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Bright sunshine and beautiful girls in prom dresses greeted Gothenburg as their caravan pulled in to Vidingsjö’s field in Linköping near Stockholm in Sweden this Saturday. Both the blue skies and the blue eyes were a bonus going into the double-header and, considering the Sharks lack of hitting, coming away with one win on the day may have been a bonus too.
But, there is no such thing as luck without effort and a strong effort is exactly what Gothenburg, once again, got from their #1 starter Martin Pennycook. Pitching seven strong innings Martin kept the Sharks swimming in game one despite the offense producing just one run through six innings.
Entering the top of the seventh inning Gothenburg trailed 2-1, needing at least one run to keep the game alive. With patience at the plate, third baseman and new daddy of a baby boy, worked a base on balls. Hitting ninth, left-fielder Jens Mahler hit a sharp grounder toward short which looked like a custom double-play ball which would quench the comeback. Luckily with the combination of batting from the left side of the plate and being quite fleet of foot, Jens motored to first base and beat the relay throw to first. One out.
After a high pop fly for the second out of the inning thing, Sharks second baseman Andy Vanecek stepped into the batters box. On a 1-1 pitch, Vidingsjö’s pitcher threw a wild pitch that allowed Jens to scamper on down to scoring position at second base. “That was a relief to me… once Jens got to scoring position I knew that if I could just get a basehit that we would have a chance to win.”, said Vanecek. On the next pitch, Vanecek drove a solid line-drive double into the leftfield corner scoring Mahler and tying the ballgame.
In the bottom of the seventh inning Pennycook stymied Vidingsjö’s hitters one more time giving Jonny Edgren the chance to win the game in the eighth. Jonny took advantage driving a two-run triple to the wall in right-center. His rbi hit won the game for Gothenburg and earned him the teams offensive player award.
Final score 5-2 Gothenburg.
| Innings |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
Final Score |
| Göteborg |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
| Vidingsjö |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
Game 2
Lacidazical play in the field and complete ineffectiveness at the plate cost the Sharks in the second game. “Too many pop-ups…we’ll be doing a lot of push-ups at practice this week…it worked for Willie Mays Hays..”, said coach Johan Weidolf. It was true. Inning after inning the Sharks went down without a fight.
Quality pitching by Berzad Saudopaulic and Curtis Dionne held Vidingsjö to only two earned runs in seven innings but going into the Sharks half of the seventh they trailed 4-0.
Leading off with a line-drive single to left Andy Vanecek was hoping to spark yet another miracle comeback. Following with a single of his own, Tore Hansson seconded the motion. Though both Andy and Tore came around to score, it was too little too late as the game ended with two men on base and….you guessed it….a pop-fly.
Final 4-2 Vidingsjö
The disappointing offensive performance handed the Sharks their first divisional loss in nearly a year, dropping their record to 7-1 on the season. They now lead second place Vidingsjö by two points.
| Innings |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
Final Score |
| Gothenburg |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
| Vidingsjö |
1 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
X |
4 |
|
