Author: Matt Bell

by Matt Bell

HAWKS BROUGHT DOWN BY HURRICANES

[ HAWKS/HURRICANES BOX SCORE: GAME ONE ]
[ HAWKS/HURRICANES BOX SCORE: GAME TWO ]

The Herts Hawks were unable to cause an upset against the Division One leaders from Milton Keynes. The Hurricanes won both games in Sunday’s double header and as a result are assured of a place in the Premier League promotion Playoffs.

The first game saw the return to the mound of Hawks’ young prospect, Peter Kikel, with 7 K’s in 3 innings. He had a very satisfactory outing re-establishing the Kikel-Battery with catcher and father, Jake Kikel, who said: “Peter is back to 100% fitness. He will only need to get over the psychological barrier of holding back after his shoulder problems.” Mark Hoffmann also had a good outing in relief for Peter Kikel. It was largely due to the precision-pitching of Milton Keynes ace, Darrin Ward that the Hawks were left without hope of catching up. The only Hertfordshire player who had any real success hitting against Ward was the rookie, Jonathon Lewys with a double and a triple.

In the second game the Hurricanes took an early lead of 6-0 threatening another blow-out win, but the Hawks came back strongly. 2 runs in the 3rd inning reduced the lead. In the 4th, with runner on first, up stepped debutant, Dan Kerry. Despite having played rugby, cricket and other sports, Dan had never actually played a game of baseball before today. He took a high first pitch which was surprisingly called a strike by the umpire. The second pitch was a hard fastball which hit him directly in his protective cup, and yet the umpire ruled this to be a strike as in an effort to get out of the way Kerry could not check his swing. Following such a violent and loud bang of the ball hitting his protective cup, an experienced baseball player would have been expected instinctively to roll on the ground requesting medical attention in the knowledge that this was a very serious incident which could have resulted in a severe injury. Instead, Kerry maintained a cool composure with a face expression which appeared to send a message to the pitcher saying: “This is strike two. You need to throw one more strike if you want to get me out. Throw the ball again.”

And then the inconceivable happened. The third pitch was a hard fastball up in the zone and with a smooth Tiger Woods-like swing, Kerry launched the ball deep beyond the outfield wall in the deepest part of Grovehill Ballpark in left-centerfield for a towering Home Run. The Hawks’ bench and fans erupted, realizing the magnitude of what they had just witnessed. Dan Kerry’s baseball inexperience was obvious when he rounded the bases to come home in record time when most MLB stars would have taken their time to savour the moment.

He was greeted at home plate not only by the whole Herts Hawks squad but also by a number of Hawks fans who had somehow made their way onto the field. In accordance with baseball tradition the home run ball was taken out of the game and passed onto Dan Kerry.

This two-run shot reduced the Hurricanes’ lead to only one run, but eventually this was not enough and the Hurricanes ended up winning the game 12-7.

by Matt Bell

HERTS BESTS RICHMOND RIVERDOGS

[ HAWKS/RIVERDOGS BOX SCORE: GAME ONE ]
[ HAWKS/RIVERDOGS BOX SCORE: GAME TWO ]

Herts Hawks played a double header against the Richmond Riverdogs on Sunday, 29 July. Due to scheduling congestion, the game was played at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead instead of Richmond’s Connaire Field, with the Riverdogs being the home team.

The first game was an extremely tight affair that went into extra innings. The two pitchers, Larry Martillo for the Hawks, and Per Nilsson Eklof for the Riverdogs shared the “good” and “bad” times more or less equally. The Hawks had a 9-0 lead until the bottom of the 4th, when Richmond suddenly put together a string of timely hits (aided by some less than outstanding fielding by the Hawks), and at the end of that inning, the score was suddenly only 9-7 for the Hawks. Martillo bore down and was able to minimize the further damage, but the Riverdogs managed to score two more runs in the next couple of innings, while Per Nilsson completely shut down the Hawks offense. This brought the game into extra innings, and with a runner on second, Rob Jones stepped up with a great hit down the middle to bring in Jon Lewys, which gave Hawks the lead going into the bottom of the 8th inning. This is when the Hawks defense and the outstanding Martillo proved their mettle, leaving two of the Riverdogs runners at 2nd and 3rd base without allowing them to score to win the game.

