Category: Headlines

by AspiDimitrov

HERTS LITTLE LEAGUERS START PREPARATIONS FOR 2010 BASEBALL SEASON

 

 

 

After the long cold winter the Herts Baseball Little League players returned to the ballpark for the first Spring Training session in preparation for the 2010 season. Apart from returning members, the Herts Little League welcomed many newcomers and all the signs indicate that this will be another great Little league season in Hertfordshire.

As usual at this time of the year the coaches put the players through their paces with a selection of drills focusing on the fundamentals of baseball. There was even time for a quick game and the coaches of the teams were some of the more experienced Little Leaguers. Some of them may be just 11 or 12 years of age, but they certainly sent a message to the Little League coaches who appeared very concerned about their job security.

The Herts Baseball Little League will be announcing more details about the 2010 season shortly.

 

FINAL TOUCHES – SECOND DIAMOND READY FOR BASEBALL

 

While the Little Leaguers were going through their pre-season preparations on the main diamond, Herts Baseball members were fine-tuning the second diamond. With the pitching mound built to MLB specifications and the anchors for the basis firmly in place, the field is now ready for baseball. The most valuable volunteers (MVVs) of the day were Tom Green, Greg Bochan, Marc Martinez, Lawrence Green and Kal Dimitrov.

The first official game which will be played on the second diamond is expected to be a Herts Little League game, while the first adult league games will take place on 23 May when the Herts Hawks play against the Sidewinders and the Herts Raptors take on Tonbridge.

 

by AspiDimitrov

MUSTANGS STAMPEDE OVER RAPTORS

By Raptors beat reporter, Phil Hynes

 

Sunday 18th April, 2010 – the day all of Hampshire had been waiting for. Yes, Opening Day and the mouth-watering prospect of heading down to Mustangs Stadium and cheering on their favourites from the Mustangs II squad and also of the chance of seeing the Raptors rookie line-up they’d heard so much about – short on experience, maybe, but bursting with promise. The day finished with a trouncing of the Herts boys, 31-5, but I fancy if the fixture calendar had allowed the teams to meet again later in the season, then matters would be very different.

 

Raptors and Mustangs by Herts Baseball Club.

 

Played under clear blue skies and, thanks to a distant volcano, free of the noise of nearby Southampton Airport, it really was a great way to start the season. The Raptors, immaculate in their pristine white uniforms, were immediately put under notice that they were perhaps outgunned as the Mustangs piled on run after run in the first couple of innings. It was very obvious to this observer which team had the most experience under their belts. While the Raptors suffered various mishaps the Mustangs profited from a good, strong pitcher – Herts will face few of his calibre in the months ahead.

 

However, in the top of the 3rd the pitching colossus faltered. The Raptors sensed weakness and went to work – all nine of the line-up went up to the plate with Phil Hynes having the pleasure of two appointments at the business end of things. During this most joyous of spells we saw majestic hits from Bryan Drummond, Jeff Witter & Tom Green. We saw the opposition waver and issue five  walks as the Raptors raw pluck threatened to upset their day. Swing away by Herts Baseball Club. We saw Will Belbin take one for the team with a ball pitched straight to his ribs, nary a flinch was spotted as he strode down to 1st base. The Herts baserunners were ever ready to take advantage of pass balls, as well as a speedy steal by Rob Jones. When the smoke of battle had cleared Jones, Drummond, Witter, Green and Jim Arnott had all crossed the plate. At that point, anything seemed possible.

 

Unfortunately that was our moment in the sun, a fleeting pleasure as we were quickly reacquainted with the Mustangs dominance. The rest of the game offers various memories – Jones doing a ‘Hollywood’ diving catch somewhere between his post at 1B and the pitching mound, afterwards he combined with Phil Gover for a pinball-style 'double catch',  Arnott’s easy assurance with a couple of tricky catches and a good hit into the outfield, old veteran Witter urging on his young charges – whose heads never dropped however lopsided the score became – and also giving the ball a good clout a couple of times, the obvious massive potential shown by the unflappable duo of Gover at 3B and Bobby Gould at SS, the natural way Drummond took to captaining the outfield, the almost superhuman endeavours of Green behind the plate who really bust a gut for five innings before being replaced by the equally steady hands of Belbin. I think between those two we have found a fantastic catching platoon. The sun hampered Hynes in left-field but he made valiant efforts to track down fly balls. We also had the pleasure of idly wondering if one of the several foul balls would wing it’s way onto the M27. If you ever fancy adding to your collection of baseballs the undergrowth betwixt hard shoulder and the ballpark will yield a rich harvest.

