The third and final week of Herts Spring League action was completed this weekend. With the NBL teams turning their attention to the opening day of the 2013 league season the games involved the AAA and AA League teams.
AAA
The MK Bucks finished the HSL in style with two more wins to complete a perfect 4-0 record clinching this year’s HSL AAA championship. They first needed to do battle with the London U16 team which will be heading to the Pony tournament in Prague, Czech Republic. The youngsters form London put up a good fight but at the end the 2012 AA national runners-up from Milton Keynes came out on top in an exciting 9-8 win.
In the afternoon the Cambridge Royals had a chance to leapfrog over the Bucks in their direct clash, however the Bucks won again by 1 run (7-6).
With Ravens Manager, Carlos Casal, out of the country Louis Hare and Pete Kikel were the stand-in managers and they secured a win against the London Mammoths which put the Herts team in third place. Unconfirmed reports indicate that Carlos Casal is on a scouting mission in France, so we will have to wait and see if Herts will add more French players after adding Frenchman, Elie Colin, earlier this Spring.
AA
The London Marauders came into the final HSL weekend in pole position with a 2-0 record. They lost their first game of the day against the Kent Mariners. They quickly recovered beating the Herts Eagles convincingly to win the HSL AA title. The Herts Harriers, which plays in the BBF U17 league had a chance to share top spot with the Marauders. To do this they needed to beat the London Mets U16 team, which proved to be beyond them on this occasion.
Click to view full 2013 HSL schedule
Click to view the final HSL standings
Despite the cancellation of the first week of HSL games due to the snow, the competition proved to be very productive for the teams involved giving them the best possible preparation for the new season playing at one of the best baseball venues in the country. We understand that the participating teams have been sending messages of thanks to the umpires who officiated this year’s HSL games. Many of the HSL teams will be playing in the lower leagues this season where there is a critical shortage of umpires, so playing with the country’s top umpires is appreciated by these teams in particular.
Attention now turns to this weekend’s Opening Day in Britain’s Minor Leagues (AAA, AA and A) as well as week 2 of the National Baseball League.