The second game started well for the Riverdogs, who had a 5-2 lead going into the top of the 3rd. However, an 11 run inning by the Hawks batters put them ahead and they never looked back. The Hawks were trying to finish that long day on a high note, and were able to do it in the form of an unassisted double play by shortstop Ross Davies with the bases loaded and nobody out. The Hawks won the second game with a score of 19 to 7.

by Matt Bell

SCHOOL’S OUT… LET’S PLAY BALL!

[ PHOTO GALLERY ]
[ WATFORD OBSERVER ARTICLE ]

Grovehill Ballpark is the home of the two Division One teams, the Herts Falcons and the Herts Hawks, but last Saturday it became the home of the next generation of Hertfordshire baseball players.

Boys and girls aged between 7 and 12 from around Hertfordshire and the surrounding regions joined the first ever Baseball Little League Summer Camp organised by Hertfordshire Baseball Club with the support of BaseballSoftballUK, the development agency for baseball and softball in the United Kingdom which is funded by Sports England, the agency that delivers the Government's sporting objectives.

Eleven coaches from the club and BSUK introduced the kids to the main aspects of the game: batting, throwing, catching, fielding, base running etc. Halfway-through the day players, parents and coaches gathered for an enjoyable picnic together while watching a Home Run hitting display by current Herts Falcons Home Run leader, Andy Cornish.

After the picnic it was gametime! The players were divided into four teams, the Yankees, the Red Sox, the Mets and the Blue Jays and played two games on two separate diamonds. Every youngster who took part received baseball cards of current baseball stars. Throughout the day the players also had the chance to enjoy the MLB Roadshow which came to Hertfordshire to support the event. It included various fun baseball challenges including a pitching tunnel with a radar gun to measure the speed at which the kids were pitching.

The response from the children and their parents was tremendous and the feedback after the event indicates that the kids are already looking forward to next Saturday’s Baseball Camp.

It was very touching that some parents even approached members of the club with an offer to help not only during the Summer Camps but also volunteered to assist in promoting and spreading the news of this Youth baseball programme to help attract as many children as possible in order to achieve the target of creating 4 brand new teams which will take part in the Hertfordshire Baseball Little League planned for 2008.

The next Summer Camp is next Saturday and every Saturday after that until 1 September.

Hertfordshire Falcons Baseball Club wishes to thank BSUK (www.baseballsoftballuk.com), the MLB Roadshow, baseball supplier Forelle (www.forelle.com), Dacorum Council, the Ambulance and Police Departments as well as all of the club volunteers.
www.baseballsoftballuk.com
www.sportengland.org
by Matt Bell

FALCONS GO 2-1-1 AT ANNUAL LONDON TOURNAMENT

The Herts Falcons put on a performance this weekend which almost resembled Cincinnati’s “Big Red Machine” of the 1970s. The team battled through two days of gruelling baseball action to come out with an overall record of 2 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw (time limit).

The International London Tournament has been Great Britain’s biggest baseball annual event for many years. This year there were 16 teams taking part from all around the UK, France and Ireland. 12 of the 16 teams were either in the National League or the Premier League so prior to the event it was fair to say that the Falcons were ranked outsiders. They were also drawn in the most difficult group with the reigning British National League Champions, the Richmond Flames, 2004 and 2005 Champions, the Croydon Pirates, and the 2003 Champions, the Windsor Bears.

The Herts team was a combined squad of Herts Falcons and Herts Hawks players, the two Hertfordshire teams.

In the first game, the Falcons faced the Richmond Flames, and despite a valiant effort, were overwhelmed by Richmond’s pitching and hitting.

The second game proved to be the main event of the day – the Falcons hosted the Windsor bears at the Central Field. The game was played in front of a large audience and had the added benefit of the field PA system, which gave a “Major League” feel. The actual game met and exceeded the fans’ expectations. The Falcons took a firm 4-0 lead, which they took into the 5th inning. However, starting pitcher Aspi Dimitrov was visibly running out of steam, despite leaving the game with a no-hitter for 4 and a 1/3 innings.

