Bracknell, 30th May
The Guildford
Mavericks continued on their quest for the league Championship with
another convincing win coming against a strong Bracknell Pyro's
team. The weather was near perfect as the two team's met on the
field in Bracknell; which got off to a later start than expected,
due to a lack of an umpire.
The first strike was
made by the Mavericks who scored two runs to start off the game,
which given how they have been playing recently was a slow start;
but the Bracknell pitcher was in top form and had great command of
the strike zone. The first three innings looked like the game was
being set up for a classic pitchers duel, with neither starter
willing to give up any runs. The score after three innings had the
Mavericks barely ahead by a score of 2-1; with both sides failing to
score a run in the third inning.
In the top of the
fourth, the mighty Maverick offensive juggernaut took over, and
finally started to get to the Pyro's starting pitcher. Many Maverick
hitters found the magic formula of swinging early on in the at bat
against a pitcher with good command leads to success. The Mavericks
were able to put up six runs in the top of the fourth to begin to
take control of the game. The Mavericks pitcher Kevin "Wild Thing"
Zanes kept the Pyro hitters guessing at the plate with a mix of
blinding fastballs and knee buckling sliders (ending the game with
16 strikeouts; 6 of which were looking); managing to only hit one
batter in the process!
The Mavericks
continued to pour on the offense in the late innings after a change
of pitchers on the Pyro's end, scoring 11 runs in the last three
innings to win the game by 15 runs after 8 innings of play. Tight
defense in the late innings helped to close out the game with the
infield and outfield making key plays late in the game.
Key offensive
contributions were made by Rob Shaw (who led the Mavericks offense
with five hits and four RBI's; keying some late offensive rallies);
Joe Bibby (who had two RBI's and was later found to be the adopted
stepchild of Ricky Henderson; for which he attributes his new found
blinding speed on the base paths); and Stuart Ellis (who had a
strong game with 3 RBI's).
The highlight of the
game came in the late innings as Rob Wheeler (a deceptive last name
to say the least) was rounding second on the way to third. Running
out of steam on the way, a teammate called out from the batter's box
that watching Rob steal third was like watching the continent of
Africa try to steal third.
All-in-all this was
another solid win for the Mavericks, who now boast a four game
winning streak, and next week make the trip to Chelmsford for the
third game of a 4 game road trip.
.......and as a final note: bunting IS cool!
Thanks to Kevin Zanes for the report
