On Sunday 1st July the Sliders took a trip to Bangor to play the Buccaneers and again it was a hot one! The Bucs, much like the Angels, have a lot of new players still learning the game. The Sliders gave all of their available rookies a start and this led to a very high scoring game. The Sliders batted first and once again got off to a good start scoring eight, Tim opening things up with a home run. The Sliders fielded well despite the large number of rookies in the side and held the Bucs to one run.
In the second things stuttered to a halt. Only Michal got a hit as the Sliders failed to score. To make matters worse the defence started to struggle. Andrew struggled with his pitching in the changing wind, giving up several walks; and there were a couple of over throws as everyone found their range. The Sliders gave up nine and found themselves 10-8 down. However, they didn’t panic, and began batting patiently as they had against the Angels, taking walks when they were there and batting the runners round to score five more. The defence, after a slight infield reshuffle, found their form again. John took a great catch over his shoulder whilst running deep. Michal lasered one from third to get an out on a close play as the Bucs failed to score.
The fourth and the fifth really took the game away from the home side as the Sliders scored 29 runs to five as the Bucs pitcher struggled the same way Andrew had. Tim got a grand slam before being replaced by Paul, and Matias got his first two RBIs. In the fifth, Jonny and Paul both hit grand slams and Jay hit a 2RBI double. In the sixth, Paul got his second grand slam home run of the day and there were doubles for Michal, Dan and Jonny to score seven. Emma D was unlucky to see a great hit caught in left centre. The Sliders defence held firm not giving up a score. the Sliders then got five to finish on 54, their highest league score ever.
For the final innings, things were mixed up a bit, Dan swapping with Jonny to go to short stop. The Sliders defence wobbled a little again conceding ten, including a home run before Jonny took a great catch on the run to finish a marathon game. Final score 54-25. Credit should be given to the Bucs for keeping going to the end despite conceding big scores in the middle and were rewarded with a good seventh inning.
Highs: Grand slams everywhere – Paul x2, Jonny and Tim (who scored two home runs), John’s over the shoulder catch at short stop, Kirsty playing well on first, all of the rookies stepping up and another great batting performance.
Line-up: Andrew (John), Kirsty (Marian), Emma D, Johnny, Michal, Matias, Dan, Laura, Tim (Paul), Jay
Next up: Sliders are away to Aces on 9th July at Henry Jones Playing Fields.