Category: Headlines

by AspiDimitrov

KEEPING SCORE WITH THE HERTS LITTLE LEAGUE

This article by Matt Smith appeared first on www.baseballgb.co.uk

If you turn up at a Herts Little League day and spy some parents glancing at an electronic device, don’t be too hasty in criticising them for not paying attention.  They are probably not checking their e-mails or writing a shopping list.  They are much more likely to be playing an important role in documenting the game.

Official scorers at Little League games are an unfamiliar sight in Britain, but they are the latest example of the forward thinking that has become a hallmark of Herts Baseball Club. 

Adults and Little Leagues working together

The importance of a quality adult league system should not be underestimated in a historically baseball-resistant country.  However, the future of the sport revolves around Little Leagues.  Getting kids playing baseball at a young age is crucial in producing good adult players and coaches, as well as ensuring that future generations are interested in the sport. 

Successful Little Leagues and successful senior set-ups should go hand-in-hand.  That sentiment was at the heart of the decision by Herts to introduce official scorers to Little League games, as Club President Aspi Dimitrov explains.

“Our Club’s Executive Board came to the conclusion that our Youth Programme has to work alongside our Adult Programme.  Although the Herts Baseball Little League has existed only for two years it is gradually catching up with the Adult Programme and is incorporating many of the methods and procedures applied by our adult teams.  Marty Cullen, who is the Herts Little League Commissioner, is also the Manager of one of the Herts adult teams, so he is in a good position to do this”.

“Addicted to stats”

The benefits of keeping score are manifold.  The activity itself makes the games more meaningful as every hit, stolen base and put-out is recorded as an important event.  The consequence of recording all of these details is that they make it possible to produce meaningful statistics: the lifeblood of the sport.

“Stats play a key role for our adult teams when analysing player and team performance.  It also is a fantastic tool for the motivation/self-motivation of players to perform better and to increase their satisfaction from the game.  All of these arguments apply equally to our youth players and teams.

The first thing on the agenda for most of our club members on a Monday morning is to check their box scores from the day before and how their season stats have been affected.  Good game stats for a player on a Sunday can be the difference between joy and misery for the next seven days until the next game.  Our weekly schedules pretty much revolve around baseball stats.  We hope that our youth members will become just as addicted to stats as our adults”.

Scoring in an electronic age

The art of scoring has captivated baseball fans for over a century.  Many an old black-and-white photograph of a Major League crowd shows fans intently scribbling notes down on their scorecard and the tradition continues today.  For most fans and scorers, the traditional method of pencil and paper remains the system of choice, but Herts have decided to go down the electronic route instead and Dimitrov explains that the production of statistics was a key part of this decision.

“In the past we struggled with the time-consuming task of converting the stats from a paper score sheet into a digital form which can then be presented on our website.  As our club started expanding into two, three and now four adult teams we were desperately short of non-playing members who knew how to score on paper.  We started looking into alternatives and came across a few software packages.  Some of them had demo versions available to use which gave a chance to try them out and most of them seemed to be very easy and intuitive to use”. 

The lure of a shiny Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) was seen as another mark in favour of scoring electronically. “I guess the idea of paper and pencil does not look as attractive as holding a hand-held computer device so we thought that it may also help us to encourage more of our players to score so that all of our teams can do it on our own without relying on non-playing scorers.  As it turned out, these days Herts players simply pass the PDA from one bench player to another and we manage to maintain stats without the need for extra volunteers”.

Making your choice

If scoring electronically is deemed the way to go, a quick Google search reveals a whole host of different software options to be considered.  Herts researched several and came to a useful conclusion.

“From the various software packages which were on offer we could see that there were some differences in the graphics and one or two of the software features, but essentially the packages were offering more or less the same functions.  On that basis it came down to the price and at $49.95 (or around £30) at the time, it didn’t seem like we were taking too much of a risk by giving it a go with Fixed It!”.

Fixed It! have been producing scoring software since 1996 and their products cover several different sports, from basketball to football.  Full details about the baseball version, including the price increase since Herts bought their copy, are available on their website at http://www.fixedit.com/baseball.shtml

“The software is quite versatile and it gives us options to use it on a desktop or laptop computer, or on a Pocket PC or Palm hand-held devices” said Dimitrov.  “Members in our club already had such hand-held devices so they were happy for the club to use them for scoring, which meant no hardware costs.  Like every software product we became better at it the more we used it and in the process became more aware of the intricacies of baseball scoring and how every player’s contribution to the team is recorded as well as judgement calls on hit or error, wild pitch or passed ball etc.  I would say that anyone can score a game using the software with as little as a 10-15 minute tutorial”.

Getting started

Getting to grips with the full intricacies of scoring requires some consultation with the official rule book, but the basics of scoring should come naturally to anyone familiar with the sport.  Using Fixed It! to do the task clearly doesn’t make things any more complicated.

“It is quite simple.  You watch the game and after every play you click one or two buttons to transfer what you have seen into the device.  For example, the pitcher throws a strike and you click the strike button.   Then the batter manages to reach first base safely so you click a button to indicate that the player got on base after which you are asked to indicate how he got on base (e.g. hit a single, double, triple, was hit by pitch etc.).  The software is very user-friendly so at every stage it is prompting you the available options.  All the scorer has to do it select the appropriate option to describe what has just happened”.

From there, you can upload all of the data onto your website once the game is over, allowing the players to see how their stats have been affected and making visitors aware of how individuals are progressing over the course of a season.  This capability comes as part of the Fixed It! software, although Herts have taken it a step further.

