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Category: Raptors
HERTS GLOBETROTTERS
Apart from reporting on the Herts adult and youth teams, the Herts Baseball Newswire also keeps Herts fans updated on news from overseas related to Herts Baseball Club.
This summer Herts was represented in the European qualifiers for the Little League World Series. Herts Little Leaguer, Mikito Ariga, was selected to play for team England. The games were played at the baseball complex in Kutno, Poland. Despite a difficult start losing to Italy (L0-10), England bounced back with wins over Lithuania (W7-1), Belgium (W7-3) and Poland (W10-0). Mikito’s team rounded up their group stage schedule with a loss to the Netherlands (L5-4). England’s 3-2 record placed them third in the group standings and they qualified for the next stage where they beat Ukraine 10-0. This took them to the Semi-Finals where they once again faced Italy and once again the Italians came out on top (L2-9). England came very close indeed to qualifying for the World Series and potential live coverage on ESPN, but it wasn’t to be.
Mikito and his family have now returned and are getting ready for another exciting postseason with the Herts All-Stars next month. Mikito was a member of the 2009 Herts All-Stars who produced the incredible run of 5 consecutive wins to reach the final where they lost 1-0 to the London Mets.
Another player representing Herts overseas is Jesse Reinebold. He and his father, Jonathan, joined the club this year and apart from appearing for the Herts All-Stars Jesse played alongside his father for both the Herts Raptors in the British Single-A League and the Herts Hawks in the AA League. Jesse is now in America where he is the official bat boy (pictured right at work) for the South Bend Silverhawks, which is the Single-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Like Mikito, Jesse is also scheduled to return in time to join up with the Herts All-Stars in the postseason.
NBCs ARE COMING TO HERTS FORTHE FIRST TIME IN THE CLUB’S HISTORY
Grovehill Ballpark has been chosen to host the 2010 National Baseball Championships
The British Baseball Federation has announced that the National Senior Baseball Championships (NBC) event has been awarded to Herts Baseball Club. It will take place on the weekend of 4 and 5 September at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead. Major development of the venue has taken place over the last few years and this year a second baseball diamond was added to the venue. It is now the only baseball venue in the country with two diamonds and permanent outfield wall on both of them.
The NBC is the showpiece event in the British Baseball season to decide the 2010 champions in the four British Baseball Leagues. The NBL and AAA League NBCs will adopt last year’s double-elimination format with four teams battling it out over a total of six games in each League over the two days. The champions in the AA and Single-A Leagues will be determined over a three-week knockout playoff format with the two best teams in each league meeting in their respective Finals on 5 September 2010.
Some of the teams have already booked their place in the NBC, others are still fighting for automatic qualification or entry via the playoffs which will be played on Saturday 21 and Saturday 28 August at different venues around Great Britain.
The Herts Falcons (Left) and the Herts Eagles (right) have a big battle ahead of them but they must reach the NBCs
This news is fantastic for everyone connected with Herts Baseball. The key now is for the Herts teams to reach the Championships. The Herts Falcons are involved in a dramatic battle with Croydon and Mildenhall to clinch a playoff place in the NBL. Only two out of the three teams will make it.
In the AAA League the Herts Eagles have a 4-game winning streak which has taken within touching distance of the league leaders, Oxford. The two teams meet in the final game of the regular season on Sunday, 15 August. Whoever come son top will go to the NBC automatically. But first the Eagles face the London Metros this Sunday at Grivehill Ballpark.
The Hawks and Raptors may be out of the AA and Single-A races, respectively, but players in those teams may still play a part in the postseason if they are called up by the Falcons or Eagles.
Click here to view full details and schedule of the postseason Playoffs and NBCs.
DON’T SAY IT’S OVER
The thing about baseball more than any other sport is that having played a game, what you most want to do the next day is play it all over again. My aching bones certainly don't want to do it again, but my mind and heart do. But that is never possible (unless you play in the Major Leagues, and have six games a week). And it is certainly not possible for me this time as, in July, my competitive season has come to an end.
It's good to end with something new — and so on my last appearance I finally played my first game as a Herts Hawk. I have been on their roster all year, but spent most of my time trying to offer wisdom and experience (don't laugh) to the Raptors. Sadly it wasn't to be my first win of the season, as we were outplayed by an eight-man Sidewinders team.
