“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish”.

That might be the phrase ringing in the ears of the Herts Hawks after they dug themselves out of an early hole to win their playoff match-up against friends and club-mates, the Herts Londoners.

The two teams faced off at Grovehill on Sunday (September 4th) in the first round of the Single-A playoffs. This seven-inning game was the first playoff derby for Herts since 2016, and the first time since 2019 the club had a side reach the BBF post-season.

The visiting Londoners struck first, and struck hard. Leadoff man Hunter Devine doubled and stole third, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Sonam Lama. A double by Greg Bochan and a triple from Norman Peng helped bring in the maximum 5 runs.

In reply, the Hawks also got their leadoff man aboard, Harry McMenamin. He ultimately came home on a throwing error, but would be the only run of the inning. It was 5-1 Londoners.

The visitors threatened again in the second, but scored only one. They suffered a setback when Devine was thrown out stealing second base thanks to a move by pitcher Ken Pike which the Londoners thought was illegal. There was a long debate – with both dugouts consulting the rule-book – but the umpire did not see a balk, and no amount of debate changed that fact.

The powerful Hawks offense then got into gear in the bottom of the second. Paul le Guillou hit a double and Pete Hogg a triple, and the home side brought in 4 runs.

The Londoners loaded the bases in the third but couldn’t get a run across the plate. The Hawks saw their chance, and jumped into a 7-6 lead. Antony Lavender and Jack O’Brien were among those doing the damage, and chasing starter Andrew Slater from the game.

Hawks extended their lead to 9-6 in the fourth but the Londoners were not rolling over. A single from Bochan – who ended the day 4 for 4 – got them started, and they loaded the bases again. This time, they would capitalise. Devine was hit by a pitch to bring home one, while Zak Beller’s hit scored Arnie Longboy and Nic Goetz. Momentum had switched.

Now it was the Londoners who were 11-9 up, and in the driving seat. Goetz was pitching in relief and, for the first time, the visitors kept the Hawks off the board in the bottom of the fifth. This game was always going to be close, now it was tense, too.

The home side turned to their bullpen, and Giuseppe Basilea did the business. The former Herts youth player, only recently returned to the club, struck out two and induced a flyout to record a scoreless inning.

A Dale Hardwick single in the bottom of the 6th chipped into the Londoners lead, driving home Lavender. In return, a sac fly from Beller brought home Lama to tack a run back on. Going into the bottom of the seventh and final inning, Herts Londoners led the Herts Hawks 12-10.

The final and decisive rally was started by Todd Neville, hit by a pitch to lead off. Then Pedro Martins singled. McMenamin got another hit — and by the time he had stolen his way round to third base, he represented the winning run. Nobody was out.

As the Hawks dugout shouted for calm, they knew they were touching victory. Cam Schultz grounded out, but there was no way to stop McMenamin racing home on the play to be mobbed by his team. A 13-12 walkoff win.

The Hawks will travel to Bristol for their playoff semi-final, where they will face the Formosa Islanders on Saturday (10th September).

We are now counting the hours until the Herts Hawks and Herts Londoners play in the Single-A League Playoff Quarter-Final this Sunday, 4 September.

The last time a Herts baseball team qualified for the BBF postseason playoffs at any league level was 2019. This may not sound like a very long time ago but for a club of the size of Herts with five teams competing in the various league tiers of British baseball, this feels like an eternity.

The format and seeding meant that the two Herts teams were drawn to play against each other. Herts fans would have preferred to see the two teams meet much later in the postseason, but they will have to accept that one team will be eliminated on Sunday.

Herts teams have met in the postseason only once in the club’s history. That was in 2016 when the Herts Hawks eliminated the Herts Raptors once again in the Single-A league quarter-final, pictured above.

This year the Hawks (20-5) dominated their division and secured their playoff place a few weeks before the end of the season, while the Londoners had to grind out results and go through a nail-biting experience right down to the last games of the season which saw them finish above the reigning national champions, the London Mustangs, only thanks to a better head-to-head run differential as they both ended the season with identical records of 18 wins and 8 losses.

Some would argue that the Hawks have the advantage as the Londoners must be physically and emotionally drained from that intense race. Others may say that this gives the Londoners an advantage as they are going into the game firing on all cylinders.

Both teams have many pitching options so it is difficult to predict the starting pitchers. For the Hawks, player-manager Ken Pike seems like the obvious choice having pitched the highest number of innings this year, but they also have Declan Carlean, Harry McMenamin and Luis Martins who have all been effective on the mound this season.