“Initially, we used the HTML stat reports which the software provides and which could be easily uploaded on our club’s website at a touch of a button.  With the evolvement of the Club’s website, the Club appointed Greg Bochan as the Statistics Officer.  He has programming knowledge and together with Webmaster, Jason Greenberg, created code which allowed visitors of www.hertsbaseball.com to have a more interactive experience with the player and team stats”.

Parents getting involved

As with anything in British baseball, the success of the project relies on volunteers getting involved.  Herts are fortunate to have a good group of parents more than willing to do just that.

“At the start of the Herts Baseball Little League we were not sure whether the parents would be interested to contribute in various volunteer roles or whether they would see our baseball programme as going to an entertainment venue for a bit of fun for the kids on a Saturday.  With every week we are becoming more and more impressed how passionate the Little League families are about the Herts youth baseball programme.  Everyone has been so positive about volunteering and we have even reached the stage where the families are becoming really pro-active about wanting to contribute and make the baseball programme better”.

That enthusiasm has carried over to Herts’ latest project.  “Irrespective of this, we didn’t know how they would react to the idea of scoring on a PDA.  But the response has been amazing.  In Spring Training we had brought a few PDAs to see if we can convince the parents to give it a go.   So many mums, dads and even some players stepped up that we did not have enough PDAs and had to ask them to rotate in groups of 3-4 per PDA.  Some have become so interested that they have installed the free desktop version on their home computers to practice and have even referred to various scorekeeping handbooks online to learn more about judgement calls etc.  We are quite lucky actually to have such great people among our Little League families”.

Following Herts’ lead

Such goodwill may not immediately exist in all areas, but Herts are proof that dedication, ingenuity and enthusiasm can win people over.  Whether it’s developing playing facilities, successful player recruitment drives or introducing official scorers to Little Leagues, ballclubs throughout Britain are constantly coming up with new ideas, and sometimes learning from mistakes, that could be of great use to others. 

Away from the competition of ballgames, greater cooperation between ballclubs is the best way to make the sport stronger overall.  There’s growing evidence that this is becoming more common and that should be encouraged.  Perhaps some other teams will be keen to learn more about how they can develop their scorekeeping practices.  If so, I’m sure Aspi and the folks at Herts will be more than happy to provide some further advice on their system.

For more information on keeping score in the UK, please visit the Great Britain Baseball Scorers Association website.

by AspiDimitrov

RICHMOND BESTS HERTS, MOVES INTO 2ND PLACE

NATIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE: WEEK 13

(this article was first published on www.britishbaseball.org)

 

London Sweeps Bracknell, Continues To Dominate NBL

 

The London Mets show no signs of slowing up at the top of the standings after earning another doubleheader sweep on Sunday, brushing off the Bracknell Blazers. The Mets emerged triumphant by scores of 13-1 and 10-8, stretching their record to an impressive 14-4 as the season hots up.

 

Reed Wilson and Jonathan Cramman claimed the wins, with Callum Woods smacking a home run to lead off game one. But they had to rely on a piece of defensive brilliance to claim game two, Giovanni Escalon making a leaping catch at the wall with two outs in the seventh to rob Ryan Trask of a game-winning three-run shot.

 

The Mets’ Alex Pike said: “We put lots of pressure on them today and it told. In game one we were very aggressive in our baserunning and they couldn’t handle it. In game two we did what we had to do. A win is a win as far as we are concerned, but Giovanni made a magical play.”

 

Bracknell coach Rob Rance admitted his side had been caught out. He said: “They played some good ball today. They caught us on a day when we were missing a few players and we did not do the simple things right.”

 

 

Richmond Bests Herts, Moves Into 2nd Place

 

Richmond came out on top in a battle of the chasing pack when they swept Herts Falcons 4-3 and 20-1.

 

The Flames came out on top in a real pitcher’s duel in game one, stealing the game in the bottom of the final inning. Ryan Bird pitched the win and belted a two-run home run, Darrin Ward taking the loss.

 

But things could not have been more different in game two, with the Flames blasting 13 runs in the first inning alone en route to a lopsided win. Cody Cain, Matt Spaulding, Ryan Bird and Haydn Chin smashed home runs, with Jason Greenberg providing the solitary response with Herts’ first homer of the season.

 

Richmond’s Grant Delzoppo said: “Things went really well for us. It was a good battle between two teams chasing London Mets and it was a good pair of wins. This will give us a lot of confidence to take forward.”

 

Herts Manager Jason Greenberg was understandably disappointed with the losses, but remained resolute about his team’s accomplishments thus far. “Baseball is about momentum, and when the Flames took the walk-off win in game one they also took the wind out of our sails. It’s already forgotten. We’re ecstatic with our season thus far and we’ll fight hard to win our four remaining games.”