Reliever, Lee Manning, came in at a very short notice and performed magnificently to minimize the damage of the two runners left on by Dimitrov. Despite his efforts, the Bears fought tirelessly, driving in 6 runs in the 5th and 6th innings to take a 1-run lead and set up a “grand finale” in the bottom of the 6th. Two singles from Lee Manning and Yuji Endo put both the tying and winning runs on base. Up stepped slugger Marty Cullen, with the eyes of the crowd agog with anticipation. His massive line drive to the left field fence brought the winning run in to end this “classic”, and the crowd erupted.

This win earned the Falcons the coveted 11 o’clock start, avoiding the often (and with good reason) maligned 9:00 am start (under the stringent disciplinarian regime instituted by caretaker manager Jason Greenberg, that would have meant reporting for duty at the field at 7:30 am).

The razzmatazz culminated in the Home Run Derby on day one, which involved sluggers from each of the participating teams. The Falcons representative was hard-hitting Kimiyoshi Saionji, the Falcons’ very own Hideki Matsui. He was able to go through to the second round, and only some sudden wind gusts and dodgy last-minute manipulation of the home plate positioning (to favour righties), robbed him of a place in the final round of the 2007 Home Run Derby. The Falcons management are mulling over submitting an official complaint for the loss of the substantial sums that could have been generated from potential (however unlikely) t-shirt sales and other commercial opportunities.

On the second day, the Falcons faced the Great Britain Juniors (Under 18’s National Team) and the Great Britain Cadets (Under 16’s National Team). In the first game the Falcons held a good lead to the end, only for some clutch GB Junior hitting to tie the game and, due to the time limit rule in force in the tournament, the game ended in a 6-6 draw. This was the worst possible scenario for both teams, as they damaged each others’ chances of winning the trophy.

In the second game versus the GB Cadets, manager Greenberg was able to deploy a squad made up predominantly of Herts Hawks players. The future stars of Great Britain baseball performed creditably and were able to pull back from trailing at the beginning of the game to tie it up in the 5th. However, an astute managerial decision was made to bring in closer, Yuji “Lights Out” Endo, who came in and ended all hopes of a GB Cadets come-back. He struck out 5 batters in his 2 and 1/3 innings of pitching.

The Tournament Final was between the Richmond Flames and the Milton Keynes Hurricanes, with Richmond ending up as the 2007 London Tournament winners. The Frank Brady Trophy went to the Essex Arrows, mainly due to the masterful performance of former Falcon, Paul Raybould.

All in all, this was a great tournament for the Herts Falcons, who now have to put their minds back on the vital remaining League games of the season with promotion to the Premier League at stake

Disclaimer: Any resemblance between the Herts Falcons and the Cincinnati Reds, whether implied in this article or otherwise, is purely coincidental.

by Matt Bell

HERTFORDSHIRE LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL SET TO COMMENCE

The Hertfordshire Baseball Club is about to begin what may prove to be one of the largest youth baseball projects in the United Kingdom. This is being done with the generous support of BaseballSoftballUK (BSUK), the development agency for baseball and softball in the United Kingdom which is funded by Sports England, the agency that delivers the Government's sporting objectives.

Over a period of two weeks in July, nearly 20 training sessions at as many schools around Hertfordshire will take place. It is estimated that this will provide over 1,000 boys and girls the opportunity to play the game of baseball. The sessions will be run by licensed coaches provided by BSUK alongside coaches from the Herts Falcons and the Herts Hawks.

Over the years the Herts Baseball Club has been receiving regular enquiries from parents looking for a club where their children would be able to play baseball. Unfortunately, the club has had to turn them away as there was no youth baseball programme in Hertfordshire. The aim of this long-term project is to ensure that this will never happen again and that the kids in Hertfordshire will have a club where they will be able to play the game and most importantly, to have fun in a structured, well organised ‘team’ environment.

