Dragons increase lead at the top

A blustery but sunny and warm day in north London saw the Old Timers host Pool A leaders Richmond Dragons at the Enfield diamond. After returning to winning form against the Rays in game 10, the Dragons were eager to put further pressure on Guildford, who going into the weekend sat 1 game back in Pool A with 2 games less played but holding the tie-breaker.

With the league dispensation to use metal bats in this fixture, this had a chance from the outset to be a high scoring game. Richmond started well against veteran hurler Paul Raybould and scored two runs in the top of the 1^st. The Old Timers clearly brought their (metal) bats as they countered with 6 runs off 4 hits from starting pitcher Ian Cox.

Although the Dragons bench got a bit concerned after the first inning, the OT’s hot bats would prove to be a false dawn as the Richmond side settled down and held the opposition to 1 run over the next 4 innings while countering with 10, going into the bottom half of the 6^th with a 12-7 lead.

Cox was now nearing the 130 pitch mark and with reawakened bats from the Old Timers and some unfocused defending from the Dragons allowed another 5 Old Timers to cross the plate before reliever Woo Kim came in and got a fly out to LF Jon Guyett with bases loaded to end the inning.

The Dragons did not break, but bounced back with 4 runs each in the 7^th and 8^th and another solo run in the 9^th to create a cushion going into the last half inning. Although the Old Timers loaded the bases, good situational defense limited the runs and when Old Timers RP Aitken grounded out to Dragons’ 3B Gordon McNeill to end the game, Richmond took a 21-17 win to extend their lead at the top of the division.

Not even an unpleasant situation in the 7^th which ended with an Old Timers player being forcibly removed from the field by his own team could spoil the day for the Dragons.

“We played another solid game with very few errors and good all around play for the second week running”, said Nick Hadley, Dragons’ manager. “The last two weeks we’ve been missing some key players in either game but have still managed to get two strong wins.”

“Our veterans are improving continuously and our newcomers are playing at a very high level. Our team is really coming together and many players still haven’t reached their peak, which is very promising for the play-offs. Still, and most importantly, we’re having fun when we play. Naturally winning makes thing even more enjoyable, but we have a great team spirit which makes our Sundays that much more pleasant.” finished Hadley.

The Mavericks, who had the weekend off now have 3 games to make up in the league compared to the Dragons and face a tough run with games against Braintree, Southampton and Old Timers.

Richmond will field a club team in the London Tournament this coming weekend in Croydon and league games will continue on the 18^th of July when the Dragons travel to Herts to take on the Raptors.

Game notes:

• Team batting leader Allan Moffat’s 4 for 6 day actually lowered his season average. In 7 games he has 18 hits in 25 at-bats for a .720 average and a 1.040 slugging percentage
• Jon Guyett, batting in the third spot for the first time went 2 for 5 and stole a team high 5 bases. He also had three catches in the outfield
• Joel Bamber went 2 for 3 batting in the 9^th spot, raising his season avg by 80 points.
• Per Nilsson-Eklöf sat out this game due to injury, but should return in time for the post-season.