Southampton Mustangs 25 Guildford Mavericks 4

Guildford, May 2nd, 2004. The Mavericks played host to the Southampton Mustangs, in the second home game of the season.

Southampton led off the first with a big opening inning scoring 8 runs off new pitcher Alistair Carr. In the bottom of the inning the Mustangs managed to stifle any Mavericks retaliation retiring all 3 batter’s in order. This then became the pattern of the game through the next few innings, with Mustangs picking up a run or two each time at bat, and Guildford unable to find gaps in the field to hit to. The game ended in the seventh after the slaughter rule was called into effect.

Every now and then you get a game that’s a blow out where one side has a better day than the other, and all credit to Southampton, they played well and deserved the win. While they were not over powering at the plate they were able to do the little things right, things like keeping a base runner close to the bag or making a batter extend the strike zone at the plate, in effect punching himself out.

The day was theirs, though we made it easy for them, we surrendered too many walks, we dug ourselves a hole, and then found we couldn’t climb out of it. On a positive note this game provided new players the opportunity to practice in a game setting. Although Alistair struggled in the first inning, by the second and third you could see he was improving on the mound. Paul L’Allier started his first game at second base a tricky position at the best of times, and managed to cope with it quite admirably and Jasmine Brown in right field also found her stride.

What we can take from this, is that in time it will lead to us having a stronger ball club with greater depth at every position. We had fun out there and that’s the main thing.

Maverick MVP: Jamie Barnett