The Herts Spring League commences this Sunday and it looks like it is attracting significant interest from the media. The Hemel Gazette is expected to have an extensive coverage of the 2008 HSL over the three Sundays of the League. Below you will find an extract from a preview of the HSL published this week. The article was also published in their online publication HemelToday.co.uk
Everyone connected with the 10 teams participating in the 2008 Herts Spring League (HSL) is hoping that the snow storms of the last few days have signalled the end of Winter and the arrival of Spring.
The HSL Opening Day is this coming
The Herts Spring League (HSL) will offer plenty of game time for the participating teams with some of the games taking place late in the afternoon. With clocks moving forward teams will have 1 extra hour of daylight and when the HSL schedule was prepared the league organisers wanted to make full use of this. The last HSL game on Opening Day will end at
So don’t forget to set your clocks correctly and be on time for the start of the 2008 HSL.
The weather forecast currently indicates that it will be partly cloudy with sunny spells. Most importantly no rain and temparatures of 13oC.
Spring is here, which means that baseball is back. This year Herts Baseball Club has added a new event to the British baseball calendar with the first ever Herts Spring League (HSL).
One of the most exciting times of the baseball season is Spring Training. After a long and cold winter everyone connected with baseball is eager to get back to the baseball diamond. Teams start to put into action their master plans to win the league. Players are jostling for a position on the roster. Pitchers are competing for a starting spot in the rotation. It is a first chance for managers and players to see new players which have signed up with the clubs. These are just some of the reasons why Spring is a special time for baseball.
The 2008 HSL line-up has just been announced and it will certainly provide exciting baseball action over the next three weeks. The 10 participating teams are split into two divisions, HSL1 and HSL2.
HSL1 includes Hertfordshire’s top team the Falcons, the Burgess Hill Colts, Northampton Baseball Club who impressed at the 2007 London Tournament and the ASL Eagles. The Eagles will add an element of suspense to HSL1. They are very much an unknown quantity as they do not compete in the BBF leagues. The ASL Eagles is a team representing the
Looking at the HSL1 schedule one game stands out as a must-see clash. The Herts Falcons meet the Burgess Hill Colts for the first time since the 2006 Premier League Playoff game which the Colts won in extra innings to sink the Falcons down from the Premier League to Division 1. Revenge will be on the minds of the Falcons after that heart-breaking game.
HSL2 includes the Herts Hawks, Sidewinders, Richmond Dragons, Bracknell Blazers, Milton Keynes Hurricanes, and the newly created third Hertfordshire team, the Herts Raptors. The MK Hurricanes go into the league as the favourites, but, with other teams strengthening their rosters over the winter, it could prove to be a very competitive league with almost all of the teams having a realistic chance of taking the HSL2 title.
Over the next three Sundays 23 games will be played at 4 baseball venues in and around
For more information about the teams, game times and venues you can visit the official HSL website. The HSL website has linked up with the Herts Baseball Newswire to provide extensive coverage of the HSL including game reports, video news, stats and much more so stay tuned.
RELATED LINKS
Official HSL website: www.hertsbaseball.com/HSL
Posted on behalf of Newswire correspondent, Kal Dimitrov
Sunday morning,
Alarm buzz. Must be about
Getting into the car park at the field – the usual hassle of finding a spot closer than a mile to the field. Running slightly late again, grab the gear and stagger to the field.
The traditional shuffle of marking out, putting the bases, removing the broken bottles and beer cans, and any other stray items left on the diamond by the weekend revellers. No need to water – the temperature is getting to about 6o C, so the ground is nicely defrosting under the weakly shining sun. Getting the netting for the fence, internally hoping that there is more than three stakes left, with which to put it up. After some judicious hammer-wielding (no smashed fingers, good news), the fence is up for the brief time it will take the wind to turn it into something resembling next year’s Tate Gallery “Most Frowned Upon” runner-up.
Warm up and BP – this time it is different, as there is electricity and we can turn the pitching machine on. People rotating quickly, mainly making sure we do not lose too many balls in the process. And the little anticipatory lead ball in the stomach starts building up. By the end of BP, it is a full-fledged cannon ball with its own fuse.
Manager is giving out the line-up, setting out what we want to get out of this game (under the refrain of “witty” remarks from various smart-arses, usually led by yours truly). Umpire calls managers over, whilst around our bench the team starts shaking up into the first three in the line-up and the rest.
You take your position, and suddenly everything becomes crystal clear, like an ice sculpture cut out with a scalpel. The pre-game jitters are gone, no more flutters in the stomach.
You look at the umpire, calm, cool and collected, and wait for your cue. He shouts “Batter up”, and at last I am in the game. No time for doubts or hesitation, I start brushing the front of my shirt in a manner that should suggest purpose, and by mistake give the lead-off guy the sign for a bunt.
Kal Dimitrov
Herts Baseball Club has taken the initiative to introduce a new event to the British baseball calendar – the Herts Spring League (HSL). The club hopes that this would become an annual competition similar to the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues in
12 teams will be placed in two divisions of six teams (HSL1 and HSL2) based on the teams’ ranking going into the new season. HSL1 is expected to include BBF teams from the National and Premier Leagues, while HSL2 will have teams from Division 1 and Division 2.
The 12 invited teams will be from the BBF Southern Conference with emphasis on
The league will be played over three Sundays: 30 March, 6 April and 13 April (based on the assumption that 2008 BBF League Opening Day will be Sunday, 20 or
On each of these dates three teams will meet at the same venue and will play two games (one game against each of the other two teams). The games will be either 7 innings or 2 hours and 30 minutes, whichever occurs first.
Stay tuned to the Herts Newswire for confirmation of the HSL team line-up, game schedule and other details.