Aces High

Dont say it too loud, but the weather is starting to resemble something that is suitable for softball.....

After a visit to Bangor last Sunday where they welcomed the Mariners into the league, the Belfast Angels travel tomorrow (Monday, 7pm) to the windy heights of Henry Jones' field where one half of the Baseball Softball Club await.

At this very early stage of the 2016 season, the Angels are looking up the Softball Ulster standings to Monday evening's opponents, the Aces.

Having already met the Mariners themselves, the Aces flexed their own muscles with a comprehensive 32-12 victory in the opening weekend of the season, matching the Angels' own offensive output last week. Defensively though, the Halos proved to be very stingy, Jonny Craven's pitching and the Belfast fielding not allowing a single run to plate.

After two games, the Angels have already tasted victory and narrow defeat, having matched up against the Mariners and the defending champion Belfast Sliders, losing to the latter in a nailbiter at Standtown Primary a couple of weeks ago.

With 56 runs scored in two games, the Angels have already shown that they have the power to compete with anyone in the league but with the smaller diamond now used by Softball Ulster, a more tactical approach may well need to be utilised in order to make a true challenge for the title in their sophomore season.

Having integrated rookies and former Aviators, the Angels lineup is starting to fall into position but there will no doubt be more jiggling in the order to maximise the power and speed that the men and women in scarlet have in abundance.

After a number of errors in the field cost the Halos the victory in Strandtown, Slevin and Craven are looking for a tighter defensive effort in what can be a difficult park for fielding popups and flyballs. The Aces will be looking to use their homefield knowledge to make sure theyre still looking down the table after the dust settles on Monday evening.