The Herts All-Stars sent a clear message to the rest of the country with two convincing wins in the National Youth Baseball Playoffs. They will be making the trip up the M1 motorway to Halton next week for the National Youth Baseball Championships (NBC) as one of the four best teams in Great Britain.
The postseason for the Herts All-Stars started with a game against the Bracknell Broncos. They jumped into an early lead scoring 10 runs in the first two innings. On the mound for them Jesse Reinebold, Nick Martinez and Zack Longboy combined for a one-hitter, allowing only one walk in the process. Charlie Mayhew ended the game with a spectacular leaping catch in right field and so with a final score of 10-0 the boys from Hertfordshire were over the first playoff hurdle.
Next up were the Essex RedBacks and Herts once again put their opponents on the back foot from the start. Leadoff batter Carlos Casal was the first to cross home plate. First baseman Richard Ganster then drove in Mikito Ariga and Nick Martinez with a triple. Jesse Reinebold rounded off the inning with a single to bring a fourth Herts run home in the opening inning. Reinebold then took the mound in the bottom of the inning retiring the side in order. Herts piled on the pressure with three more runs in the second inning on back-to-back-to-back hits by Mikito Ariga, Nick Martinez and Richard Ganster. Ganster proved to be the most productive hitter for Herts with an impressive line over the two games in which he almost hit for the cycle (3-for-4, 2B 3B, 5 RBIs, 4 Runs).
Four more runs came home in the fourth and one in the sixth inning for Herts. At the same time starting pitcher Reinebold and reliever Marty Cullen Jr were outstanding on the mound. They were backed up by solid defensive plays every step of the way.
Over the two games the Herts defense did not commit a single error. Their four pitchers did not allow any runs, struck out 22 batters, allowing only 2 hits and 2 walks.
The second team to reach next week’s Youth National Championships from the Southern Conference is the reigning champion London Mets. The two Northern representatives are the host Halton Polecats and the Manchester Saints. The Youth NBC will start with semi-finals on Saturday, 18 September, the winners of which will meet in the final on Sunday to determine the new British Champions.
Fans of Herts Baseball Club who are not travelling for the event can track the action pitch-by-pitch live via the internet here.
For more images from today’s playoffs, click here.
BOX SCORES – HERTS vs BRACKNELL (Under-14 National Playoffs)
| Bracknell Broncos at Herts All-Stars | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | R | H | E |
| Bracknell Broncos | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Herts All-Stars | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 0 |
| Herts All-Stars 10, Bracknell Broncos 0 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herts All-Stars | Bracknell Broncos | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| Carlos Casal Jr 2b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | V Player 1 p-1b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nick Martinez ss-p | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | V Player 2 c | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (t3) Zack Longboy p-rf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | V Player 3 1b-p | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Marty Cullen Jr c | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | V Player 4 2b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Richard Ganster 3b | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | V Player 5 3b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jesse Reinebold p-ss | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | V Player 6 ss | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kyle Lloyd-Jones cf | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | V Player 7 lf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lewis Green lf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | V Player 8 cf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Charlie Mayhew rf | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | V Player 9 rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jonny Compton-Weight 1b | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| TEAM TOTALS | 12 | 10 | 3 | 2 | TEAM TOTALS | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| E: V Player 4(2), V Player 2, V Player 7. LOB: Bracknell Broncos 1, Herts All-Stars 2. SB: V Player 7. CS: Charlie Mayhew, V Player 3. |
| Herts All-Stars | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Zack Longboy | 1.67 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Jesse Reinebold W | 1.33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Nick Martinez | 1.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Bracknell Broncos | ||||||
| V Player 3 | 1.67 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| V Player 1 L | 0.33 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| HBP: by V Player 3 (Marty Cullen Jr). , by V Player 3 (Marty Cullen Jr). . . WP: V Player 3(5), V Player 1(2). T: 1:20. A: 89. |
BOX SCORES – HERTS @ ESSEX (Under-14 National Playoffs)
| Herts All-Stars at Essex RedBacks | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E |
| Herts All-Stars | 4 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 7 | 0 |
| Essex RedBacks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Herts All-Stars 12, Essex RedBacks 0 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herts All-Stars | Essex RedBacks | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| Carlos Casal Jr 2b | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | S Andrew p-1b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mikito Ariga 3b | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | M Laen-Gay cf-ss | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Nick Martinez ss | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | T Barnes 1b-c | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Richard Ganster 1b-c | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | S Meikle ss-p-1b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Marty Cullen Jr c-p | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | S Yuille rf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jesse Reinebold p | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | (b4) Weston rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (b5) Jonny Compton-Weight 1b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | C Brown 3b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jose Morillo rf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | A Roofe 2b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (t4) Lewis Green pr-rf-lf | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | R Pavelin cf-c | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brodie Caress cf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | M Asher lf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Zack Longboy lf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| (b5) Kieran Manning rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| TEAM TOTALS | 26 | 12 | 7 | 8 | TEAM TOTALS | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| E: A Roofe(2), T Barnes, S Yuille. DP: Herts All-Stars 1. LOB: Essex RedBacks 1, Herts All-Stars 7. 2B: Mikito Ariga, Richard Ganster. 3B: Richard Ganster. SB: Nick Martinez, Jesse Reinebold, Lewis Green. CS: Zack Longboy. |
| Herts All-Stars | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Jesse Reinebold W | 4.00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| Marty Cullen Jr | 2.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Essex RedBacks | ||||||
| S Andrew L | 3.00 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 6 |
| S Meikle | 3.00 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 4 |
| HBP: by S Meikle (Jose Morillo). . . WP: Jesse Reinebold, S Andrew(2), S Meikle(2). PB: T Barnes(2), R Pavelin. T: 1:35. A: 105. |