 

The mercy rule was invoked in the 7th with the Raptors a full 26 runs behind their opponents.  There was a very brief hope that the relief pitcher who came up for the Mustangs might stink — unfortunately the 3 strikeouts he racked up indicate that he doesn’t! I think it’s a testament to the great  spirit of the Raptors that every single one of them would have gladly played on until the end of the full 9 innings and there was not a single show of tension amongst the unit at any point during what many other teams would have found a trying day.

 

At the end we heartily congratulated the well deserved victors and also the plate umpire, who I have to add had a great day, but I suspect we all walked away knowing that sooner or later the Raptors are going to ‘click’. I have no doubt that in 2011 many of  the team will be playing with the Hawks at AA level and when the other talent that we have within the roster becomes available then I confidently predict the Raptors will be winning more than they lose by midway through the season.

 

Next up is Chelmsford at home and I’ll warrant, with the applying of the lessons learnt at Southampton, that the scoreline will be a lot closer than 31-5.

 

 

by AspiDimitrov

THIS IS WHERE IT STARTS

Beatiful spring sunshine; a shimmering green expanse of grass, broken only by the orange slash of a home run fence; the steady background hum of the motorway. This was Opening Day for the Herts Raptors, on the road in Southampton. This is where it starts.

Whatever history shows of the season, I can say that I scored the first Raptors run. And that felt good. Mustangs were clearly a more experienced and powerful side but, after falling behind, Raptors battled back. I led off an inning — maybe the fourth — with a walk and then a steal, before the batter and I telepathically went for a hit and run and I scored on a ground ball bouncing through the infield.

Overall my batting was a rally-killer, so apologies to the team for that. Regular readers of this blog — of which I'm sure there are many — know I spent much of last season moaning about my approach at the plate. It's one area where I feel I should do a whole lot better and I needed to be more aggressive yesterday. I shall console myself that I got better each time I had to swing, going from three watched strikes, to a foul tip, to a ground-out. Had I come up again, presumably I'd have got a hit!

My fielding was more successful. I had a couple of unnecessarily dramatic catches of infield pop-ups, and didn't drop anything that came my way at first base (you can tell I have such high expectations). For rookies, the Raptors were really solid in the field. Tom made an excellent debut behind the plate; Phil and Bobby made tough plays look easy from third and short; and Jim made a really good over the shoulder grab at second base. William was our second debutant catcher of the day and he did a fine job blocking my debut effort off the mound. But more of that another time….

No feeling could have been better than winning, especially winning against the odds, but there were plenty of smiles as the Raptors packed up for the day. We did not beat ourselves and, in fact, we made some really good plays. And perhaps more importantly, we had the same spirit that the team had last year — to play our best, and to have fun doing it.

 

by AspiDimitrov

FALCONS SWEEP IN SEASON OPENER

This article was first published on www.britishbaseball.org

by NBL Special Reporter Simon Fitzjohn

Blowout victories, last-inning fightbacks and the arrival of three new teams highlighted Opening Day of the BBF's National Baseball League on Sunday, April 18.

With Southampton, Mildenhall and Essex making their top-tier debuts, there was an extended schedule of eight matches, with plenty of surprises.

Bracknell @ London Mets

Defending champions Bracknell Blazers locked horns with fellow heavyweights London Mets in the pick of the day's action at Finsbury Park, with both sides forced to settle for a game apiece in a wildly contrasting doubleheader.

Game One saw the Mets sneak a 4-3 verdict, backed by a sterling pitching effort from Jason Roberts, with Henry Collins taking the loss.

But Bracknell bounced back in fine style in Game Two, scorching the Mets to the tune of 15-2.

Truth be told, this was far from a masterclass, with a catalogue of errors peppering both contests. Bracknell committed nine errors in Game One alone and Blazers coach Rob Rance admitted he was happy to take a share of the spoils.

