BASEBALL: AFTER a five-week losing streak in June, the Jaguars have bounced back in July with four wins - against Barnsley Strikers and more recently Manchester A's in Sunday's double-header at Halton Field.
The A's, who haven't beaten Halton in three years, were anticipating two close games after the Jags' win against them earlier in the season, but a lot of work has since gone into the Halton offence, with the Jags' pitching becoming stronger and more confident.
Starting for Halton in game one, Chris Hartley dismissed the first three A's for no runs. In reply for Halton, Rob Mills reached, hit by pitch, and scored on a passed ball as the A's pitcher, Liam Dickinson, started shakily. Manchester were held scoreless in the top of the second, as were Halton in the bottom.
Two runs for the A's in the top of the third put the visitors ahead. However, the Jags came back with two of their own in the bottom to go ahead once more, Colin Walton and Rob Mills scoring.
A lead-off single from the A's Danny Allen tied the game once more and with Halton held scoreless, the visitors' fortunes seemed to be changing.
But the well-rehearsed Halton defence got behind Hartley and the A's did not score again as only two Manchester players reached in the last three innings. In the bottom of the fifth, Rob Mills reached, hit by pitch, for the second time in the game.
Advancing on a passed ball, he was moved over to third by Bob Cherneskie's single. Bryan Hulme drew a walk to load the bases for Halton - this heralded a pitching change for Manchester as Paul Fagan replaced the struggling Dickinson.
A single from Nick Bustin and a double by Danny Lloyd scored two in all and Halton were ahead by 5-3 before the inning ended. With Halton scoring a further two in the bottom of the sixth, and Manchester scoreless in the top of the seventh, the game went to Halton, 7-3.
Game two started well for Halton, with Rob Mills striking out the A's lead-off batter, Ronan Dunne, and as the next two grounded out, the Jags went into bat eager to establish a lead which they eventually stretched to 11-3.
Again, Rob Mills dismissed the next three A's, with Danny Allen going for the fences only to be caught out on the boundary by Bustin in centrefield.
Walton, for the Jags, reached on a single, as did Rob Mills. Bob Cherneskie's base hit set the runners going and as Mills slid into home to beat the throw, the Jags scored two and the game ended on the ten-run slaughter rule, 13-3.
With two more league games, both away, the Jags are optimistic about the play-offs on August 23-24 and look forward to ending the season as a winning team.
This Sunday, the Jaguars travel to Bolton Brewers and on August 10, they go to Shropshire Pumas.
* Halton Polecats U17s recorded another good win, 11-8 against Preston Mariners, on Saturday.
