Wednesday 28th May
Tangier Field, Portsmouth
The Vikings held off a spirited Sharks comeback to hold on to the victory 18-12 to move to 2-0 on the season.
Tight defence was the name of the game in the opening one and a half innings, with the Sharks not troubling the scorers to start the game. A lead-off double from game MVP Gabriela Dascalescu saw us plate a run in response to move into the bottom of the second with a 1-0 lead.
A crazy second inning opened with other game MVP nominated Tom Anderson get a two-run homer before we moved to two down. Continuing the theme of last week's two-out rallies, boy did we rally! The line moved round with single after single. A triple from Owen Maynard scored the fifth run of the half-inning. The order batted around with Tom scoring his second home-run in the same inning, this time scoring 3 runs. A returning Doug Sutherland got another homer to bring the scoring to a total of 14 for the Vikings.
The Sharks responded with a grandslam homer to get on the board and a quick four at-bat inning got the Sharks back into the box. They managed a concerning 6 runs as they started to mount a comeback as the score moved to 15-10. Nerves were jangling as this time a three at-bat inning came for the Vikings to complete the fourth.
Some composed infield work stemmed the flow of runs in the top of five to keep the score where it was, followed by both Sian Madigan and Dawn Lee hitting in two insurance runs as we headed into the dusk. The Sharks got their runners of base, scored two runs to make the score 17-12. Bases were loaded with two-outs and an outfield shot was tracked down and caught at full speed by Adam Tempest in what was surely a game-winning play. A solitary Sacrifice Fly from Scott Summers in the bottom of the sixth meant the Vikings had to defend a lead of 6 going into the final inning.
Pitcher Owen Maynard took all three outs throwing to first to secure the victory, putting his ankles on the line for the first out to stop the hard comebacker (not sure he had much choice).
Vikings take their first ever league victory over the Sharks and move to 2-0 on the season with a road trip to Southampton next Wednesday to face the Redbridge Raiders.