 

GAME 1

Herts Falcons at Richmond Flames
Score By Innings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Herts Falcons 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 3 3 1
Richmond Flames 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 4 10 3

Richmond Flames 4, Herts Falcons 3
Richmond Flames Herts Falcons
  ab r h bi   ab r h bi
Marty Visser cf 4 0 1 1 Luis Goncalves ss 4 1 1 0
Haydn Chin ss 3 0 1 0 Kimiyoshi Saionji lf 3 1 0 0
Cody Cain p-rf-1b 3 1 1 0 Lin Yuchih 2b 3 1 0 0
Ryan Bird 4 rf-p 3 2 3 2 Darrin Ward p 3 0 1 0
Grant Delzoppo c 2 0 0 0 Jason Greenberg c 3 0 0 0
Mike Osborn 2b 3 0 0 0 Lee Manning 1b 2 0 1 1
Guy Lidbetter 1b 3 0 2 0 Carlos Casal rf 3 0 0 0
(t7) Matt Spaulding rf 0 0 0 0 Nick Goetz 3b 3 0 0 0
Brett Wakeley lf 3 1 1 0 Jamie Munn cf 2 0 0 0
Yushi Saito 3b 3 0 1 0 (t7) Aspi Dimitrov cf 1 0 0 0
TEAM TOTALS 27 4 10 3 TEAM TOTALS 27 3 3 1
E: Player 2, Player 4, Player 9, Carlos Casal. LOB: Herts Falcons 5, Richmond Flames
6. 2B: Player 4. HR: Player 4. SB: Player 4, Lin Yuchih.
Richmond Flames IP H R ER BB SO
Cody Cain 5.33 1 0 0 2 7
Ryan Bird W 1.67 2 3 0 0 3
Herts Falcons            
Darrin Ward L 6.00 10 4 3 1 4
WP: Darrin Ward(2). T: 1:38. A: 38.

GAME 2

Herts Falcons at Richmond Flames
Score By Innings 1 2 3 4 5 R H E
Herts Falcons 0 1 0 0 0 1 6 3
Richmond Flames 13 2 3 3 0 21 18 0

Richmond Flames 21, Herts Falcons 1
Richmond Flames Herts Falcons
  ab r h bi   ab r h bi
Player 1 cf 3 4 2 0 Luis Goncalves ss-p 3 0 2 0
Player 2 ss 3 1 1 4 Kimiyoshi Saionji cf 2 0 1 0
Player 3 3b 4 3 2 3 Lin Yuchih dh-rf-ss 3 0 0 0
Player 4 1b 4 3 3 4 Darrin Ward 3b 2 0 0 0
(t4) Sub 1 2b 1 0 1 1 Lee Manning c 2 0 0 0
Player 5 c 4 2 3 0 Jason Greenberg 1b 2 1 1 1
Player 6 dh 4 1 1 1 Carlos Casal 2b 2 0 1 0
Player 7 2b-p 3 1 1 0 Aspi Dimitrov rf-p 2 0 0 0
Player 8 lf 2 3 2 3 Jamie Munn lf 2 0 1 0
Player 9 rf 3 3 2 4 Nick Goetz p 0 0 0 0
Sub 7 p-1b 0 0 0 0
TEAM TOTALS 31 21 18 20 TEAM TOTALS 20 1 6 1
E: Jamie Munn, Lee Manning, Nick Goetz. LOB: Herts Falcons 4, Richmond Flames 8. 2B:
Player 3, Player 9. HR: Player 3, Player 9, Player 4, Player 2, Jason Greenberg. SB:
Player 5(2), Player 1(2), Luis Goncalves, Carlos Casal.
Richmond Flames IP H R ER BB SO
Sub 7 W 3.00 4 1 1 0 3
Player 7 2.00 2 0 0 0 3
Herts Falcons            
Nick Goetz L 1.67 14 15 9 2 0
Aspi Dimitrov 1.67 3 5 5 5 0
Luis Goncalves 0.67 1 1 1 1 1
HBP: by Nick Goetz (Player 3). , by Aspi Dimitrov (Player 2). . . WP: Luis Goncalves.
PB: Lee Manning(3). T: 2:05. A: 38.

by AspiDimitrov

BLUE JAYS FIND ANOTHER GEAR

The Herts Baseball Little League is in its final weeks and the Herts Blue Jays look like the team which has the momentum.  They extended their winning streak to 4 on Saturday which lifted them into second place in the standings.

 

They opened the day with a 17-1 demolition of the Herts Cubs.  Zack Longboy picked up the win.  In their second game of the day they met the league-leading Yankees.  In a repeat of last-week’s 2-1 epic it was once again Marty Cullen Jr and Nickolas Martinez who started on the mound for the Yankees and Jays, respectively.  It was the Blue Jays that ended up on top again in another walk-off win.  In the process, Lewis Paterson launched another home run for the Jays.  This was his third of the season and he now has, what seems to be, an unassailable lead in the home run race.

 

The Yankees did manage to get a win earlier in the day, beating the Red Sox 6-4, despite the fact that the Sox sent their ace pitcher, Liam Green, up against the Yankee lineup. 

 

The day didn’t get any better for the Red Sox as they went on to lose to the Cubs.  They put together a late rally but it was too little too late and the Cubs won it 7-4.

 

Click here for more images from Week 8 of the Herts Little League.

 

Next week is the final Saturday of the Little League regular season which will decide the lineup for the postseason.  Saturday's programme will also include the first ever youth international game at Grivehill Ballpark.

by AspiDimitrov

EAGLES WIN ANOTHER EXTRA INNINGS THRILLER!

Report from Herts Baseball Newswire Correspondent, DAVE HAMILTON

 

The Herts Eagles once again treated their home fans to an exhilarating afternoon of baseball in blazing sunshine on Sunday, recording yet another walk off victory, this time against the Richmond Knights.  The Grovehill faithful have certainly had more than their fair share of excitement from Herts second team as for the third home fixture in a row, game one in the AAA double-header went right down to the wire…

 

Despite Richmond's first batter of the game hitting a home run, the Eagles had looked very comfortable early on, building up a solid 9-3 lead in the first two innings – Mike Wakelam's two run double the highlight of a six run burst in the second inning.