He said: “I am sure the London Mets are going to provide our strongest competition this season, so I am pretty happy. We were missing six starters for a variety of reasons so I am very pleased with how we dug in. They were not great games in any way and we made far too many errors, but to bounce back like we did is very satisfying.”

Mets coach Alex Pike echoed those thoughts: “I think it was a case of ironing out the bugs. We made a lot of errors and we did not really hit well. We got the win in Game One but they were much better than us in Game Two. They were two very ugly games of baseball and we just had to get them out of our system.”

Richmond @ Croydon

There was a surprise in Croydon as the Croydon Pirates, who went the whole of last season without claiming a single win, split their doubleheader with the Richmond Flames.

Even more impressively, the Pirates bounced back from a 23-3 hammering in Game One to record a thrilling 6-5 win in Game Two.

Cody Cain claimed a comfortable win in Game One for the Flames, with Jose Sosa taking a pounding for Croydon.

But all that changed in Game Two as a Michael Azuya two-run home run set the Pirates on their way to a comeback victory, earning Tim Ssali the win with Mike Osborn taking the loss.

Understandably Croydon coach Dave Ward was delighted: “In one weekend we have beaten what we achieved in the whole of last year. I am absolutely over the moon. Everyone has worked so hard over the off-season and in training and this is a reward for that work. Last year was completely dismal but hopefully we can look forward with some confidence this year.”

Mildenhall @ Essex

New boys Mildenhall Bulldogs wasted little time signaling their intentions, brushing aside the Essex Arrows in both games of their opening set at Waltham Abbey.

The Bulldogs cruised to 16-5 and 11-1 wins, with Brandon Blide earning the win and impressing at the plate in Game One (Richard Chesterton taking the loss) and Jason Coffee hurling a gem in Game Two.

Mildenhall coach Gabriel Macias insisted his side were not simply joining the NBL to make up the numbers. He said: “We love competition and we will really be going for it this season. We are really excited to be playing at this level and we aim to make our mark.

“The key for us was hitting,” Macias continued. “We put together a few good innings and scored runs consistently throughout and defensively we were sound. We just had a good day all round and it was pretty rough on Essex.”

pictures by www.hp2photographic.com
Southampton @ Herts

Fellow debutants Southampton Mustangs did not enjoy their opening series quite as much, suffering 8-7 and 12-0 losses at Herts Falcons.

But the new boys will take heart from their Game One performance, where they scored three runs in the top of the seventh and had the bases loaded before a groundout ended their rally.

Chuck Truelson took the loss, with Herts' Dan Kerry claiming the win, while Oscar Sierra clubbed a three-run shot for the visitors.

Things went downhill for the Mustangs in Game Two, with Pete Kikel pitching an impressive complete game shutout for Herts as the Mustangs fell apart.

Despite that, Southampton's Ben Davis saw plenty to encourage him: “We fell short in Game One, which was pretty heartbreaking, but there are plenty of positives we can build on. We did not let ourselves down in any way at all.

“Game Two we will wipe out of the memory,” Davis continued, “and quickly. The key for us this season is to try and compete in every game. We want to prove the BBF were right to bring us into the league.

The Falcons' Jason Greenberg admitted it was a case of job done for his side.

He said: “We won both games and we are very happy with that. I thought Southampton had a good squad and I think it is great they are in the league. Obviously, we will get a better indication of where we are at when we play London next week but we cannot ask for more than two wins on opening day.”

by AspiDimitrov

BBC RADIO TO FEATURE NBL SEASON OPENERS
  The opening of the 2010 National Baseball League season will be covered extensively this weekend by BBC Radio London, who will do live interviews with players and managers during the station's Sunday Sports Show from 2.00-6.00 pm on Sunday, April 18.  
The station will put in calls to NBL teams as doubleheaders are ending at Finsbury Park (Bracknell Blazers at London Mets), Croydon (Richmond Flames at Croydon Pirates), Waltham Abbey (Mildenhall Bulldogs at Essex Arrows) and Grovehill Ballpark (Southampton Mustangs at Herts Falcons), and will carry out post-game interviews on how the games went and how the teams are feeling about their prospects for the season.

A day earlier, on Saturday, April 17, BBC 3 Counties Radio will conduct an interview with Herts Falcons Manager Jason Greenberg around 5.30 pm to preview the new NBL season.

