Longest road trip of the season.
No worries, as the Sharks flew home on pink, fluffy clouds.
“Much needed victories”, coach Edgren says.

The Bombers(?) of Stockholm, commonly known as the Stockholm Monarchs (0-3), was blown away on Saturday. Göteborg Hajarna (2-2) went up smelling blood, wanting to erase the regional losses to Karlskoga a couple of weeks back.

The Sharks were a bit nervous if they would field a team at all, but long awaited season debuts from Hiballa Nabi and Josef Hussein got the Sharks out there.

Swirvin Shervin Shakki guided the Sharks on Saturday.

Shervin Shakki guided the Sharks right out of the gate as he walked, stole second, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a balk. A lead the Sharks would not look back from.

Mokhlad Al-Ghamini (1-1) earned his first win of the season opened the game, pitching well in to the fourth inning. Al-Ghamini then ran in to trouble, walking the bases loaded and gave up four runs on an error and a base hit.

But no worries.

Al-Ghamini got his control back and struck out the last two batters in the inning. He finished the game striking out 11, walking 7, giving up 7 runs (4 earned) over 6 innings, as he earned that elusive first w.

Offensively, the Sharks took a 4-0 lead in the second inning before they lit up the scoreboard with five runs in the fourth, six in the fifth and six in the sixth to end the game with the mercy rule. Final score? 21-6.

“We wanted to be patient at the plate today, we did that today”, Coach Edgren says.

The Sharks started the second game quite similar to the first. The always humble Coach Edgren singled with two outs, stole second, took third on a past ball and was brought in on Al-Ghaminis single.

Shervin Shakki (1-1) started game two, maybe feeling some butterflies himself. Shakki uncharacteristically gave up a run in the first before settling down. After that, it was all easy peasy lemon squeezy for young gun Shakki through five innings as he struck out 1, walking 3 over four innings.

Shakki gave the ball to none other than legendary Sharks pitcher Hiba Nabi. Looking for a closer roll this season and if so, he will probably resemble the great Eric “Game Over” Gagne. Nabi was nothing short of stellar in this one, giving up a couple of runs but never giving the Bombers hope.

“It was great to see Nabi and Hussein in Sharks jerseys again. Much needed injection to the team”, Coach Edgren says.

“Winning is better than losing”, as Gothenburg legend Jason Norderum used to say.

The Sharks bats woke up for real in the sixth, scoring six runs. The real highlight of this one was Al-Ghamini hitting a liner over the head of the bomber in left field and scoring on an inside the park home run.

Notables: Toofan Khazal again provided the Sharks with great defense behind the plate as the catcher caught both games.

Niclas Ekström played both games and was not hit by a pitch. Most likely the longest such streak of his career .

Next up: The Sharks play regional ball in Tranås on Sunday. First pitch at 12.00.