 

Richmond started edging back though and eventually knocked pitcher Aspi Dimitrov out of the game in the sixth inning as they cut the lead to 11-9.  A baserunning blunder in the bottom of the sixth inning allowed Richmond to escape without conceding any further runs and, when the visitors scored two runs in the final inning to tie the score it looked like the Eagles might snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

 

This time there were to be no heroics for the Eagles in their final at bat and so once again the Grovehill faithful were treated to the nail-biting excitement of extra innings.  Richmond were batting first but Nick Russell, making his pitching debut for the Eagles, held his nerve on the mound and claimed a critical strikeout as the Knights were unable to drive home the potential winning run from third base.

 

Still tied at 11-11, the Eagles had another chance at victory and Mike Wakelam completed a great game with the bat by claiming his fourth hit of the game to lead off the innings.  He then stole second and advanced to third base on a wild pitch before handing over to pinch-runner Lee Manning.  With Aspi Dimitrov at the plate (who already had three hits of his own in the game), another wild pitch gave the Eagles victory, Manning racing down the line before the catcher could recover the ball.

 

After the game, manager Dave Westfallen attributed the win to his team's execution of a number of key plays, with some aggressive baserunning tactics being successfully combined with bunts and hit and run plays to manufacture runs, while the visitors were more reliant on power hitting.  Special praise also went to winning pitcher Nick Russell who had filled in admirably in the absence of the regular Eagles relievers.

 

Unfortunately the Eagles were once again unable to carry their early success over into game two, trailing 15-1 in the middle of the fourth inning.  The home fans were given something to cheer about with an eight run fourth inning rally, capped by Jason Greenberg's two run double, but the unlikely comeback was swiftly halted by Richmond.  Unfortunately Rod Ariss and Dave Westfallen were unable to replicate Russell's earlier success as they too were called into action for their pitching debuts, the Knights eventually claiming a 23-9 victory under the slaughter rule.

 

All Herts teams have a week off from regular season action next weekend, as focus switches to Croydon where two combined squads will be competing against teams of all levels in the weekend long 'London Tournament'.  The Eagles' next league fixtures are away to the Oxford Kings on July 19th.

 

GAME 1

Richmond Knights at Herts Eagles
Score By Innings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 R H E
Richmond Knights 1 2 0 3 0 3 2 0 11 13 2
Herts Eagles 3 6 1 1 0 0 0 1 12 13 2

Herts Eagles 12, Richmond Knights 11
Herts Eagles Richmond Knights
  ab r h bi   ab r h bi
Rod Ariss ss 1 1 0 1 Player 1 ss 5 4 3 3
Carlos Casal 3b 4 2 1 1 Player 2 c 3 1 2 3
Nick Russell lf-p 5 2 1 0 Player 3 p 3 1 1 2
Darrin Ward 1b 4 2 2 2 Player 4 1b 4 0 2 0
Dave Westfallen c-2b 4 1 1 2 Player 5 3b 5 0 1 0
Mike Wakelam 2b-rf 5 1 4 3 Player 6 2b 5 0 0 0
(b8) Lee Manning pr-rf 0 1 0 0 Player 7 lf 3 2 1 0
Dave Hamilton cf 2 0 0 1 Player 8 cf 4 3 3 1
Aspi Dimitrov p-lf 3 1 3 1 Player 9 rf 3 0 0 1
Tim Elkins rf 2 1 1 0
(b5) Jason Greenberg rf-c 0 0 0 0
TEAM TOTALS 30 12 13 11 TEAM TOTALS 35 11 13 10

E: Carlos Casal, Jason Greenberg, Player 4, Player 6. DP: Richmond Knights 1. LOB:
Richmond Knights 8, Herts Eagles 9. 2B: Mike Wakelam(2), Player 4, Player 1, Player
2. 3B: Player 8. HR: Player 1, Player 3. SB: Aspi Dimitrov(3), Rod Ariss(3), Nick
Russell, Dave Westfallen, Dave Hamilton, Tim Elkins, Lee Manning, Player 5(2), Player
1, Player 8. CS: Nick Russell. SB: Dave Hamilton, Jason Greenberg. SF: Rod Ariss,
Player 2.

Herts Eagles IP H R ER BB SO
Aspi Dimitrov 5.00 10 8 6 5 4
Nick Russell W 3.00 3 3 1 1 4
Richmond Knights            
Player 3 L 7.33 13 12 9 9 2

HBP: by Player 3 (Tim Elkins). . . , by Nick Russell (Player 9). . WP: Player 3(4).
PB: Dave Westfallen(2), Jason Greenberg. T: 2:55. A: 43.

GAME 2

Richmond Knights at Herts Eagles
Score By Innings 1 2 3 4 5 R H E
Richmond Knights 0 8 0 7 8 23 13 6
Herts Eagles 0 0 1 8 0 9 6 5

Richmond Knights 23, Herts Eagles 9
Richmond Knights Herts Eagles
  ab r h bi   ab r h bi
Player 1 p 4 3 1 2 Rod Ariss cf-p-ss 4 1 1 0
Player 2 c 3 3 3 3 Carlos Casal 3b-2b 1 1 0 1
Player 3 1b 2 3 1 2 Andy Cornish 2b-cf 2 1 0 0
Player 4 2b 4 3 3 2 Darrin Ward 1b-3b 2 0 1 1
Player 5 3b 4 2 2 1 Dave Westfallen ss-p 2 2 1 0
Player 6 ss 4 3 3 5 Jason Greenberg c 2 1 2 3
Player 7 lf 2 2 0 0 Nick Russell lf 2 1 0 0
Player 8 cf 4 1 0 1 Dave Hamilton rf 2 1 0 0
Player 9 rf 2 3 0 1 Tim Elkins dh 3 1 1 1
Mike Wakelam p-1b 0 0 0 0
TEAM TOTALS 29 23 13 17 TEAM TOTALS 20 9 6 6