The Hawks are a different bag of fish to the Raptors in many ways. There is lots of talent on the team, and it plays with a positive spirit, but is probably disappointed with its results. I played a role in preventing the win this time around, so I am certainly not here to find fault! As further examples of the “value added” plays I was talking about last week, I caught two straightforward fly balls, but dropped two tougher balls which I had run down successfully but then needlessly put on the ground. It all exemplified the frustration I talked about last week.
It was a busy day in the outfield, and early in the game a booming hit came my way. It was sort of a fly ball, but was a little lower and a little faster than that. At first as I backtracked I thought I would make it, though it would be tough. For anyone who saw Ben Zobrist's catch for the Rays yesterday, it would have looked like that. But I didn't reach it, the ball bounced barely a yard shy of the home run fence and skipped over. I kicked myself about that, so you can imagine what I did later when I carefully chased down a shallow fly ball in left-centre, only to see it bobble out of my glove. I'm still not sure how I dropped it — guru Kal said I had overrun it, so he is probably right, but I maybe just didn't squeeze the glove at the right half-second.
I managed to redeem myself with two catches, and by hitting a 2-RBI double — so imagine my vibes when I then dropped another outfield ball! And that was to be my last actual play of the season. D'oh! Again it was shallow, a sinking liner, but I had seen it early and was running in so called off Tak from left field. I maybe took my eye off it as I saw him, though I should stress he did absolutely nothing wrong! Again I reached it and again the ball went down.
Other Hawks did a far better job than me, I am happy to say. Perrie made good plays from third base and, perhaps more importantly, smart plays. Knowing instantly where to throw the ball is one of the toughest things on the infield, and he did it with a sixth sense. Simon made a tremendous double play from shortstop, catching a bloop over his shoulder then making the quick throw to get the runner straying off second. And Greg showed me how it's done, taking a pop-up on the first base line even as the runner attempted to crash into him and put him off. He did crash into Greg, and they all went down in a heap, but the catch was made and the inning was over. Single-minded fielding.
So, for me, the season is over. Two weeks of work and then a summer holiday will keep me away from our remaining games. Despite my incessant grumbling on these pages, it has been great fun. Herts still shows the ideal way to play amateur sports — with passion to win, but with the ultimate aim of sharing the joy of playing. Raptors players have really come on, and have stuck with baseball despite learning some tough lessons. I don't think my own game has come on much, although I did get my first experiences of pitching and umpiring. On the positive side, I can say that after two years after stepping away from the outfield I can now volunteer myself to play almost anywhere on the diamond. Maybe next year, I'll be pulling on the tools of ignorance as the league's skinniest catcher …. OK maybe not.
NEW HERTS BASEBALL CAP AT THE HERTS SHOP FROM TOMORROW
The new Herts Baseball Caps have finally arrived. They will be available to buy at the ballpark starting from Sunday, 25 July, during the adult league games and in the following weekends at most Little League and Adult events.
The new Herts cap is a premium model fitted cap available in three different sizes. It features a 3D raised stitch logo as well as “hertsbaseball.com” on the back. The manufacturer’s brand name is embroidered on the left side of the cap.
This is a higher grade cap and its price is slightly higher than the previous model. The price is £12. Registered Little League players receive a discount so the price for them is £10.
SUMMER SUNDAYS
Some people enjoy getting a good thrashing on a Sunday. They maybe even look forward to it. I'm not one of them, but that is what I have endured for the past two weekends. Last week was at the London Tournament in Croydon, so it was in exhibition games really. This week was back in competition, albeit good-natured competition. Whatever you might infer from my calm exterior, I always want to win, and I want to do my absolute best. Getting thrashed rarely gives you the feelings you want.
Last week at Croydon I missed the heroics of Saturday's win, and was only there on the Sunday when we came up against the National League powerhouses of Richmond and Bracknell. I can't grumble about the final results, however much I dislike a thrashing! But as this blog sees the world through the prism of my own performance, I can grumble a bit. I took one fly ball comfortably in left field, and blocked a ball in the gap. When playing first base I fielded balls thrown perfectly to me by Aspi and Luis, but couldn't bring down those which were thrown slightly too high. One towering pop up came my way which I was very happy with until it completely disappeared in the sun, and fell to earth. So overall, solid results but no cigar.
