After last weeks remarkable game which saw the Mavericks almost snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, they were nearly on the receiving end this time, as the Blazers mounted a comeback which brought them to within 1 run, before finally losing by 4.
It had started well
for Guildford, as Bracknell starter Huxley was uncharacteristically
wild, walking 7
batters in a first inning that he failed to get out of. This
together with hitting a batter, was the main reason for the flood of
runs, although Owen Hazelby with an RBI double and single, accounted
for 2 of the Mavericks 6 hits.
Owen then struggled
slightly on the mound in the bottom half of the innings, as the
Blazers came right back with 3 runs of their own, all before an out
was recorded. But as he settled, 2 of the last 3 batters
were
retired on strike outs.
The Mavericks then added to the lead in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th innings, tacking on 2, 3, and 2 runs respectively, with the key hits coming on Tom Sheridan double that scored two runs in the second; an Owen Hazelby triple in the third, that also plated two runners; and three singles in the third, before Bracknell turned a double play to close out the inning.
Cruising with 20-5
lead half way through the game, the Mavericks looked on for closing
out the game under the 10 run slaughter rule, after 7 innings, and
despite a couple of Bracknell runs in the 5th on a Darren Cude
single to right field (which may have been his first career RBI's
judging by the cheers from the opposition bench), there didn't
appear much chance of this changing.
A scoreless 6th meant
that the Blazers needed 3 runs, just to make Guildford bat again.
Rob Shaw had come into the game for the injured Heather Armstead,
who had hurt back muscles making a
tremendous
play at first back in the 5th, whilst Phill Nathan had replaced Dave
Jones in the outfield. Although Huxley lead off the inning with his
3rd double of the day, closely followed by a Munoz walk, there
didn't appear to be too much trouble, once Haywood popped out. Now
into the middle of the Bracknell order, Owen would have hoped to
have closed out the game. However as with last week, the 7th inning
was probably an inning too many for his arm, and a couple of walks,
a couple of hits and a triple later, and the Blazers had rallied to
20-12, and forced the game into the 8th inning.
Michael Burdett came on in relief of Owen, and struggled with his control, as the Blazers added 7 more runs to their total, before relief pitcher, Cameron Gittoes, struck out to end the inning. The Mavericks lead had been cut to one, and in all honesty, they were now on the back foot, with the Blazers looking in prime position to win the game.
But just to prove that
in the end luck or whatever it is, evens itself out, it was the
Mavericks turn to come back from the dead. 5 runs were scored in
the
top of the 8th, no doubt helped by the fact that both Jazz Brown and
Jeremy Abel were hit by pitches. Jeremy Abel, very capably catching
his first full game for the Mavericks had lead off the inning with a
single and scored on Rob Shaw's single. Tom Sheridan and Mike
Burdett, then drove in a couple of runs, to give the Mavericks a
25-19 edge.
Bracknell pulled back
a couple of runs with only one out in the 8th, but some good play
from the father and son Sheridan team at 3B and SS, saw the side
retired before this total could be added to. The Mavericks were
unable to trouble the scorecard in their 9th,
meaning
that they had a 4 run lead to defend in the bottom half of the
inning, with the top of the order coming to the plate.
The game could
obviously gone either way, but a tremendous catch on the run by Owen
Hazelby, now playing centrefield to retire Gittoes, followed by Rob
Shaw getting rid of dangerman Huxley on another well hit fly ball,
meant the Blazers were down to their last out. Although Munoz then
walked, Haywood grounded a ball to Tom Sheridan at 3rd, who threw
over to 1B Rob Wheeler to close the game out.......and the Mavericks
were able to breathe a sigh of relief.
With no game next week, and the mid season break the weekend after, the Mavericks don't return to the diamond until the trip to Braintree in Essex in 3 weeks time. Hopefully sufficient time to forget how they almost lost this game, but to remember how they fought back from the brink.
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