The U17 Baseball League (South) commences this Saturday as the Herts Harriers travel to the LYBL Bulldogs. Many of the Bulldogs are members of the 2013 Cobham Cougars so this is considered as something of a re-match after the 2013 Under-17 National Championship Final between the Harriers and the Cougars, which Herts lost 6-9.
The U17 Baseball League (South) is a competition which runs during the regular season. It comprises teams from the South of England. The teams are divided into two divisions, Division 1 and Division 2, based on their ranking. Herts will be represented by two teams – the Herts Harriers in Division 1 and Herts Ravens in Division 2.
An All Star team representing the U17 Baseball League (South) is scheduled to enter the Little League qualification competition. That team will meet the team representing the North/Midlands U17 League to determine which team will represent the United Kingdom in the next round. The winner of that encounter will progress through to the Little League European Qualifier which will be held in Novara, Italy. The winner of the Little League European qualifier will fly to the USA for the Little League World Series, which is broadcast live on ESPN around the world. Little League was founded in 1939. Today it is the world’s largest and most respected youth sports organization with more than 2.6 million participants in more than 75 countries across the world.
The Herts Under-12 teams will also be taking part. For that age group the competition remains at a national level and culminates with the Little League UK Championship on 14-15 June which will be played at Farnham Park.
KEY DATES
U17, U15, U13, U12 Little League UK Qualifier – 14 and 15 June 2014, Farnham Park, UK
U17 Little League European Qualifier – 6 to 12 July 2014, Novara, Italy
U17 Little League World Series – 10 to 16 August 2014, Bangor, Maine USA
For more information, games schedule, scores, standings and more visit the U17 Baseball League web pages.