Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Careless Dazzlers Count the Cost, Comer's Homers @ Dazzlers 17 May 2010

The Dazzlers played host to Comer’s Homers on Monday night. Having pipped the Homers in Richmond over the weekend, the Dazzlers (plus Hayley from Meteors stepping in at the last minute – thanks!) took to the field with an air of expectation. The game began cagily with both teams giving the other a certain amount of respect, however the Homers settled quicker and over the first three innings took a lead of 6-4. The Dazzlers reacted as if it were 16-4 and their heads started going down. There was a palpable ebb of confidence away from the Dazzlers and this was evidenced by uncommited, sloppy fielding and a general lack of intent when batting and running.

After no score for either team in the fourth innings the Homers took advantage of the Dazzlers’ loss of focus and got three home. This took the score to 9-4, and despite some reasonable hitting in the bottom of the fifth the Dazzlers only managed to score with one runner. The Homers by now were comfortably picking out holes in the field and doubled their score over the final two innings. With the game effectively lost, the Dazzlers seemed to relax and played with much more freedom at the plate to get four home; unfortunately this was too little too late and the game ended in defeat.

To take some positives from the game, there were some good plays. A few nice catches were taken in the outfield; Rob had a great game pitching, throwing strikes at crucial times; some sharp infield plays went down; and at times there was some clean hitting to get on base. However the bad outweighed the good, as indecision, lack of communication, poor execution, and panic crippled the Dazzlers, especially towards the end of the game. Last year we might have got away with this, but the tougher opposition in Minor League Div 1 will punish mistakes, and the Homers proved no exception. Fumbles and overthrows cost the Dazzlers dear in defence and at the plate there was no apparent strategy.

MVP for the night was legitimate businessman Rob Tona, who added some solid hitting to his unflustered performance at the pitcher’s rubber; if only he had been backed up by the fielding he deserved, it would have been a different story.

Last week the story was that there’s no shame in playing well and losing to a better team on the day. This week the Dazzlers lost because they played badly against a team they could have beaten. Perhaps there is shame in that, but a bigger shame would be not to bounce back next week and head to Clissold Park with focus, confidence and HOO-HAH!

Homers 18 (2 x 4 x 3 4 5)
Dazzlers 9 (x 4 x x 1 x 4)

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