Andrew Slater has been the starting pitcher for the Londoners in 10 of their regular season games followed by Nic Goetz (7) and Greg Bochan (6).

Offensively, the Londoners have their big hitter, Gilberto Medina, who is the league’s joint home run leader with 3 as well as some very consistent hitters like Cory English (BA .750), Simon Langton (.700) and Kenny Liao (.691).

Danny Preston and Todd Neville have shown home run power this season and there are a number of other hitters with impressive batting averages like Paul le Guillou (.636), Harry McMenamin (.625) and Jack O’Brien (.529) but the one batter who the Londoners have painful memories of is Anthony Lavender who hit 3 triples when the two teams met in May. The Hawks won those two games 14-9 and 12-11.

The Hawks also have history on their side having appeared in the Postseason before – in Single-A (2015 and 2016) and Double-A (2017 and 2018) lifting the Single-A national championship trophy in 2016 (pictured above).  This was one of only three national championships for Herts teams over the club’s 26-year history.  The Herts Londoners were formed in 2019 and this will be their first postseason appearance.

Admission to the game is free.  Fans are advised to bring their own chairs or other seating as currently there is no spectator seating at Grovehill Ballpark. Fans who are not able to watch the game in person, can follow the play by play live on the BBF website.

The British Baseball Federation has approved the joint application of the Herts Hawks and the Herts Londoners to move the Single-A League Playoff Quarter-Final game between the two teams from Williams Field in Kent to Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead.

The date of the game has also been changed and it will now be played on Sunday, 4 September 2022, with a first pitch at 12pm.

The plate umpire will be Chris Goldsmith. The base umpire will be confirmed in due course.

Admission to the game is free.  Fans are advised to bring their own chairs or other seating as currently there is no spectator seating at Grovehill Ballpark.

The British Baseball Federation (BBF) has announced the Playoff matchups confirming that the Herts Hawks and Herts Londoners will face each other in the quarter-finals of the BBF Single-A League Playoffs.

Single-A (South Central B)

Pos	Team	W	L	Pct	GB
1	Hawks	20	5	0.800	0
2	Islanders	14	12	0.538	6.5
3	Minotaurs	12	14	0.462	8.5
3	Dukes	12	14	0.462	8.5
5	Raptors	1	25	0.038	19.5

The Hawks have dominated their division and booked their place several weeks ago.  The Londoners played their final games of the regular season on 14 August and at that point they were almost certain of a place in the Playoffs regardless of what the reigning Single-A League National Champions, the London Mustangs, did in their remaining games by virtue of a better run differential in the direct games between the two teams.

However, the Herts team had to wait until last Sunday’s round of games involving other teams as there was a scenario where the Mustangs could overtake them due to a peculiarity in the tie-break rules. The Herts Londoners have a better record than the Mustangs in a two-way tie between them, but a worse record than the Mustangs in a three-way tie which would have occurred if the Bracknell Inferno had lost to the London Minotaurs leaving the Inferno, the Londoners and the Mustangs with identical win-loss records of 18 wins and 8 losses.

Herts fans had to endure a tense afternoon on Sunday waiting for game updates as the Minotaurs put up a real fight against the Bracknell Inferno but the division leaders came back late in the game to win it which confirmed Herts Londoners’ place in the Playoffs.

Single-A (South Central A)

Pos	Team	W	L	Pct	GB
1	Inferno	20	6	0.769	0
2	Londoners	18	8	0.692	2
2	Mustangs	18	8	0.692	2
4	Eagles	7	18	0.280	12.5
5	Goldcats	7	19	0.269	13

The Playoff matchups were determined based on the seeding of the teams in the regular season league standings which paired the Herts Hawks and Herts Londoners against each other. The higher seeds are designated as the home teams.

Formosa Islanders (6^th seed) @ Tonbridge Wildcats (1^st seed)

Herts Londoners (5^th seed) @ Herts Hawks (2^nd seed)

Kent Mariners (4^th seed) @ Bracknell Inferno (3^rd seed)

All three games were scheduled to be played on Saturday, 3 September, at the home of the Kent Buccaneers in Hadlow, Kent.

In view of the two Herts teams being drawn to play against each other and given the cost of living crisis which players and fans are facing at the moment, last night Herts Baseball Club submitted an application to the BBF to move the game to Grovehill Ballpark in Hertfordshire and avoid Herts players and fans spending hundreds of pounds on fuel.  The application also requests the game to be moved from the Saturday to the Sunday, 4 September, to avoid a clash with youth baseball events.

The club is awaiting BBF’s decision and will keep supporters updated when a confirmation is received.