The Herts Harriers got their revenge with a win against the London Mets. The two teams met in April in the opening game of the Under-17 league season and agonisingly for Herts the Londoners won it in extra innings. This time Herts came out on top with a 14-7 victory.

Tom Everex-Armstrong was the winning pitcher allowing only 3 earned runs over 4.1 innings and striking out 7 Mets batters. Callum Vangundy came in relief and was very effective pitching the remaining 2.2 innings allowing only 1 hit and no runs to pick up the save.

Vangundy also stood out with the bat with 2 hits, 2 RBIs and 3 runs. This was a game with very few hits and Herts took full advantage of the walks issued by the Mets pitchers.

U17 League: London Mets 7 Herts Harriers 14 (click to view box scores)

Both teams were missing some of their players, which is expected at this time of year, but this does not affect the value of this win for Herts as they moved into first place overtaking both the London Mets and the Cobham Cougars.

The U11 series between the Herts Giants and the Herts Dodgers is now tied after the Giants secured a convincing 15-6 win on Saturday. Before the game the Herts Dodgers were on a 3-game winning streak threatening to take the series beyond the Giants but this win has blown the contest wide open.

Nicholas Durer (4-5), Josh Jones (4-5), James Dullea (3-4) and Lewis Auchterlounie (2-3) stood out with a multi-hit game, but in fact the Giants performed with the bat from the top to the bottom of the batting lineup outhitting the Dodgers 17-10.

Halfwway through the game the Haines family gave both teams a treat with ice-cream for everyone and that seemed to give the Dodgers the boost they needed, but it wasn’t enough to get back into the game.

U11 Series: Herts Giants 15 Herts Dodgers 6 (click to view box scores)

With the start of the school holidays the U11 series will be taking a break over the next few weeks, but it is perfectly poised for a climactic U11 championship decider when the players return from the holidays.

When Herts under-11s played the Essex Redbacks in Richmond a few weeks ago, the two teams contested a pair of closely-fought games. Essex coach Jamie Cairns suggested that we schedule a couple more meetings between the two neighbouring counties. And so, the travelling Herts All-Stars found themselves in Billericay on a glorious, baking-hot Saturday.

I don’t know much about Essex, so I turned to my trusty web browser for some deep background. As a result, I can reveal the following:

1. Essex boasts the sunniest place in the UK. (This comes as no surprise as I inspected my pink legs on Sunday morning.)
2. Essex has the largest population of adders in the UK
3. Stansted Airport in 1983 was the site of the only known theft of Space Shuttle equipment
4. People in Essex are 38% more likely than anywhere else in Britain to be hit by falling aeroplane parts
5. The 1974 Paper Lace hit “Billy, Don’t be a Hero” was written in pub near Brentwood, and if you’re over 45 you’ll be humming it for the next three days
6. Although it might have been more useful to know this before our trip, Essex also has more speed cameras per mile than anywhere else in the world
7. Essex is the home of the oldest door in England, the longest pier in the world, the driest place in Britain, the world’s first public broadcast, the oldest wooden church in the world, and the longest coastline, the smallest town, the largest village and the oldest town in the UK

So it seems that Essex has plenty to offer, if you’re not Chris Huhne, nervous of snakes or running a space programme.

Game One was scheduled for four innings with Herts as the visiting team. Singles by Lewis Auchterlounie and Lucas Lebrato, and a Nicholas Durer hit-by-pitch loaded the bases. Lewis scored on a fielders’ choice with error, and Lucas scored when Josh Jones was also HBP. That was it for Herts, who then took the field with Alex Trautman on the mound. Two quick Ks, but then Essex loaded the bases with a single and a couple of HBPs, before Alex got the third strike-out of the inning. 2-0 Herts.

The second inning was scoreless on both sides, despite singles from Christian Lynch and Lewis. In the third, Alex Trautman and Josh Jones hit singles, both converted into two-base hits with good base running and a fielding error. Joe Gipple hit a line drive single to bring Josh home, and a combination of a single from Alex Jones and a ground rule double from Lewis Auchterlounie brought the third run as Herts took a 5-0 lead. Some good control from Alex Trautman again shut out the Redbacks.

Into the fourth. Nicholas Durer was again hit by a pitch, and some good batting by Alex Trautman, Josh Jones, Joe Gipple and Jonathan Wakelam brought four more runs. Josh Jones then took over as pitcher, and disposed of Essex with a strikeout, a 1-3 groundout and a flyball caught by Lucas Lebrato.

After a break for lunch and plenty of water, it was time for game two. This was a three-inning contest, with Herts now the home team. Josh Jones continued with pitching duties. Essex scored their first run of the day through some good hitting and a couple of fielding errors, and were 1-0 up in the middle of the first. Herts again dominated with the bat, with singles from Joe Gipple and Christian Lynch and doubles from Lucas Lebrato, and Josh Jones.

Christian Lynch now came on to pitch, giving up three hits and three runs as Essex found some form with the bat. In reply, another double from Lewis Auchterlounie started the ball rolling for Herts, followed up with hits for Alex Trautman, Joe Gipple, Jonathan Wakelam, Alex Jones and Nicholas Durer (finally connecting with his bat rather than his chest). Lucas Lebrato fired a big ground rule double to score the maximum fifth run and leave Herts 10-3 ahead.

There it remained as Christian picked up three strike-outs to close out the game.

These were two fairly comprehensive wins for Herts; the difference between the two teams was probably the speed and accuracy of Herts’ pitchers. We are fortunate to have a number of good pitchers on the Herts roster, whose skills have been sharpened over the season in the regular tussles between the Dodgers and the Giants. There were some good performances at the plate, too, particularly from Lewis Auchterlounie, 4-4 in the day (and climbing up the batting averages as a result), Josh Jones (3-3 and 4 RBIs), Joe Gipple (4-5) and Lucas Lebrato who hit two doubles and claimed two RBIs.

Another Dodgers/Giants battle takes place this coming Saturday. This will be followed the following week by a return fixture when the Essex Redbacks come to Hertfordshire. We can’t offer snakes, tumbling aeronautical components or even much in the way of a coastline, but we do provide a warm welcome, quality doughnuts and a stiff northerly wind.

Game Statistics

Season Statistics

The Herts Harriers secured two wins at the Forest Glade Redbacks which keeps them firmly in the race for top spot in the BBF Under-17 League. Despite missing several players, they won both games convincingly 13-3 and 23-4. They are now tied in second place with the reigning champions Cobham Cougars and half a game back on the leaders London Mets with a direct clash between Mets and Herts still to be played.

In the U14 league the Herts Cardinals suffered losses against the Redbacks but there were many positives to take from the game, including a good pitching outing by Ben Jones, who also managed to hit a double in a game when the Redbacks pitchers dominated.

U14 League (Game 1): Herts Cardinals 0 Forest Glade Redbacks 15 (click to view box scores)

U14 League (Game 2): Herts Cardinals 0 Forest Glade Redbacks 10 (click to view box scores)

A full report of the U11 encounter between Herts and the Redbacks can be found here.