The two weeks of school training sessions will be followed by Summer Baseball Camps every Saturday from 28 July until 1 September.

The summer camps will be held at Grovehill Field, which is one of the UK’s best baseball facilities and home of the Herts Falcons and the Herts Hawks. The Summer Baseball Camps will be open not only to students from the schools visited by the club but also to all kids in and around Hertfordshire County.

All these events will build up to 2008 when plans are in place to start the inaugural season of the Hertfordshire Baseball Little League involving newly established teams from around Hertfordshire.

If you are interested to take part in the Summer Baseball Camps or any of the other events, please contact the Herts Baseball Club for more details and read our Frequently Asked Questions about Herts Little League Baseball, located in the LITTLE LEAGUE section of our webpage. Parents are encouraged to get involved as well and they also have the opportunity to play baseball with our adult teams, the Herts Falcons, Hawks and Raptors (14 years of age or older) affiliated to the Hertfordshire Baseball Club.

by Matt Bell

FALCONS DEFENSE AND CLUTCH HITTING SLAYS DRAGONS

[ FALCONS/DRAGONS BOX SCORE: GAME ONE ]
[ FALCONS/DRAGONS BOX SCORE: GAME TWO ]

Sunshine returned to Hertfordshire on Sunday afternoon, and with it came some timely hitting, solid defense, and dogged pitching to propel the Falcons to a 13-2 season record. Richmond's Dragons put up a noble battle in the first game of the double-header, but the see-saw line score tells the story: two two-RBI doubles in the sixth inning put the Falcons on top for good.

The second game was less contentious – the Falcons scored four times in the first inning and never looked back. A six-inning complete game by Nic Götz provided no relief for the Dragons, who scored their ony run on a throwing error by catcher Jason Greenberg. Greenberg repented for his errant throw by gunning down a record five would-be base-stealers (three at 2nd base, two at 3rd).

NOTABLES:

Andy Cornish slugged his third homer of the season, while Bart Snavely (fresh off the DL) knocked his second dinger and went 5-for-8 with 4 RBIs. Starting pitcher Bruce Dullea earned his team-leading sixth win on the season. Götz improved to 3-0 with a 2.81 ERA and recorded eight strike outs over seven innings on the day.

by Matt Bell

GRITTY DISPLAY BY HAWKS NOT ENOUGH AGAINST SHARKS

[ HAWKS/SHARKS BOX SCORE: GAME ONE ]
[ HAWKS/SHARKS BOX SCORE: GAME TWO ]

The Hawks are fast gaining the reputation as the gutsy underdogs of Division 1. They were no match for the Premier League promotion hopefuls from Bournemouth, but they did not go down without a fight.

For a second week in a roll visitors to the Herts Baseball Club website will be astonished to find out that the Hertfordshire club has once again managed to overcome the extreme effects of “climate change” while the rest of the country finds itself underwater.

Going into this game, the Hawks’ underdog status was compounded by the fact that the squad was seriously depleted, with some key players like Dave Hamilton, Carlos Casal, Rodney Naghar and Ross Davies being sidelined.

The score line from the two games may suggest that this was a mismatch, which was true in Game 2, but the Hawks did not look out of place in Game 1 versus Bournemouth’s ace pitcher, Ben Moody. He managed to shut down the Hawks’ offence allowing only 2 runs on 2 hits, with a nasty fastball-curveball combination but he met his match in the Hawks ERA leader, Larry Martillo. Sharks bats have been punishing their opponents all season long, but Martillo kept them at bay, pitching 5 good innings until the Sharks put the game out of the Hawks’ reach in the sixth inning.

A lot was expected of Hawks starter, Aspi Dimitrov, in Game 2 but disappointingly he struggled badly and the Sharks took full advantage, winning convincingly.

Despite facing some of the toughest pitchers in the League, Pete Kikel and Kal Dimitrov did not seem to be fazed by this and managed to hit the ball hard, Pete Kikel (4-5, 2RBI), Kal Dimitrov (3-3, 2B, 2RBI). Kal Dimitrov has now jumped above Chantal Gerrard and leads the Herts Hawks in batting average (.583), slugging (.667), on-base % (.615) and RBIs (6).

