This week saw Yeovil Whirlwinds face the trip to their Somerset rivals Wellington Khaki Sox for a double header. Having faced defeat earlier in the season Yeovil were keen to make amends, no easy feat against a Wellington side that now boasts several AAA standard players from the now defunct Somerset Rebeldes.
Khaki Sox started strongly, with AAA pitcher Miguel keeping Yeovil scoreless and Wellington adding 5 runs in the first innings. Backs against the wall immediately and facing a very strong Wellington side Yeovil did all they could to keep the game competitive.
After the first innings and following some sporting advice from the experienced Wellington pitchers, Yeovil’s Jack Amphlett, pitching in only his 3rd game for Yeovil Whirlwinds and backed up by some excellent fielding, kept it tight, restricting a rambunctious Wellington side as much as possible.
It was, unusually for Yeovil, batting where the Whirlwinds struggled. Facing pitching of this standard was a great learning curve for the whole squad and some good patient at bats from Yeovil ensured the Whirlwinds managed to rally late and get 4 runs on the board. Unfortunately, this was to no avail as Khaki Sox racked up 12 runs. Final score in game one was 12-4 to Wellington.
Game two saw a change in pitching for Yeovil with Toby Richards coming in.
However, unfortunately for Yeovil, Wellington’s ruthlessness with the bat continued and they were able to rack up the maximum amount of runs in their first two innings at bat.
Dogged as ever, Yeovil rallied in the field and with the bat, some excellent pitching from Toby and great hitting from Glen, Jack, Dave and Jess clawed back some of the Khaki Sox lead. In the 5th innings Jess hit out to left field driving in 2 runs and finding her way to second base in the process, this was later voted “play of the day” by her Whirlwinds teammates. This brought the score to 12-10 to Khaki Sox and the game looked as if it could go either way.
Khaki Sox were able to mount a rally and scored 9 runs in their last two innings, Whirlwinds could only muster 2 in reply.
Final score in game two was 21-12 to Wellington Khaki Sox.
As always Wellington were great hosts. A brilliant day of baseball played with the real spirit of the game, we look forward to a visit from Wellington in August at our home field.
Yeovil Whirlwinds return to training Tuesday evening at 6:45pm at Bradford Abbas sports and recreation club, all are welcome. Whirlwinds’ next game is a double header at home to Newton Brewers next week, Sunday 10th July, first pitch is at 11. Something to look forward to!
Jess Cullen (4/7/22)