E: Player 8(2), Player 6(2), Player 4, Player 9, Jason Greenberg(2), Carlos Casal,
Andy Cornish, Dave Westfallen. DP: Herts Eagles 1. LOB: Herts Eagles 4, Richmond
Knights 6. 2B: Player 6(2), Player 4(2), Jason Greenberg. 3B: Rod Ariss. SB: Player
1(2), Player 5(2), Player 2(2), Player 9, Player 6, Player 3, Player 7, Player 4,
Carlos Casal(2), Dave Hamilton(2), Nick Russell. CS: Jason Greenberg, Darrin Ward.
SF: Darrin Ward.

Richmond Knights IP H R ER BB SO
Player 1 W 5.00 6 9 4 6 3
Herts Eagles            
Mike Wakelam L 3.00 7 11 6 6 5
Rod Ariss 1.33 4 8 4 3 1
Dave Westfallen 0.67 2 4 4 4 0

HBP: by Mike Wakelam (Player 3). . . , by Player 1 (Carlos Casal). , by Dave
Westfallen (Player 7). PB: Jason Greenberg(2). T: 2:43. A: 42.

by AspiDimitrov

HERTS YANKEES WINNING STREAK ENDS, BLUE JAYS THE BIG MOVERS

There was plenty of drama on Saturday in the Herts Baseball Little League as all four games were decided by one-run.  The Herts Blue Jays were the big winners in Saturday’s Little League action. 

 

The Blue Jays started the day bottom of the table and so were given the first pick in drafting Nickolas Martinez who joins the League from the London Youth Baseball League.  The Blue Jays have been ending up on the losing side of one-run games all season long and maybe the addition of Nickolas Martinez is the edge they needed to turn 1-run losses into 1-run wins.  And so it proved to be the case this week.

 

They clinched two wins which moved them off the bottom of the standings.  The first came against the Red Sox who managed to pick up a precious 2-1 lead going into the final inning, but the Blue Jays loaded the basis quickly in the bottom of the inning and executed perfectly to win it 3-2.  The winning pitcher was Zack Longboy.

 

In their second game of the day, it was the Blue Jays against the Herts Yankees who had won their sixth consecutive game earlier in the day, beating the Cubs 3-2.

 

It proved to be a titanic battle ending with the Herts Blue Jays gunning down the Yankees’ tying run at the home plate for the final out of the game in 2-1 game.  Centerfielder, Storm Frisby, hit her cut-off Nickolas Martinez who completed the relay to home where catcher, Kieran Manning, applied the tag on the incoming Yankee runner, Bai Frisby.  One of the two runs scored by the Blue Jays was Lewis Paterson’s second home run of the season which went over the Green Monster in left centerfield.

 

In the other game the Red Sox came out on top against the Cubs 7-6.  Adam Smith was the winning pitcher

 

The Herts Little Leaguers will take a week off next Saturday, 11 July, with the league games resuming the following Saturday, 18 July.

 

Players of the Week: Lewis Paterson (Herts Blue Jays), Eddie Smith (Herts Red Sox), Charlie Mayhew (Herts Yankees), Mitchell Procter (Herts Cubs).

 

View the current Herts Little League Standings.

by AspiDimitrov

GOOD TO BE BACK

I can't tell you what a relief it is to be writing about playing baseball, instead of writing about not playing baseball. After five weeks off, I was back in uniform and it was simply great fun. We took on the London Marauders in a rematch of our eye-watering opening game which ended 35-34 in virtual darkness. And we nearly went the same way again. After a late start, and with rain clouds frequently threatening over Grovehill, both sides racked up huge scores. As we considered sending out for pizzas and a dozen tents, the Raptors finally managed to establish some dominance and closed it out after 9 o'clock, winning 41-26.

As you can tell from the score, this was not classic, tight baseball. There were hits a-plenty and more stolen bases than I could possibly count. I was personally delighted that I was able to slap some good line drives around the field, including my first ever triple. As the ball crawled towards the fence in the centre field gap, I rounded first at a sprint, took a big turn at second but as I considered going for the full, inside-the-park glory, I glanced right and saw the ball heading for the cut-off man. Do you test a defence which is clearly not the best in the league? Or do you accept what you've got, and make sure you keep the inning alive? In the end I slid into third, and had to call time to get my breath back, so it was probably best that I hadn't headed for home. Although I benefited from a couple of slightly lucky infield hits, I don't think I made an out all day, so that was a satisfying return to the game.

 

In the field, the boss very kindly slotted me straight back in at shortstop, and things went reasonably well. I made a couple of catches and stops, and just missed out on an unassisted double play. But I also committed two errors when the ball went under my glove, one from a dying quail on the infield, the other a rolling grounder that I rushed. They were just minutes apart in an inning where things threatened to unravel for us. So often, mistakes in baseball breed mistakes, just as success brings confidence and more success. You need to just take five minutes out of the game to really shake off a mistake, but that's not possible. My team-mates helped me get out of this one alive.