The coverage is part of an ongoing initiative between the BBF and the BBC that should result in good publicity for British baseball as a whole and the NBL clubs in particular.

by AspiDimitrov

2010 OPENING DAY – “THE SHOW” IS ABOUT TO BEGIN

Article by Matt Smith, lead writer at www.baseballGB.co.uk

The 2010 National Baseball League (NBL) season gets underway this Sunday, April 18  British baseball’s premier division contains eight teams this year, including three teams new to the top tier.  Each club will play a 28-game schedule made up of four fixtures each against the other seven teams over a period of fifteen weeks.

The top two teams will automatically qualify for the National Baseball Championships (NBC), a double-elimination tournament scheduled for the weekend of September 4-5.  The teams finishing third to sixth will play single playoff games (3rd v 6th, 4th v 5th) to determine the other two entrants to the NBC.

The NBL promises to be a fascinating competition and there is a real sense of optimism that this season could be one of the most competitive we’ve seen for many years. The mixture of established NBL teams and newcomers should make for many intriguing storylines as the season unfolds.

Time to introduce the eight teams.

Courtesy of www.event-photos.co.uk
Bracknell Blazers (2009 NBL Champions) website

2009 will go down in British baseball history as the year in which the Bracknell Blazers broke their 17-year duck and secured a championship at the highest level for the first time. The Blazers finished third in the NBL regular season with a 14-10 record and stormed into the National Baseball Championships riding a five-game winning streak. A defeat to the London Mets in their opening NBC game meant that the Blazers couldn’t afford to lose again — and they didn’t. The Blazers won three games on the final Sunday, eliminating the Herts Falcons and Mets and then coming from behind to beat the Richmond Flames 16-4 in the Grand Final.

Although they’ve lost an important veteran in former Great Britain player (and Baseball on 5 pundit) Josh Chetwynd, the likes of the Trask brothers remain and having had a taste of success, they are sure to want to get to the NBC again and retain their hard-won title.

Opening Day: a doubleheader away to the London Mets.

Courtesy of www.event-photos.co.uk
Richmond Flames (2009 NBL runner-up and NBL regular season Champion: 17-7) website

Until destiny favoured the Blazers, 2009 looked like being the year of the Flames. Richmond finished the regular season with a 17-7 record after sweeping a doubleheader against the London Mets on the final day. The two wins brought them level with the Mets in the won-lost column, and because Richmond won the season series head-to-head against London, they took the NBL regular season title on that tiebreaker. The Flames then won their opening two games in the NBC to qualify for the Grand Final, only for the Blazers to bring their season to a crushing end.

That made it two straight Grand Final defeats. It’s a disappointing record for the Flames, but also shows that they have been one of the very best teams in the country over that period, a point emphasised by fielding the Most Valuable Batter (Ryan Bird) and Most Valuable Pitcher (Cody Cain) in 2009, as awarded by the Great Britain Baseball Scorers Association. Is 2010 the year that the Flames finally finish off their good work?

Opening Day: a doubleheader away to the Croydon Pirates.

London Mets (2009: 17-7) website

After winning back-to-back NBLs in 2007 and 2008, the London Mets fell just short of making it three in a row in 2009. The Mets lost some key players last year from their title-winning team, particularly towards the end of the regular season and for the NBC. Although it didn’t match up with their recent successes, a second-place regular season finish was still a very worthy achievement and the team based at Finsbury Park will be a threat once again in 2010.

Opening Day: a doubleheader at home against the Bracknell Blazers.

Courtesy of www.event-photos.co.uk
Herts Falcons (2009: 12-12) website

The Herts Falcons had a very creditable first season in the NBL in 2009 following their promotion as 2008 AAA League champions. Nobody knew quite how they would cope with the step-up in standard, but winning three of their first four games helped to settle any nerves they may have had and they ended up qualifying for the NBC with a .500 record. After holding their own and proving they belong in the top tier, the Falcons will try to push on in 2010.

Opening Day: a doubleheader at home against the Southampton Mustangs.

