FALCONS vs REDBACKS (National Baseball League)
Last Sunday the Herts Falcons secured an automatic place in the NBL Semi-Finals and will not have to go through the lottery of the playoffs. Some would say that, as a result, this Sunday’s final games of the NBL regular season are not significant. However, the Falcons will know that they have the opportunity to make history if they can win both games of their doubleheader against the Essex Redbacks.
In its 17-year history Herts Baseball Club has never won the NBL pennant awarded to the team finishing in first place over the course of the regular league season. The Herts Falcons reached the NBL postseason in 2009 and 2012, but they have never won the pennant. They came close last season finishing second behind the Harlow Nationals, one and a half games back with a record of 17 wins and 6 losses.
Before this weekend’s final games the Herts Falcons are tied with the London Mets, however the Mets have an advantage based on conceding less runs in the head-to-head games between the two teams. This means that the Falcons will need to win both games this Sunday to jump ahead of the Mets and win the 2013 NBL pennant. The NBL champion will be determined in the postseason games in September, but for Herts fans picking up the pennant on Sunday would mean a great deal.
The game starts at 12pm on Sunday, 18 August, at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead and a good number of fans are expected to be there.
HAWKS vs MARINERS (Double-A League)
Fans will also be making their way to Grovehill Ballpark to see the Herts Hawks in their final game before the Double-A League playoffs. Southampton’s win against the Kent Mariners last Sunday guaranteed a playoff place for the Hawks so similar to the Falcons, the season is not on the line on the last day of the regular season, but the outcome of the game this Sunday will determine the path which the team will have to go through in the playoffs.
The Hawks currently occupy sixth place. If the team fails to win both games on Sunday, they will stay in sixth place and will face a trip to Guildford in the first round of the playoffs on 25 August. However, if they win both games against Kent on Sunday this put them ahead of Daws Hill Spitfires into fifth place, which means that they would be facing the Sidewinders instead. The Sidewinders have already approached Herts to plan such scenario and due to a clash at their venue, they have proposed that the game is played at Grovehill Ballpark. So there is still a lot to be decided this Sunday.
Game starts at 12pm at Grovehill Ballpark this Sunday.