And the final out of the day was perhaps a combination of all of this, good and bad. I was in on the play, picking up a tricky dribbler which had got through Jack, our third baseman. Looking up, I was surprised to see a Marauders' runner heading home, even though he didn't have to. In my haste, I snatched at the throw to the plate, dragging it a good six feet off line. Thankfully Slater — wearing the tools of ignorance — made a fantastic move to haul in the ball and dive across to tag the runner. The place went wild. For me, I felt a wave of warmth to have been part of a win for the first time this season, and to have returned to the diamond for such a great game.

Let's not leave it so long next time.

 

by AspiDimitrov

ANOTHER RAPTORS VS MARAUDERS EPIC

Report from Herts Baseball Newswire Correspondent, ROB JONES

 

2 games. 138 runs. Well over 9 hours of action. The Herts Raptors and London Marauders have already built up an extraordinary history together. The first time around, it was a narrow win for the Herts team — this time, it looked like being another marathon nail-biter, until the Raptors finally managed to assert themselves and save the need for floodlights.

 

It was already gone 5pm when the rematch began. And for the Herts team, it began well. Mistakes on the bases and a strong throw from centre-fielder, Iwan Evans, meant the visitors fell victim to a quick double play, and they were up and down in the first inning without scoring.  By contrast, Raptors built on several solid base hits with an aggressive stealing policy, and racked up 7 runs. But then the familiar exchange of high scoring resumed. The London team weighed in with 6 runs of their own in the top of the second and the heavyweight contest began in earnest.

 

In the third inning London chased the Raptors starter, Andrew Slater. The Marauders had mastered the knack of hitting the ball into gaps, and mistakes and missed chances in the field only helped their cause. After an inning which seemed to last an eternity, the visitors had taken the lead 21-17.

 

Fat rain fell sporadically on the field now as the Marauders' pirate chants battled with the band of enthusiastic Herts fans. And in the gathering gloom, it was the Raptors star Jon Lewys who stepped up to lead the charge. Now pitching, he challenged and blew away a string of London batters, fielding some of the plays himself. There were catches from Paul Curtis, and Rob Jones, and hits from Jack Calow and — of course — that man Lewys. Herts gained momentum and the door was eased shut on the visitors. The lead stretched beyond the ten needed for the slaughter rule.

 

With nine o'clock already a distant memory, the final play was scrappy but decisive. A ground ball which looked like it should have been called foul sneaked through two Herts fielders, before luckily ending up in the hand of one of them. The London base-runner had seen his chance to head home, but Andrew Slater, now wearing the catcher's gear, was able to pull in the wayward throw and tag the runner. It was a euphoric moment, the team's third win of the year, and a bounce-back from two weeks of disappointment. Both sides had played an even game in a fine spirit, and the 41-26 win will surely not be the end of the story.

 

Click for more Images

by AspiDimitrov

FALCONS AND METS PULL AWAY IN THE NBL

This article by Joe Gray first appeared on www.mister-baseball.com

The Herts Falcons and London Mets made their moves in Week 11 of national Baseball League play on 28 June, sweeping their respective double-headers to pull away at the top of the standings.

The Falcons saw off the still-winless Croydon Pirates, while the Mets brushed past the Richmond Flames.

Richmond v London
London travelled to Richmond and came away with 5-0 and 9-3 wins behind the pitching of Jason Roberts and Reed Wilson. And Mets coach Alex Pike reckons his side will be the team to beat from now on.

“We are starting to get going,” Alex said. “We have most of our players back and I honestly don’t think we will lose another game this season. Richmond swept us at the start of the season so to come here and win both games really shows we are up and running.”

For Flames coach Grant Delzoppo, who smacked a home run in Game Two, it was a disappointing afternoon.

“We made far too many errors,” Grant said “and we got punished. They pitched well and played great defence, and we couldn’t get many hits. The Mets are a great team and they were definitely better than us on the day.”

Herts v Croydon
For the Croydon Pirates, it was once again a hard-luck story, performing well but coming up short in both games at Herts’ Grovehill Ballpark, including an agonising 12-11 loss in Game Two after losing Game One 11-2.

But for Pirates coach Dave Ward, it is a case of taking the positives.

“All in all it was a pretty good day for us,” Dave said. “We are certainly getting there and we gave them a bit of a shock in the second game. We are building each week, but unfortunately it is a slow process.”

View more images from the Croydon Pirates @ Herts Falcons NBL game

GAME 1

Croydon Pirates at Herts Falcons
Score By Innings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Croydon Pirates 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 7 4
Herts Falcons 4 0 0 1 3 3 0 11 9 2

Herts Falcons 11, Croydon Pirates 2
Herts Falcons Croydon Pirates
  ab r h bi   ab r h bi
Riley Fisher 3b 3 1 0 0 Player 1 c-p 4 0 0 0
Kimiyoshi Saionji 2b 4 2 1 1 Player 2 2b 4 0 0 0
Lin Yuchih ss 5 2 5 2 Player 3 p 3 0 0 0
Darrin Ward p 3 1 1 0 (b5) Sub 10 p 0 0 0 0
Jamie Munn lf 2 0 0 1 (b6) Sub 11 1b 0 0 0 0
Aspi Dimitrov cf 2 1 1 1 Player 4 3b 3 0 1 0
Lee Manning c 3 2 1 0 Player 5 lf 3 0 0 0
Nick Goetz rf 1 1 0 1 Player 6 cf 3 1 2 0
Andy Cornish 1b 2 1 0 0 Player 7 ss 3 1 2 0
          Player 8 rf 3 0 1 2
          Player 9 1b-c 3 0 1 0
TEAM TOTALS 25 11 9 6 TEAM TOTALS 29 2 7 2

E: Kimiyoshi Saionji(2), Player 7(2), Player 3, Player 9. DP: Croydon Pirates 2. LOB:
Croydon Pirates 6, Herts Falcons 11. 2B: Lin Yuchih, Player 4. SB: Lee Manning(3),
Lin Yuchih, Nick Goetz, Andy Cornish, Player 7, Player 6. CS: Riley Fisher. SF: Jamie
Munn.