Croydon Pirates (2009: 0-24) website

Nobody likes to see a former great crash to earth with an undignified thump, but that’s the fate that befell the winless Croydon Pirates last year. Back-to-back champions in 2004 and 2005 and losing finalists in 2006 and 2007, the Pirates’ 5-19 regular season record in 2008 had already called time on their excellent run and 2009 put the nails in the coffin. Croydon saw a lot of their championship-winning players depart and struggled to replace them, resulting in the team forfeiting a number of games in 2009 due to a lack of NBL-standard players. The only way is up and the Pirates' organisation will now be focused on laying the foundations for a team capable of emulating the glorious 2004-2007 era.

Opening Day: a doubleheader at home against the Richmond Flames.

Essex Arrows (2009: 25-0 in the AAA South) website

The Essex Arrows are one of three teams making their NBL debuts this season. Their perfect regular season record at AAA level last year made them prime contenders to join the top tier and they duly accepted the BBF’s invitation. But 2009 didn’t end in quite the way the Arrows had hoped. Although they extended their winning streak to 26 games by defeating the Liverpool Trojans at the AAA NBC, they were then knocked out of the event by losing to the Harrogate Tigers and Southampton Mustangs. The end couldn’t mar an excellent season and with over 25 years of history, impressive developments at their ballpark and a flair for publicity, the Arrows should be a great addition to the NBL.

Opening Day: a doubleheader at home against the Mildenhall Bulldogs.

Photo courtesy of SA Images
Southampton Mustangs (2009: 21-5 in the AAA South) website

Like the Arrows, the Southampton Mustangs earned a spot in the NBL by rising to the top of the AAA ranks in 2009. The Mustangs put together a very strong season, making it all the way to the AAA NBC Grand Final before falling short to the impressive Harrogate Tigers (champions of the Northern Conference). Their efforts to prepare for the 2010 season received a slight setback when scheduled games against the Bracknell Blazers and Richmond Flames were cancelled in Week 2 of the Herts Spring League; however, they were able to play a couple of games in the tournament and will return to Herts for their regular season Opening Day.

Opening Day: a doubleheader away to the Herts Falcons.

Photo courtesy of SA Images
Mildenhall Bulldogs (2009: AA Champions) website

The Mildenhall Bulldogs made their debut in the BBF leagues last year and they certainly made an instant impact. Alongside fellow United States Air Force (USAF) team Alconbury Braves, the Bulldogs stormed the Midlands League and made their way to the AA NBC. There, the Bulldogs dispatched the Manchester A’s 10-6 in the semi-final and then defeated the Braves 8-1 to win the Grand Final at their first attempt. The Bulldogs' quality was recognised when they were invited to make the big leap right up to the NBL, by-passing the AAA level in the process. Their 2009 form and 2010 Herts Spring League results, including a narrow loss to the Herts Falcons and a 14-3 victory over the Mustangs, suggest that they will not be overawed by the competition.

Opening Day: a doubleheader away to the Essex Arrows.

Photo courtesy of SA Images
Further details

Full details on the NBL competition can be found on the BBF website. All four of the doubleheaders are scheduled to begin at midday (Game Two in each case is scheduled to start at 14.30) and details of the venues can be found on the websites of the Arrows, Falcons, Mets and Pirates.
by AspiDimitrov

OUTSTANDING PERFORMERS IN THE 2010 HSL ANNOUNCED

 

 

Over the three weeks of the Herts Spring League we saw fantastic baseball, great plays, dramatic wins and explosive hitting. The HSL has announced those players who stood out from the rest.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER (MVP)

Shannon Henry (Leicester Blue Sox) – The undoubted star of the HSL delivering in a big way with his bat and also on the mound in the Final against the Sidewinders to pick up the dramatic win and the title for Leicester. His batting stats over the four HSL games were: 3 singles, 3 doubles, 2 triples, 1 home run, 14 RBIs, batting average of .643 and slugging 1.357.

BEST PITCHER – Brandon Blide (Mildenhall Bulldogs) – allowed only 2 earned runs in 13 innings over the course of the HSL (ERA 1.38, K 21).

BEST RELIEVER – Pete Kikel (Herts Falcons) – pitching a no-hitter against the Herts Eagles

BEST CLOSER – Henry Collins (Bracknell Blazers) – picking up the save in the Final against the Herts Falcons.

