Tangier Field
Wednesday April 24th
The Vikings came away from Tangier field last night in the waning light of a beautiful sunset in Baffins with a big 41-7 win over the Solent Seals. The Seals were playing their first game under their new guise after rising from the ashes of the Baffins Brewers team that had been a mainstay of the Solent League for many years.
The top of the first inning saw the bases get loaded on three walks to start the game. Doug Sutherland scored the first run of the game despite hitting into a fielder's choice. Outfielder Kath Hewson and Shortstop Stefan Rudeforth were next up, hitting a single and triple to drive home another three runs. Darren Davie added the fifth with a single. The Seals managed to reply with three runs with the score set at 5-3 after the first inning.
Captain Scott Summers set the table with an opening double, joined by Jaane Rowehl on the base-paths with a single. First Baseman Andi Bambeck drove home a run with a nicely hit double into the outfield. Dawn Lee got the second of her five (!) walks of the game to help Doug clear the bases with a three-run double. Kath Hewson drove him home with a double of her own. Two back-to-back outs saw a good two-out push with Darren Davie getting on base, ringer Katie Ellis (on loan from the Pirates) scoring on a one-run double and Scott returning to the plate with drive in two more on a double to bring the scoring to 8 for the inning. He then pitched well in the bottom of the second to reduce the Seals to a single home run and a 13-4 lead going into the top of the third.
A one-run homer from Andi opened up the third inning with Dawn (single), Doug (error) and Stefan (single) loading the bases. Gabriela Dascalescu scored on a walk and Darren adding another on a single. Stefan managed to get home on a fielder's choice thanks to great play from the Seals Shortstop. Scott's first home run of the season cleared the bases and added three runs to the tally bringing the score to 20-4 at the middle of the third inning.
The Seals rallied well and pushed across three runs in response, but with dying light, the Vikings had a half-inning to savour. Despite only one 3-run homer, the Vikings put together 18 hits for an (official) 21 runs to take the score to 41-7. The Seals were ultimately done, and despite getting runners on base, didn't add to their tally.
Notable perfomances came from the bats of Andi Bambeck (1B) with two home-runs and 6 RBIs, Dawn Lee with 5 walks, Kathryn Hewson's three doubles and 5 RBIs.
