Sweeping up in Pool D

Richmond Squires 14 – 22 Guildford Millers

The Guildford Millers had the chance to sweep their second team of the year with the visit of the Richmond Squires to the final regular season home game.

Sitting a comfortable second in Pool D, Guildford welcomed Adam Gould back after a three game break as the starting pitcher. He showed good control and had the back up of his defence to stifle the Squires runs early on. Some new faces turned up for the visitors giving the Millers a look at different pitching. The first few innings went by quickly with both pitchers shutting down the sides and limiting the runs but Guildford took the lead in the third inning and didn’t let it slip.

Everyone got into the action and was involved. The outfielders were kept busy and impressive catches were made, one memorable moment being when right fielder Richard King ran and ran and stuck his glove out for a timely basket catch. Second base woman Laura Bailes slapped a RBI single over the third baseman’s head to help the cause followed up by catcher Ben Stobart ending a slump to record a further RBI hit.

Both the Bawden’s (third baseman Lewis and left fielder Tim) had the bats swinging and the balls flying. Unfortunately, Richmond somehow robbed their best hits from them through fantastic defence – including a diving catch by the Squires impressive short stop that gained a standing ovation from both benches. The away side also grabbed a quality double play late in the game by not just tagging a runner out at second base but on the same play throwing to home plate to tag the third out and prevent the run scoring. You’ve just got to tip your hat on those plays.

The Millers had shown throughout the season that they demonstrate great team chemistry and don’t over think any odd situation they come across. Despite this being a tight affair for the majority of the game, the home side let out a deep breath when a strong mid-innings rally plated 14 runs to the Squires six. Gould showed no signs of tiring and completed the ninth inning with only one away run scoring to end the game 22-14 to Guildford.

The Millers (9-2) travel to meet the Kent Mariners (6-5) next Sunday for the final home game of the regular season. After that, the play-offs await.

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