I was back at first base as the Raptors returned to league action this Sunday, at home against Richmond. I'm not built like a classic first baseman — being of only average height and far less than average build — but I do enjoy playing first. You feel really close to the action, and feel involved in every play. I managed to collect a bloodied lip and a bruised shin to show for my efforts, but felt that I had little more besides. I don't think I made any errors as such, but I can't think of a play which I was able to make which a rookie player couldn't. And therein lies the frustration — having played this game for seven or eight years I feel I should be at a higher level. Learning to play the carom off the fence well wasn't much consolation.
My batting gave me similar concerns. The rib strain which would probably have sidelined me for the past few weeks (had I not missed them due to work anyway) has been playing on my mind, and probably cramped my swing. At Croydon, I made a connection in my only two at-bats, even if I did get out, so I shouldn't belittle that against such lofty opposition. Facing Richmond this week, I hit the ball all four times I came up — as you should against A-ball pitchers — but never hit it hard.
So what am I driving at here? Clearly we are all limited by our individual talents, and that is certainly true of me. But my frustration is not because I can't play the way Albert Pujols does, it's because I can't play the way I can. And that means I am driving — as usual — at the frustrations of the part-time player, as he tries to balance the hankering to play every game, every week, with the fact that he has a life to live outside the game. Rust seemes to accumulate on my game far more quickly than it shakes off! I have been able to attend just one practice session since the season began. I have played in five games, with just one more to go. That's not really good enough for the team, or for my satisfaction. Deep thoughts have to be thought about how I address this.
Being away from the action for a few weeks does at least help to highlight the positive changes in the team — rather like seeing a young relative shoot up in stature. Ken's pitching is far more authoritative than when I first saw it; Jim's pitching even more devastating. Steve Patmore caught the whole game in unpleasant heat on Sunday, and was one of our most solid defensive performers. As well as catching two pop-ups — which always look incredibly hard when encumbered by a mask and huge shinpads — he also made a perfect throw to me when a batter ran on a dropped third strike. In theory, it's an easy play but in practice, at our level, it is something else. I would consider that play my own defensive highlight of the day, and certainly one of his. Raptors were better than the scoreline suggested on Sunday, and the team can go on to even better things if they stick with the game. Hopefully the players will be a solid core for the club to build on in coming years.
DRAGONS DEVOUR RAPTORS
Hopes were high after the upset victory over Braintree but expectations were realistic, too – the Raptors were now taking on the Richmond Dragons, who lead the other division and have the best record in all of A-class baseball. Raptors were also going into the game without some key players — first baseman Simon Elkington, and the handy infield sluggers Bobby Gould and Phil Gover – but the team had its pitching stars all present, so there was hope….
Ken Pike got the call to start on the mound and barely put a foot wrong. But it swiftly became clear this was not going to be the Raptors’ day. Some close calls around the strike zone did not go their way, and without ever getting a really big hit, the Dragons managed to find the gaps all over the field. Richmond have always stolen bases as if they were bread in a time of famine, and they were once again aggressive on the base paths, and they were soon totting up the runs. Pike persevered and his curve ball sharpened up, throwing off the batters. But the team will be disappointed with defensive miscues behind him. Some balls were dropped, and some throws went to the wrong base. But the margins were often close. Chris Deacon at second base made one fantastic stop on a ball which looked sure to go through the gap, but his quick throw found stand-in first baseman Rob Jones still heading back to the bag after chasing the same ball. What could have been a blinding play turned into just another base hit. When the inning was finally over – with two of the outs fielded by Ken Pike himself from the mound – there were 14 runs on the board.
Raptors looked to hit back quickly. Jones got aboard and stole second, was batted round to third, and scored the first run on a Bryan Drummond RBI. The bases were getting busy. But again fate was unkind – with one out, the bases loaded, but only two runs having crossed the plate, a double play snuffed out the inning. The Dragons continued to make good progress, even once the Herts work had tightened up. So Pike handed pitching duties over to Jim Arnott, who promptly fired out the batter in front of him with three pitches, ending the inning. He would return to throw up more zeroes and keep the Raptors in the game.
