18th May 2008

NBC 9 - Bluesox 3

NBC 15 - Bluesox 5

Game 1

This was the first time Northampton had visited Leicester on their new diamond. The weather was uncharacteristically kind, a light breeze keeping things cool while the sun shone most of the day.

Northampton came to bat, and were retired in order with some slick fielding and quality pitching, but returned the compliment when they took the field. So the game went ubtil the middle innings when NBC started to string together some hits and used their heads on the basepaths to keep out of the customary trouble that has dogged them to date this season.

Marius Urbanavicius was on the hill, and on the money as usual, turning in a strong performance behind some excellent defence from NBC in both infield and outfield.

A tough fought game that saw Northampton edge far enough ahead to take the game 9 - 3, the only down side being an injury to Ron Stewart, who suspects he may have broken a toe.

Game 2

NBC made slight changes for this game, but fielded pretty much the same team as game one. Ernie Ayala took the mound for this game, with Marius changing to shortstop,  Ben Alexander going to short and Tam Tachikawa moving out to third.

NBC started as they intended to go on, getting lively with the bats, stealing bases well and staying smart on the basepaths, and quickly jumping out into the lead.

The game progressed very much that way, with some slick glovework, including a 6-4-3 DP to help Ernie out of an inning, and some good, comfortable fly ball tracking in the outfield with the bare minimum of errors on the day.

Best performance to date by NBC, proving their capabilities. Always a pleasure to play ball with the Bluesox, a relatively young team who show that they are getting there year on year. NBC maintain a close relationship with the Sox which we are sure will continue for a long time to come.

Next game is an interleague matchup away to Brentford Stags on the 25th May, 2 p.m.