There was probably not too much that separated ourselves from Bournemouth and Croydon, with each team taking a game from each other over the course of the season. Of the remaining five, the Richmond Dragons were slightly ahead of the rest, although it is always good to see new sides such as Southampton and Bournville (even if the latter did fold - probably down to the travelling distance), and of course it can only be good for the game when clubs are able to field
a second team, such as those from Essex and, Milton Keynes Bucks, that enable them to bring new players to the game.

As for the details of Sunday's game, the scoreline pretty much says it all. Richmond got off to a flying start, with 18 hits in the fits 2 innings alone. Again, the Maverick defense didn't help Ben Mullard who was starting his first game on the mount. However after some defensive changes, Guildford were able to stem some of the flow, if not all. On the defensive side of things, mention must go to Rob Wheeler who tracked down 4 fly balls, making it look very easy, and Castor Maduro, who produced some stunning stops at the hot corner.

However, as has been the case all season, the Mavericks were unable to string any consistency together with the bat. They stranded runners in each of the first 5 innings, and only had 1 run to show for it. Richmond also turned a couple of double plays, although one was a hard line drive to third base on a hit an run, and the second was some a result of lazy Maverick base running, again allowing the Knights to double up a runner.

Apart from catcher Roger Marsden, with two hits, the top five in the Mavericks order managed only one other base hit all day, despite the Knights starter mixing up a pretty good fastball with something that looked like a changeup up of a changeup! But that just goes to show that mixing up your pitches is more important at this level, than blazing speed or a strongly breaking curveball. The bottom of the Maverick order had more success, with James Geraghty going 2 for 2 and Martin Poulter picking up a single on his debut.

As well as the improved defense later in the game (Castor's diving stop at 3rd, and Heather's full length stretch to take a ball in the dirt at first, would certainly make the season highlight reel.....if only we had filmed the games!), another plus point for the Mavericks was the pitching of Ramon Godlewski, who had a fair bit on his fastball, and again showed how difficult it is for hitter to time a ball, when their is a sudden change in speed. Ramon kept the Knights to just three runs in the last three innings, which can mostly be attributed to some wildness early on, whilst he got rid of some of the rust from his game.

The Mavericks round out the season with a trip to the Herts Falcons in two weeks time