The Herts All Stars knocked out another two teams this weekend and have booked their place in the National Baseball Championships which confirms them as one of the top four teams in Britain.
The Herts Baseball Little League programme has existed only 2 seasons but has managed to turn the 2009 Under-13 National Baseball Championship on its head. The team entered this competition for the first time and was given a wild card entry in the early qualifying playoff rounds as an independent team, which meant that they needed to win six games in a row to become the British Under-13 Champions. There was no room for error. One wrong step and the team's first entry into the National Championships would end abruptly.
Against all odds the Herts All-Stars are not just surviving but are starting to put fear in their opponents. After eliminating Horsham and Bracknell in the earlier round, Herts overcame first the Tonbridge Bobcats and then the Brentwood Bucks on Saturday at the home of the London Mets in Finsbury Park.
This means that the Herts All Stars will be returning to London on 12 and 13 September for the Finals. Also qualifying for the final are the London Mets as well as the two best Northern teams, Cartmel Valley and Halton.
Four games, four wins. The Herts All-Stars need to win two more to become British Champions. Can they continue to shock British Baseball? The Herts Baseball Newswire will have all the latest news for you, so stay tuned.
More photos from the Playoffs at Finsbury Park, 22 August 2009
| Tonbridge Bobcats at Herts All Stars | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E |
| Tonbridge Bobcats | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 2 |
| Herts All Stars | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 8 | 1 |
| Herts All Stars 16, Tonbridge Bobcats 5 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herts All Stars | Tonbridge Bobcats | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| Mikito Ariga 3b-p | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Harry 1b-p | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carlos Casal Jr 2b | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | James p-ss | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Liam Green p-3b | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | Olu cf | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Lewis Paterson 1b | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Sam c | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Nickolas Martinez ss | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | Kester 2b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Jamie Paterson cf | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | Alex 3b | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Kieran Manning c | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | Adam ss-p-1b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Michelle Johnson rf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Callum rf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (t5) Dan Phillips rf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Mason lf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Charlie Mayhew lf | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| (t5) Lewis Green lf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| TEAM TOTALS | 17 | 16 | 8 | 12 | TEAM TOTALS | 18 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| E: Carlos Casal Jr, Kester, Callum. LOB: Tonbridge Bobcats 3, Herts All Stars 7. 2B: Liam Green, Nickolas Martinez, Kieran Manning, Sam(2), Kester. 3B: Lewis Paterson. SB: Liam Green(2), Nickolas Martinez, Lewis Paterson, Mikito Ariga, Charlie Mayhew, Sam, Kester, James. SB: Jamie Paterson. |
| Herts All Stars | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Mikito Ariga W | 4.00 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 6 |
| Liam Green | 1.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Tonbridge Bobcats | ||||||
| James L | 2.33 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 2 |
| Harry | 1.00 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Adam | 0.00 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| HBP: by James (Charlie Mayhew). . . . . WP: Liam Green(2), Mikito Ariga, James(2). PB: Kieran Manning, Sam. T: 2:00. A: 120. |
| Herts All Stars at Brentwood Bucks | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E |
| Herts All Stars | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 12 | 16 | 1 |
| Brentwood Bucks | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 5 |
| Herts All Stars 12, Brentwood Bucks 4 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herts All Stars | Brentwood Bucks | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| Carlos Casal Jr 2b | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | Stewart 3b-rf | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| Mikito Ariga c | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | Max c-ss | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Liam Green p-ss | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | Sebastian p-c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Lewis Paterson 1b | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | Tom 1b | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Nickolas Martinez ss-p | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Charlie ss-p | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jamie Paterson 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Reiss 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kieran Manning lf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Jamie cf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| (b4) Dan Phillips lf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Alex lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lewis Green cf | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | Dean A rf-3b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| (t6) Michelle Johnson cf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Dean P rf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jose Morillo rf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| (b4) Charlie Mayhew rf | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| TEAM TOTALS | 33 | 12 | 16 | 10 | TEAM TOTALS | 27 | 4 | 10 | 3 |
| E: Liam Green, Max(3), Sebastian, Jamie. LOB: Brentwood Bucks 7, Herts All Stars 7. 2B: Liam Green, Mikito Ariga, Lewis Green, Stewart(2), Tom, Dean A. HR: Liam Green. SB: Carlos Casal Jr(2), Kieran Manning, Charlie Mayhew, Tom, Charlie. CS: Max. SB: Jamie Paterson, Max. |
| Herts All Stars | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Liam Green W | 3.00 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Nickolas Martinez | 3.00 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Brentwood Bucks | ||||||
| Charlie | 3.00 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Sebastian L | 2.33 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 3 |
| WP: Liam Green. PB: Mikito Ariga(3), Sebastian. T: 2:00. A: 101. |