Herts Falcons IP H R ER BB SO
Darrin Ward W 7.00 7 2 2 0 4
Croydon Pirates            
Player 3 L 4.67 7 8 6 9 1
Sub 10 0.67 1 2 2 2 0
Player 1 0.67 1 1 1 2 1

HBP: by Player 3 (Darrin Ward). . . . . . . WP: Player 3(2), Sub 10, Player 1. PB:
Lee Manning(2). T: 3:00. A: 48.

GAME 2

Croydon Pirates at Herts Falcons
Score By Innings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Croydon Pirates 2 0 4 4 0 1 0 11 11 5
Herts Falcons 2 2 0 4 0 4 0 12 9 5

Herts Falcons 12, Croydon Pirates 11
Herts Falcons Croydon Pirates
  ab r h bi   ab r h bi
Lee Manning rf 3 1 0 0 Player 1 ss 4 2 1 0
Kimiyoshi Saionji 2b 4 2 2 2 Player 2 p-1b 5 0 1 1
Lin Yuchih ss 3 1 0 1 Player 3 1b-cf-p 5 2 3 0
Darrin Ward 3b 4 1 2 0 Player 4 3b 3 4 1 0
Jamie Munn lf 3 2 0 0 Player 5 2b 3 1 1 2
Aspi Dimitrov cf 3 1 0 0 Player 6 cf-p 4 1 1 1
Louis Hare 1b 3 2 2 1 Player 7 c 4 1 1 1
Riley Fisher dh 3 0 0 0 Player 8 lf 4 0 2 4
Andy Cornish c 4 2 3 2 Player 9 rf 3 0 0 0
Nick Goetz p 0 0 0 0 (b4) Sub 10 rf 1 0 0 0
TEAM TOTALS 30 12 9 6 TEAM TOTALS 36 11 11 9

E: Darrin Ward(2), Kimiyoshi Saionji, Lin Yuchih, Jamie Munn, Player 1(2), Player 4,
Player 5, Player 7. DP: Croydon Pirates 2. LOB: Herts Falcons 7, Croydon Pirates 7.
2B: Darrin Ward(2), Player 4, Player 2, Player 8. SB: Jamie Munn(3), Louis Hare(3),
Lee Manning(2), Aspi Dimitrov(2), Kimiyoshi Saionji(2), Andy Cornish(2), Lin Yuchih,
Player 7(2), Player 4, Player 6, Player 1.

Herts Falcons IP H R ER BB SO
Nick Goetz W 7.00 11 11 5 2 5
Croydon Pirates            
Player 2 L 3.67 6 8 3 5 3
Player 3 2.00 3 4 2 2 0
Player 6 0.33 0 0 0 0 0

HBP: by Nick Goetz (Player 5). . . . . WP: Player 2(2), Player 3(2). PB: Andy
Cornish(3), Player 7. T: 3:00. A: 67.
by AspiDimitrov

HAWKS TAKE TWO FROM THAMES VALLEY BISONS

Report from Herts Baseball Newswire Correspondent, KAL DIMITROV

 

The Herts Hawks visited picturesque Berkshire during one of the hottest days of the season for a double header between the two bottom teams in the AA Division.  Both teams were keen to perform and move away from last place where they were tied at the start of play.

 

In the first game, Herts starter Pete Kikel had a tough first inning, not helped by some defensive lapses, allowing the Bisons to score 4 in the bottom of the first. However, after the first inning Herts did not let in another run for the next five innings, while steadily catching up and subsequently increasing their lead. Kikel was able to shut down the bats, and the defense suddenly woke up with third baseman Wiley, short stop Casal and the tag team of Wakelam and stand-in manager Bochan at second base all participating in the fun. However, the outstanding play was a catch by the Bison’s centerfielder, who made ground as if chased by the bridesmaids at a shotgun wedding, and robbed Mike Wakelam of a sure double in the right-centerfield gap.  With the score 11:4 for the Hawks in the bottom of the 7th, both the pitcher and the defense lost focus slightly, allowing the Bisons to score 4 runs, but were able to settle down and get the outs for the win.

 

The second game was to provide a more competitive beginning, with both teams moving in lockstep.  The Hawks started with Greg Bochan on the mound, and as the break between the games was not sufficient, he had to utilize a couple of innings to finish his warm up. However, after allowing 4 runs, he settled down and was able to unleash his wide variety of pitches, changing speeds and hitting the locations that the catcher Dave Westfallen was cannily giving.  In the meantime, the Herts bats were successfully silenced by the Thames Valley pitcher who was able to put the batters off balance with the massive speed difference between his fastball and curveball.  The main reason for the hitting drought, however, was the Bisons’ third baseman, who appeared to be just about everywhere, taking away surefire hits and once making a diving catch to deprive Carlos Casal of a line drive hit that was a frozen rope along the third base line and would have surely been a double.  In the fifth, however, with the score very close, the Hawks bats suddenly woke up and were able to adjust to the pitching of Thames Valley. Aided by some sloppy defensive plays by the home team, the Hawks ended up with eight runs scored in that inning. Thames Valley scored another run in the seventh but were unable to shut down the Hawks, who came out with a comfortable win.

