Weekend Irish League roundup
Saturday May 5th

This weeks guest reporter: Darran O'Connor (Spartans)

Darran's weekend roundup

Saturday saw the Spartans visit the Blacksox in Shankill in what was a repeat of the 2006 'A' and 'B' league finals.

In the A league, both team entered the weekend undefeated making this a top of the table clash. The Spartans jumped to an early 2 run lead in the first inning by putting the Blacksox defence under pressure with strong hits and aggressive baserunning. The Blacksox never got their bats going and were overpowered by Andrei's pitching. In the end he amassed 11 strikeouts, conceded no runs and gave up only 2 hits in 7 innings. The Spartans bats continued to fire and scored 6 runs off 9 hits to stay top of the A table. Spartans 6, Blacksox 0.

In the B fixture, both teams failed to convert their enthusiasm into solid performances with defensive errors occurring frequently. Glen Poor of the Blacksox dominated the Spartans in the early innings and that, along with their aggressive offence, should have been enough to see off
the Spartans. But, like the name suggests, the Spartans never roll over and a grand slam home run from Toni Lopez in the 5th inning gave them a glimmer of hope. The Spartans took a one run lead into the 6th but failed to close the door and bled three more runs in the bottom half of the inning. In the last inning the Blacksox shut down the Spartans and held onto their 2 run lead. Spartans 14, Blacksox 16.

In other games, Hurricanes travelled to Belfast and defeated the Northstars 7-5 with Tom Kelley hitting a home run. The Mariners hammered the Twins 21-6 in Corkagh Park.

By Darran O'Connor

More on the Hurricanes victory

Upcomming games:
May 19 11:00 Shanganagh Park
A Mariners v Spartans
May 19 14:00 Shanganagh Park
B Mariners v Spartans

May 20 11:00 Corkagh Park
A Hurricanes v Black Sox
May 20 14:00 Corkagh Park
B Hurricanes v Black Sox


Other links of interest -
The 2007 Irish League preview
The opening weekend review

If you would like to get involved with Baseball Ireland at any level, Adult or Youth, or would like to support the game in Ireland, please refer to this link.

Comments