The Herts Hawks went into their second game of the season with 14 regular players missing. Despite a valiant effort from the team, the Croydon Pirates picked up the win to go top of the AA League.
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Inning
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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6
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7
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R
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H
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E
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Herts
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0
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3
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2
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0
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2
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2
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0
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9
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7
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10
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Croydon
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1
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5
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0
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0
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2
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6
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5
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19
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8
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2
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Among the 14 missing Hawks members were the two co-managers, Andy Cornish and Greg Bochan, and so Falcons player and Herts Under-17 Team Manager, Cris Hiche, was in charge and had the difficult task of assembling a team. There were seven changes in the Hawks starting lineup compared to the nine players who started against the Richmond Dragons on Opening Day last week. Only Tim Elkins, Jon lewys and Ilya Dimitrov were part of the Hawks roster. The remaining squad featured players from across the whole Herts organisation, from U17 players Liam and Lewis Green, to Falcons’ Lee Manning, but the majority were members of the Herts Raptors whose A-League game versus the RedBacks was postponed.
Despite this the boys from Hertfordshire managed to get back in the game after trailing 6-3 at the end of the second inning. Hits from Liam Green (2-4 SB), John Kjorstad (1-3), Seth Lipstock (1-2 2BB 2SB), Amit Odedra (1-3 SB), and Lee Manning (1-3) helped the Hawks to stay in touch. They scored two runs in the top of sixth to take a 9-8 lead, but their depleted pitching staff was starting to get tired.
Croydon took full advantage scoring 11 runs in the next two innings to clinch a 19-9 victory and maintain their 100% record in the league this season.
Stand-in manager Cris Hiche felt that “both teams played well which resulted in a close game, which may not be obvious from the final score”. He added “it came down to which rotation was going to get tired first. Croydon’s pitcher was tired at the end but was able to close us down. On the other hand, our pitcher got tired and left some balls up in the strike zone and they were able to capitalize on it with some timely hits. Credit to Croydon, but we will be looking to get a victory next time we face them”.
The Hawks will hope to bounce back next Sunday, 29 April, at home against the Essex RedBacks.