> But the bats never came alive enough to suggest there would be the big rally that was needed to get back in the game. Tom Green got aboard, and Steve Patmore added to his excellent work behind the plate by getting a hit, but not enough could be strung together. Raptors went into the bottom of the seventh needing what felt like a squillion runs to keep the game alive, but didn’t come close. In the end they went down 24-4, a score which would look very different without that 14-run first inning.
So a game which had seemed to offer an opportunity for “as-live training” turned out just that way. That was disappointing for the Raptors, who will still try to push on and add to their wins total. But the game was played in a good spirit, and featured some excellent plays. Raptors had also been let down by their umpire so Ali Hall – the freshest of newcomers to the game – valiantly umpired several innings, as did Jon Gamble and the ever dependable Marty Cullen Jr. The Herts Raptors move on with Bracknell and the Old Timers still offering hope of further triumphs, both big and small.
Photos by www.HP2photographic.com
HERTS GIANT-KILLERS RUIN LONDON METS PLANS
The four Herts adult baseball teams had a week away from league action and headed South to Croydon for the International London Tournament. Every year this event provides an opportunity for British Baseball clubs to have an All-Star week similar to the MLB All-Star week.
18 teams entered the tournament including teams from France and Holland. Herts Baseball Club was represented by a team which included a mix of all four of its adult teams, from a few experienced NBL players to first year Single-A League players. The team was drawn into one of the toughest groups of the competition with NBL teams like the Mildenhall Bulldogs, the Birmingham Maple Leafs who are leaders of the AA (Midlands) League, and a combined team from the NBL London Mets and the Dutch team Zuidvogels.
In their first game Herts faced Birmingham. The Hertfordshire team found it difficult to get on base in the early innings but stayed in touch in the hope of a big rally in the final innings. They managed to put several hits together and just when it looked like the team was coming back into the game, the rally was cut short by two questionable decisions by the two base umpires. After this 5-1 loss and with the London Mets/Zuidvogels winning a nail biting game against Mildenhall 8-7, Herts knew that they needed to beat the London Mets/Zuidvogels by 4 runs or more in the final group game on Saturday in order to make it into the elite bracket on the second day of the tournament. This was unthinkable as their opponents were all NBL-calibre players while Herts had an experimental squad made up of 40% Falcons (NBL), 7% Eagles (AAA), 33% Hawks (AA) and 20% Raptors (A).
The London Mets/Zuidvogels took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first and everyone who had gathered at field 3 in Croydon was expecting Herts to capitulate. Not even the most optimistic supporters of the Hemel Hempstead-based club could have predicted what was to follow. The boys from Hertfordshire started to put runners on base and a combination of some aggressive running and clutch hits gave Herts the lead in the second inning. The Herts assault continued in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings while at the same time precision pitching from Nic Goetz and solid defence was making the London Mets/Zuidvogels visibly frustrated. The Herts defence had to hold on to the required 4-run lead in the face of the Mets onslaught in the final three innings of the game, and they did. The 4-run lead was maintained every inning, 6-2 in the fourth, 8-4 in the fifth and 9-5 in the sixth and final inning. The game ended very fittingly with Herts centerfielder, Mahendra Prasad, making a spectacular diving catch.
The result meant that Herts were through to the elite bracket on the final day of the tournament while the London Mets/Zuidvogel team were relegated to the lower bracket in true FA Cup giant-killing fashion.
On day two Herts were hoping to continue the fairytale but it wasn’t to be as they came short against Richmond losing 6-1 and later had to battle against the eventual winners, Bracknell who had added an array of superstars including former GB players to their existing 2009 NBL-winning roster. No one could match them all weekend as they destroyed every single opponent that came up against them.
Overall this was a fantastic weekend for Herts as players from the four different adult teams had a chance to play side-by-side and also to cause the shock of the tournament. Herts had more reasons to celebrate on Saturday evening as its representative in the Home Run Derby, Kimiyoshi Saionji, reached the final and finished in third place with a total of 3 home runs. In second place was London Mets slugger, Daniel Williams, who put on a show with 6 massive homers, some of which reached distances of well over 400 feet. Mildenhall’s Mike McClure was the Home Run Champion after hitting 8 home runs.
