No errors, still no win.
Sharks go to summer break hungry.

The Sharks (2-14) had the long road trip north to the capital to play the Butterflies, the Stockholm Monarchs (10-0). And game one started out well enough.
Coleman Lukas scored as Hajarna took a bite of the Monarchs starting pitcher Jakob Claesson (8-0) in the top of the first, scoring on a wild pitch.

As usual, Jason Norderum started game one for Hajarna but the battery had a new look to it. With regular catchers Erik Earnest and Toofan Khazal unavailable, Trolle Brandt got his first taste of catching the lefty. Norderum (1-4) eventually gave up 6 runs (5 earned) in 4.1 innings but had encouraging words for his new catcher.

“He did well. And when he’s playing on tv someday, I get to say that I pitched to that guy”, Norderum says.

The Monarchs tied the game in the bottom of the first, added two in the second and three in the fifth eventually taking game one 7-1.

In the second game, Hajarna managed to get out of it with no errors. Quite an accomplishment for a team that’s had some trouble on defense. The offense, however, was not as fun.

Ted Bratsberg (0-2) started game two and pitched well, giving 3 runs in 4 innings. The lefty tried his best to help his own case, going 3-4 at the plate but to no avail. Stockholms bats did all the work in this one, pouring runs as the game went along and won this one 7-1.

On a more positive note, both John Lachine and Joakim Melin picked up their first Elitserien hits.

“No errors is a huge step forward, unfortunately we had some really untimely hitting today”, head coach Coleman Lukas says.

With the summer break now in effect, the Sharks will have to wait to get a chance for their next win. Next scheduled game is on August 8th but with rumors flying around about Botkyrka pulling out of the league, it might have to wait until August 15th.