On Sunday the 27th June the Herts Hawks travelled to top-of-the-table Poole in search of their first win in three. Instead, the Hawks would suffer a similar fate to that of England’s footballers later on the same day.
Game One had few high points for the Hawks in offense, as they did not register a single hit or walk. Had it not been for a dropped third strike, Poole would have recorded a perfect game against them. The defensive effort was slightly more encouraging. Simon Langton took the mound and in the first inning was able to keep the home team scoreless. The second and third inning, however, proved to be very different, with a grand slam setting Poole’s bats on fire and starting a two inning rally during which Poole would score twelve runs. Young Jesse Reinebold took over pitching duties in the fourth. Having already made some great catches in left field, he pitched well enough to keep Poole to just two more runs. However, it would still be too many, and the game was called on the slaughter rule at 14-0 after just 5 innings.
Game two saw a much better offensive effort from the Hawks. Ilya Dimitrov led off the order with three hits, while the manager Greg Bochan also contributed significantly with two hits and three RBIs. These efforts — added to RBIs from Hunter Devine, Simon Langton, Perrie Sherman and Phil Crooks — helped the Hawks total ten runs, which was a great response to the shutout which had occurred just hours earlier. Unfortunately Poole’s offense was even stronger than it had been in game one. Bochan started the game on the mound, but a tough twelve-run first inning meant that he had to come off half way through the second and Jonathon Reinebold finished off the inning. Jesse Reinebold — who had continued to make great catches in left field — then had to retake the mound for the third, and suffered a tougher time than he had in game one. To finish the game, Perrie Sherman came on to pitch for the fourth and was able to hold a great offense to just three more runs. By the fifth inning Poole had totalled 25 runs and the game was again called after five on the slaughter rule 25-10. This, added to the news of England’s similarly lop-sided score, made for a long journey back to Hemel for the Hawks.