RAPTORS IN THE NEWS
After their unforgettable win on Sunday, the Herts Raptors have been hitting the headlines around the country. Their incredible win away at the league leaders, Braintree, has been described as “the result of the weekend, and one of the results of the season so far” by Matt Smith, author and founder of baseballgb.co.uk. Read the full article.
Next up for the Raprots is a clash with the leader in the other Pool of the Single-A League. The Richmond Dragons will be travelling to Grovehill Ballpark on Sunday 18 July with their impressive 9-2 record so far this season. Can the Herts Raptors shock British Baseball again?
RAYS GUNNED DOWN BY RAPTORS
Some things only happen once in a life time. Your national team winning a major tournament, or your favourite team coming top of the league, or for the Raptors who played on Independence Day, being a part of 'THAT' game. Ken Pike reports:
The team travelled away to the top team in the league, the Braintree Rays, with coach Ken Pike urging them to treat it as a training game. As late as the night before, the team were thinking of calling it off because of a lack of players. There were no expectations, and the command was to relax with the pressure off, and to focus on doing what we knew we could do right so that we could take something on for the next game. Funny how these things work out though.
It seemed to do the trick in the first inning with Ken Pike taking the mound. Although the Raptors scored nothing in the first inning, they also only conceded 1 in the bottom of the frame. The second was trickier, with 7 Rays crossing the plate, but no one was surprised or too gutted — the team had been expecting a rocky ride, and to be fair had seen worse innings against worse opponents. Nevertheless, Raptors had 2 back at the start of the inning and another two in the next to keep within touching distance.
As is so often with baseball, one inning made the difference. A crushing 9 runs were scored by a Raptors lineup simply enjoying the nice weather and the friendly opponents, and only 3 came in reply at the bottom of the inning. Suddely they were in the lead, and people started to wonder if something might even come of this. Would the Rays simply turn up the heat? Would fielding errors creep back into the game?
With Pike still pitching to the calming influence of Kal Dimitrov behind the dish, the Raptors team held firm with brilliant catches and throws all round the field. They had hit their groove and were suddenly playing with a serious purpose. From there on til the end of the game — which was closed out for the last 3 innings by Bryan Drummond as Pike took his familiar spot at short –the Rays never once hit more than 3 RBIs in an inning, repeatedly stranding players as the two Raptors' pitchers played with a cool that flew in the face of the 26 degree heat.
So came the last inning. One out came swiftly, but there were now runners on base. A pitch by Bryan Drummond, a crack of the bat, up goes the ball….William Belbin sets himself deep in left field…and the ball sinks into his glove. A quick throw back in and it's in Ken Pike's glove, who looks confused when Tak 'The General' Ashida is screaming “go three, go three”. Then it dawns on him that the runners have all advanced, thinking that it had cleared Belbin in the outfield, and the simple throw to Ashida meant a double play. A moments silence ensued as Drummond looked at Pike and asked…”have we just won?” The response was screaming, jumping and a massive team hug as everyone flooded infield to celebrate.
What a way to break a duck, against the division leaders, and completely down to a rock solid performance from every person on the field. Senna Ashida had to learn fast at second base, a position he had not played before; his father Tak and Ralph Bartholomew gave excellent hitting performances, getting on base more often than not, Simon Elkington was a wall through which balls would not pass at first; Will Belbin taking in 6 catches for outs, and Ken Pike and Bryan Drummond pitching their hearts out and the Hawks' Kal Dimitrov keeping the pitchers calm and being the best possible target; and Matt Johnston playing as the centre field general. There was not one poor performance.
Box score: final
Inning: 1 ¬ 2 ¬ 3 ¬ 4 ¬ 5 ¬ 6 ¬ 7 ¬ 8 ¬ 9
Raptors : 0 ¬ 2 ¬ 2 ¬ 9 ¬ 2 ¬ 3 ¬ 1 ¬ 1 ¬ 2 ¬ 22
Rays: 1 ¬ 7 ¬ 3 ¬ 0 ¬ 1 ¬ 1 ¬ 2 ¬ 2 ¬ 1 ¬ 18