A severely under strength Hawks side travelled to Richmond on the 18th of July hoping to extract revenge for the thrashing the Knights handed out to them last time the two met. Unfortunately — despite a much improved performance — it was not to be, with Richmond winding up 19-4 winners. They still sit comfortably at the top of the table.
On the mound, the Hawks welcomed back their manager, Greg Bochan, from injury. He valiantly pitched the full 7 innings. However, nine errors along with eighteen Richmond hits took their toll and allowed the home side to rack up the runs.
Offensively, the Hawks bats were relatively dormant, only managing six hits and four runs in response to Richmond’s effort. The positive for Herts was the contribution made by several Raptor players who, due to missing personnel, got their chance at AA level and did not disappoint. Simon Elkington led the way with three hits and a run, Tak Ashida managed a hit and a run and Jeff Witter got himself an RBI.
The effort of these Raptors, however, would not be enough and the game ended in the seventh inning on the 10 run slaughter rule. It was still a much better outcome than the previous performance against Richmond.
Herts kept their season alive by fighting their way to a split in two wildly contrasting games. Game One was a real pitching duel between Herts’ Pete Kikel and Richmond’s Cody Cain, with the Falcons pitcher emerging triumphant thanks in part to Kimiyoshi Saionji’s home run in a 2-1 win. The Flames bounced back in Game Two, breaking open a tight contest late. Carlos Mancheno and Grant Delzoppo clubbed homers, helping Michael Osborn to the 11-6 win.
Grant Delzoppo said: “I am disappointed we had to settle for a split, as I thought we had chances to win both games. We had lots of opportunities in Game One but didn’t take them, so I am pretty happy that we came back in Game Two like we did.” 
The four Herts adult baseball teams had a week away from league action and headed South to Croydon for the International London Tournament. Every year this event provides an opportunity for British Baseball clubs to have an All-Star week similar to the MLB All-Star week.
The result meant that Herts were through to the elite bracket on the final day of the tournament while the London Mets/Zuidvogel team were relegated to the lower bracket in true FA Cup giant-killing fashion.
The Herts Little League teams opened the day.
The game between the hosts Herts and rivals Essex saw a record attendance for an adult league game in the history of Grovehill Ballpark. This was thanks to the loyal support from the Herts Little League families who had packed the spectator area on the first base side and it was their support right up until the bottom of the ninth inning that contributed to the win for the Falcons. 
