Guildford Mavericks 5
Windsor Royals 23

Bracknell, 15^th June 2003 The 4-1 Mavericks traveled to the 5-1 Royals with the hopes of moving into second place in the division. However against a young, but technically sound Windsor side, the Mavericks were comfortably defeated, although contributed much to their own demise, with 12 errors in the field. 

It also didn’t help that a very short outfield, allowed the Royals to compete in the one area that may have been an advantage to the Mavericks. Home teams always set up the field to best suit their style of play, and that is an accepted part of the game, although it was ironic that a field that benefited the Royals, was not actually theirs, but belonged to National League Bracknell. 

That said it was evident that the youth scheme that Windsor possess, teaches all their players the correct mechanics, and this was evident, not only with their league leading National Division team, but also with their second team in this division. 

The Mavericks couldn’t get anything going offensively, and were soon in a hole 10-0 down after just 3 innings, as the Royals batted around in the third inning. Although some glaring mistakes on defense by Guildford contributed to the 7 runs, the inning was highlighted by a 3 run home run from the in form Brandon Deal. 

With Pete Hammer shutting down the Royals in the 4^th and 5^th innings, the Mavericks were able to pull it back to 10-4, as Tomas Diaz drove in 3 RBI’s in 2 at bats including a solo home run in the 4^th. 

With Tomas on to replace Pete on the mound, and despite another solo shot, this time from Pete Hammer, the Mavericks collapsed defensively in the last two innings, and Windsor were able to comfortably close out the game, and keep with a game of league leading Milton Keynes. 

Guildford MVP: Tomas Diaz

Player