Report from Herts Baseball Newswire Correspondent, DAVE HAMILTON
The Hertfordshire Hawks stumbled to their third straight loss on Sunday, being beaten 14-1 by the Bournemouth Sharks in their AA league fixture at Grovehill.
It's well known in cricketing circles that 'catches win matches' and the Hawks were made to pay for a number of fielding errors by their opponent. In the end at least four catches were dropped in the windy conditions, most critically in the fourth inning when the Sharks took advantage of three consecutive errors to score six times and effectively put the game out of reach.
By this point the game was 10-1 as Bournemouth had taken an early 4-0 lead although player-manager Carlos Casal's run for the Hawks narrowed the gap to three. Unfortunately this was to be the Hawks only run of the game as the home team were unable to get a hit in the key moments, and ended up leaving 10 runners stranded on base. Insurance runs by the Sharks in the final three innings completed the scoring.
One of the few high points for the Hawks in the loss was the performance of Louis Hare who smashed three of the Hawks' six hits in the game as well as pitching six strong innings. Unfortunately his team mates were unable to match his success and extra training is planned next Sunday in their week off so that the Hawks can return to winning ways when Richmond visit on June 1st.
Given the quality of his squad, Carlos Casal is confident his team can recover from this early dip in form and climb back up the standings in a competitive division. Commenting after the game, he said “we started positively but unfortunately we lost our composure and things quickly went downhill. However, I know we all have the skills and spirit to achieve as a team and am confident we can put things right and start winning again.“