A disappointing result for the Herts Hawks not only because mathematically this puts them almost out of the Premier League promotion race, but also because they could not help out the other Hertfordshire team, the Herts Falcons, by taking a win out of their direct rivals.

by Matt Bell

FEMALE STAR INSPIRES HAWKS TO VICTORY

[ BOX SCORE ]

GAME REPORT (by Dave Hamilton): Chantal Gerrard, playing in only her second league game, was the batting hero(ine) for the Herts Hawks as they completed a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Richmond Riverdogs on Sunday. Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Hawks were facing an agonising defeat after their strongest defensive display of the year. However, Richmond were unable to get the final three outs as Chantal drove in the Hawk's winning run with a single down the third base line.

The Hawks were keen to build on the potential shown in the previous week's grudge match against the Falcons and provided some solid defence to back up a strong pitching performance from the rejuvinated Larry Martillo. However, Richmond pitcher Per Nilsson was also doing a fine job of keeping the Hawks hitters off balance and did not concede a hit in the first five innings as the Riverdogs clung to a 1-0 lead.

Chantal's lead-off single and some aggressive baserunning from player-manager Jake Kikel helped the Hawks draw level in the sixth inning, only for Richmond to edge ahead once more by scoring a run of their own in the seventh.

Embroiled in the pitching duel, both defences kept up the pressure and although a more patient approach at the plate saw the Hawks threaten to score in both the seventh and eighth innings, their hitters couldn't quite find the clutch hit they so desperately needed and runners were left stranded at second and third base to set up the nailbiting finish.

Trailing 2-1, rookie outfielder Jonathan Lewys led off the ninth inning with a walk before being forced out at second base on Larry Martillo's ground ball, and pinch-hitter Paul Auchterlonie (a late replacement for Carlos Casal who had suffered a serious looking leg injury five minutes earlier in the field) then hit a one-out single to right field to put the tying run on third base. Mark Hoffman's ground ball was good enough to tie the scores and set the scene for Chantal Gerrard to drive in the game-winning run with her second hit of the game.

The win lifts the Hawks record for the season to 3 wins and 4 losses, but the loss was tough on the Riverdogs who battled hard in a very tight ballgame. The Hawks now have a week off to work on their hitting before two games with Bournemouth on July 1st. Based on today's performance, they could do worse than learning to hit like a girl!!!

by Matt Bell

FIRST-EVER FALCONS-HERTS SHOWDOWN A GRAND CLUB SUCCESS

[ PHOTO GALLERY ]

[ GAME 1 BOX SCORE ]
[ GAME 2 BOX SCORE ]

GAME REPORT (by Ross Davies): The Herts Falcons won the battle of the birds, as they took both games against the newly-christened Herts Hawks in an historic occasion for the club. It was the first game between the two Hemel Hempstead-based sides since the club branched into two teams, and experience told on the day as the Falcons swept the Hawks in the double-header.

The Falcons, playing as hosts, took the initiative early on in the first game, as they raced into an early lead. Bruce Dullea, on the mound, was pitching consistently, and the home side’s bats fired from the off against the Hawks’ Larry Martillo to open up a sizeable deficit. Mark Hoffman came on to stem the flow of runs, but some excellent batting, most notably from Andy Cornish, who finished 3-for-3 with five RBIs, meant a premature ending to the first game as the slaughter rule came into play after five innings.

The Hawks would have been forgiven for letting their heads drop for the second game, but that wasn’t the case as Aspi Dmitrov took to the mound and pitched like a man possessed. Going into the fourth inning the game was tied at three each, and the Hawks were in with a real shout of an upset. However, a combination of poor batting and basic fielding errors cost them dear, and the Falcons capitalised, rattling off seven runs in two innings to put the game to bed.

In truth, the second game gave glimpses of what the Hawks were capable of, and there would have been the odd nervous moment in the home camp when the scores were level. But the efficient batting and faultless fielding proved the difference in the end, in particular from new shortstop Yuji Endo, whose athleticism was enough to lift the team on its own.