CATCHER – Jon Mabie (Mildenhall Bulldogs)

FIRST BASE – Tim Elkins (Herts Eagles)

SECOND BASE – Oscar Sierra (Southampton Mustangs)

THIRD BASE –Perez (Mildehall Bulldogs)

SHORTSTOP – John Blose (Mildenhall Bulldogs)

LEFT FIELD – Dan Kerry (Herts Falcons)

CENTERFIELD – Mike Trask (Bracknell Blazers)

RIGHT FIELD – Chris Porter (Essex RedBacks)

BEST PLAY OF THE HSL – John Oliver (Herts Eagles) making a diving catch in right field to stop a Mildenhall rally.

Note: The nominations above were based largely on statistics from the games played at Herts therefore they do not fully reflect the outstanding individual and team performances in the games played at Ham Ground in Richmond.

 

by AspiDimitrov

BRACKNELL AND LEICESTER TAKE THE TITLES IN THE HERTS SPRING LEAGUE
The final weekend of the 2010 Herts Spring League on April 10-11 was blessed with glorious spring weather and fine baseball at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead and Richmond Baseball and Softball Club's field in Ham.
Majors Division

At Hemel Hempstead, Bracknell Blazers captured the Majors Division title by scoring early runs and then holding off the Herts Falcons for a 5-2 win. Mike Trask started for the Blazers, who used four pitchers on the day, combining for five hits and five walks but no earned runs.

Dan Kerry started for Herts and took the loss in a five-inning stint that saw him give up only three hits — but 10 walks proved his undoing.

Ryan Trask had two hits and two RBIs for Bracknell, who served notice that they won't surrender their National Championship title easily in the expanded National Baseball League (NBL) that begins play on April 18.

In the battle for third place in the Majors Division, Mildenhall Bulldogs also made a statement of intent about the coming season by thrashing the Southampton Mustangs 14-3. Both teams have been newly-promoted to the NBL for the 2010 season.
  The Bulldogs took an early lead with three runs in bottom of the first inning, but Southampton soon cut that back to 3-2, and then 4-3.

But six Mildenhall runs in the bottom of the fourth inning put the Bulldogs on the road to an easy win.

Mildenhall first baseman Perez had a homer, a double and six RBIs to lead their attack, wile pitcher Brandon Blide struck out 14 Mustangs in nine innings while surrendering just five hits.

  
Fifth place in the Majors Division went to one of the BBF's new teams this year, Essex Redbacks, who defeated Herts Eagles by 12-7, while Richmond Flames took seventh place with an 11-4 win over the Milton Keynes Bucks.
Majors Division Placings
1 – Bracknell Blazers
2 – Herts Falcons
3 – Mildenhall Bulldogs
4 – Southampton Mustangs
5 – Essex RedBacks
6 – Herts Eagles
7 – Richmond Flames
8 – Milton Keynes Bucks

Minors Division
  The tightest games of the weekend were in the Minors Division, and you'd go a long way to find a more exciting game than the title decider between the Leicester Blue Sox and the Sidewinders.

The Sidewinders led 10-2 after three innings and 15-5 after three, and the title was surely theirs.

But then the Leicester charge began. Six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning certainly chopped the lead, but a Sidewinders run in the top of the seventh meant the Blue Sox still needed five in their last at-bat to tie and six to win. Surely they couldn't stage that kind of rally again…?

Well, they could and did! Six more runs poured across the plate in the bottom of the seventh and Leicester had a wildly improbable triumph.

In a game of 33 runs, Shannon Henry was the pitching saviour for Leicester, holding the Sidewinders to just one run over the final two innings in relief of Richard Hu. Shannon also chipped in with three hits and four RBIs, while Oscar Martinez and Richard Hu had three RBIs each for the winners.

Third place in the Minors Division went to the Windsor Bears, who defeated Richmond Dragons by a score of 18-2.

Guildford Mavericks captured fifth place with a 13-12 squeaker over Herts Hawks, while a bad day for Herts continued (they had four teams in the Majors and Minors playoffs and all of them lost) when London Marauders crushed the Herts Raptors 31-5 to win seventh place.
Minors Division Placings
1 – Leicester Blue Sox
2 – Sidewinders
3 – Windsor Bears
4 – Richmond Dragons
5 – Guildford Mavericks
6 – Herts Hawks
7 – London Marauders
8 – Herts Raptors

All photos by Soody Ahmad.

