At this time last year the Herts All Stars were on their way to being crowned Under-14 National Champions. The Championship trophy has been held in the Herts trophy cabinet since then and the club doesn’t want to relinquish it. Will they be able to win it again?
Many of the members of the Herts Championship-winning team are now a year older and the club has been able to expand by entering a team in the Under-17 BBF league for the first time in the club’s history. This means that Herts will be battling on two fronts this postseason.
The 2011 Youth National Baseball Championships will be played on the weekend of September 17-18 at Richmond Baseball and Softball Club in West London.
But who will be the combatants? That question has already been settled in the North.
But it’s going to take a bunch of playoff games in the South on Saturday, September 10 to whittle six Under-14 teams and five Under-17 teams down to two teams each.
IN THE NORTH
In the North, the Cartmel Valley and Northwich Baseball Bronco teams have already qualified for the long trip South to the Youth National Baseball Championships, alongside the Halton Polecats and Cartmel Valley Pony teams.
All will be hoping to bring trophies back up the M1 and M6.
IN THE SOUTH
But it will take a playoff round on September 10 to sort out the Southern representatives, with Bronco games scheduled at Finsbury Park and Pony games at Daws Hill at High Wycombe.
At Finsbury Park, the playoffs will begin with the defending champions Herts facing the Essex Atoms and Bracknell clashing with the Essex RedBacks. The winners of these two opening games will go on to play against the London Mets and top seeded LYBL, respectively.
The winners of these two games will progress to the Youth NBC on 17 and 18 September. The losers will face off in a do-or-die game where the winner will also progress to the NBC while the loser will have to try again in 2012.
At Daws Hill, top-seeded London Mets Pony needs to win only one game to qualify. Cobham, Horsham, Essex and Herts will battle it out for the other Southern place at the YNBC.
PLAYOFF SCHEDULE
This evening the British Baseball Federation announced the abovementioned change in the Under-14 playoff format. The change has been necessary due to only one Northern team being able to make the NBC on 17-18 September. As a result an additional NBC spot has been made available to the Under-14 teams in the Southern Conference creating that additional do-or-die game. Here is how the Under-17 and Under-14 schedules stand after this change.
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09:00
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Game 1
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Cobham Cougars U17
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@
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Horsham Hornets U17
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6 innings
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11:30
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Game 2
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Herts All Stars U17
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@
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Essex RedBacks U17
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6innings
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14:00
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Game 3
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Game 2 Winner
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@
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London Mets U17
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6 innings
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14:00
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Game 4
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Game 1 Loser
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@
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Game 2 Loser
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6 innings
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10:00
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Game 1
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Bracknell U14
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@
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Essex RedBacks U14
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5 innings
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10:00
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Game 2
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Essex Atoms U14
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@
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Herts All Stars U14
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5innings
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12:30
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Game 3
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Game 1 Winner
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@
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LYBL U14
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5 innings
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12:30
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Game 4
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Game 2 Winner
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@
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London Mets U14
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5 innings
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15:00
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Game 5
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Game 3 Loser
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@
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Game 4 Loser
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5 innings
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15:00
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Game 6
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Game 2 Loser
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@
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Game 1 Loser
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5 innings
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