The British Baseball Federation (BBF) has announced the lineup for the first round of the AA League Playoffs for the top teams in the two southern divisions. 8 teams will clash in 4 elimination games this Sunday, 12 August 2012, (postseason seeding shown in brackets).
Croydon Pirates III (8) @ Sidewinders (3), Venue: Enfield
Southampton Mustangs II (7) @ Herts Hawks (4), Venue: Grovehill Ballpark, Herts
London Mammoths (5) @ Poole Piranhas (2), Venue: Poole
Daws Hill Spitfires (6) @ Guildford Mavericks (1), Venue: Guildford
Herts are represented by the Herts Hawks who secured favourable seeding and home field advantage last weekend with a sweep in the doubleheader against direct Playoff rivals, Daws Hill Spitfires. Their opponents this Sunday will be the Southampton Mustangs who finished third in the very difficult Pool A where Poole and Guildford have dominated all year long.
Southampton’s roster features players with NBL experience including first baseman Simon Barnes, pitchers Dave Wrigley and James Norman among others. In fact Norman has already played in a postseason game at Grovehill Ballpark back in 2004. He was wearing the Bournemouth Sharks jersey at that time and faced the Herts Falcons in a memorable game which the Falcons came back from behind to win 9-8 with a walk-off run driven in by John del Borrello in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Many of Herts’ teams have played in the postseason at various league levels, however this will be the first time that the Herts Hakws will appear in a postseason game. They will go into Sunday’s game with a 5-game winning streak and will also have the advantage of playing at their home, Grovehill Ballpark, in Hemel Hempstead. The game will start at 12pm.