OTHER HSL LINKS

Full HSL Scoreboard and links to box scores

Group Standings

HSL League Leaders

HSL Batting Stats

HSL Pitching Stats

HSL Running Stats

by AspiDimitrov

BOTTOM OF THE NINTH HEARTBREAK FOR BULLDOGS

The Herts Falcons clinched top spot in their Herts Spring League group in the most dramatic fashion in the bottom of the ninth with two outs in the deciding final game against the hard-hitting Mildenhall Bulldogs. This sets a mouth-watering HSL Final in the Majors division against the 2009 British National Baseball League Champions, the Bracknell Blazers on Sunday, 11 April.

The Bulldogs eased their way to a comfortable 12-2 win against the Milton Keynes Bucks earlier in the day which meant that the final group game between the Bulldogs and the Falcons would determine the group winner. The visitors from Mildenhall managed to take the lead early in the game, but Herts kept coming back to tie the game in the third and dramatically in the bottom of the eighth when newly-recruited Sri Lancan national team centerfielder, Mahendra Prasad, ripped a two-out single into right field to drive in two runs. With two outs and the game tied at 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth Carlos “the Jackal” Casal managed to get to third with his trademark aggressive running, stealing second and then third after getting on base on a hit by pitch. With Casal representing the winning run on third base, all eyes were on Falcons player-manager Jason Greenberg who stepped into the batter’s box. Deep into the count Greenberg made solid contact with a fastball. It seemed that the ball was taking an eternity to come down as the Mildenhall centerfielder was comfortably waiting under it to take the game into extra innings. Most of the fielders were already heading to their bench when the unthinkable happened. The ball popped out of the centerfielder’s glove and Carlos Casal came home to score and win the game for the team from Hertfordshire. After the initial few seconds of joy in winning what was a fantastic game of baseball, the Falcons players visibly tried to subdue their celebrations in an effort to avoid rubbing salt into the wounds of the Bulldogs. Freakish moments like this do occur in the wonderfully unpredictable game of baseball. This may have cost Mildenhall the game and a place in the HSL Championship Game, but on a positive note for them, the law of averages would suggest that they will not make another error like this for a very long time especially judging by their accomplished defensive performance. This, in many ways, is bad news for all the other NBL teams. The HSL games have shown that Mildenhall will be a major player in this year’s National Baseball League.

The weather played havoc with the HSL games in Richmond on Saturday, which means that the Bracknell Blazers finished top of Majors-A group on conceding less runs per game than Southampton. The Blazers will meet the Falcons in the HSL Championship game in the Majors Division. The game will be played at Grovehill Ballpark at 4pm on Sunday 11 April.

Mildenhall will meet the Southampton Mustangs in the Bronze medal game. To determine 5th and 6th place the Essex RedBacks will play against the Herts Eagles, who bounced back on Saturday with a 7-1 win against the MK Bucks in which Darrin Ward pitched a complete 9-inning game allowing only 1 run and 3 hits.

LEICESTER CRUSH WINDSOR AND HERTS TO CLINCH PLACE IN THE HSL MINORS FINAL

Despite losing to the Thames Valley Bisons in week one of the HSL, the Leicester Blue Sox knew that they still had a mathematical chance of finishing top of the group, but they needed to win two games in a row. Their first test was against Windsor and they passed it with flying colours. Next up were the Herts Hawks and although they kept in touch for five innings, they ran out of steam and the Blue Sox took advantage to win convincingly 24-13. Slugger Shanon Henry continued to impress with a home run which went deep over the right field wall. He is 5-for-11 (.545) so far in the HSL with two doubles, two triples and a home run (10 RBIs). The win went to the versatile Richard Hu who got on the mond in the fourth inning to settle the Leicester nerves with the game tied 10-10.

To determine the 2010 HSL Minors Champions, they will play against the Sidewinders who kept up their 100% record with wins against Richmond and Guildford on Sunday.

For more information about the Herts Spring League visit the official HSL website links below:

HSL Scoreboard and Schedule (links to box scores are available for all games played at Herts)

HSL Group Standings

HSL Stats (League Leaders)