 

GAME 1

Herts Hawks at Thames Valley Bisons
Score By Innings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Herts Hawks 2 1 2 0 4 0 2 11 8 7
Thames Valley Bisons 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 8 7 6

Herts Hawks 11, Thames Valley Bisons 8
Herts Hawks Thames Valley Bisons
  ab r h bi   ab r h bi
Mike Wakelam cf-2b 3 0 0 1 Player 1 cf 2 1 1 0
Greg Bochan 2b 3 0 0 0 Player 2 3b 4 1 1 0
(t4) Paul Auchterlounie c 2 0 0 0 Player 3 1b 3 2 0 0
Carlos Casal ss 3 3 1 0 Player 4 p 3 2 2 2
Dave Westfallen 1b 4 2 1 0 Player 5 lf 3 1 0 0
Peter Kikel p 4 2 2 0 Player 6 c 4 0 0 0
Kal Dimitrov c-cf 2 2 1 1 Player 7 ss 4 1 2 3
Matt Johnston lf 4 2 2 1 Player 8 rf 3 0 0 0
Chris Wylie 3b 3 0 1 1 (t7) Sub 1 rf 1 0 1 1
Liam Green rf 3 0 0 0 Player 9 2b 2 0 0 0
TEAM TOTALS 31 11 8 4 TEAM TOTALS 29 8 7 6

E: Carlos Casal(2), Chris Wylie(2), Dave Westfallen, Peter Kikel, Liam Green, Player
2(2), Player 3(2), Player 4, Player 6. LOB: Thames Valley Bisons 6, Herts Hawks 6.
2B: Chris Wylie, Peter Kikel, Player 4, Player 1. SB: Matt Johnston(2), Peter Kikel,
Carlos Casal, Liam Green, Kal Dimitrov, Player 4(2), Player 1, Player 6, Player 7.
CS: Chris Wylie. SF: Mike Wakelam.

Herts Hawks IP H R ER BB SO
Peter Kikel W 7.00 7 8 5 5 6
Thames Valley Bisons            
Player 4 L 7.00 8 11 2 5 5

HBP: by Player 4 (Kal Dimitrov). . , by Peter Kikel (Player 9). . . . Balk: Player 4.
T: 2:30. A: 0.

GAME 2

Herts Hawks at Thames Valley Bisons
Score By Innings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Herts Hawks 0 0 0 0 2 6 3 11 15 2
Thames Valley Bisons 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 5 8 2

Herts Hawks 11, Thames Valley Bisons 5
Herts Hawks Thames Valley Bisons
  ab r h bi   ab r h bi
Paul Auchterlounie cf 3 0 0 0 Player 1 p-cf 4 0 1 1
(b5) Kal Dimitrov cf 1 0 1 0 Player 2 c 4 1 1 0
Greg Bochan p 4 1 1 0 Player 3 cf-ss 2 1 0 0
Carlos Casal ss 4 2 2 0 Player 4 ss-3b 4 1 1 1
Dave Westfallen c 3 2 1 0 Player 5 lf 4 0 1 1
Peter Kikel 2b 3 0 2 1 Player 6 3b-p 3 0 1 0
David Baird 1b 4 2 2 1 Player 7 1b 2 1 1 0
Matt Johnston lf 4 2 2 0 Player 8 2b 2 0 1 0
Chris Wylie 3b 1 0 0 0 Player 9 rf 3 1 1 0
(b3) Mike Wakelam 3b 3 2 3 3 (t7) Sub 1 rf 0 0 0 0
Liam Green rf 3 0 1 0
TEAM TOTALS 33 11 15 5 TEAM TOTALS 28 5 8 3

E: Carlos Casal, Liam Green, Player 4, Player 8. LOB: Herts Hawks 3, Thames Valley
Bisons 6. 2B: Mike Wakelam(2), Liam Green, Peter Kikel, David Baird, Carlos Casal,
Kal Dimitrov, Player 4, Player 2. SB: David Baird(2), Carlos Casal(2), Matt
Johnston(2), Mike Wakelam, Player 2, Player 3, Player 1.

Herts Hawks IP H R ER BB SO
Greg Bochan W 7.00 8 5 2 4 3
Thames Valley Bisons            
Player 1 L 6.00 11 8 7 1 3
Player 6 1.00 4 3 3 1 2

PB: Dave Westfallen, Player 2(3). T: 2:30. A: 0.

by AspiDimitrov

HALLELUJAH. HAWKS END LOSING STREAK

Report from Herts Baseball Newswire Correspondent, PAUL AUCHTERLOUNIE

 

It had to happen eventually. Surely not even the Hawks could continue to lose. The 6 game losing streak suffered by the Herts Hawks was well and truly stopped last Sunday, 21st June with a 24 – 4 win at home against the Kent Mariners, who had taken the previous 3 meetings and were looking for the season sweep.

 

It was somewhat of a mystery to Hawks manager Marty Cullen and some of the veteran players as to why the Hawks had continued to lose. Given the hitting talent of the lineup from 1 through 9 some team was going to suffer when it all came together, and the Mariners were that team.

 

Top 1st and Mark “H-train” Hoffman starts with a K; it seems as though it might just be the Hawks day, but then they’ve started well before and lost. After the 2nd Kent hitter reached with a single and stole second on a very close play at the bag, perhaps it would follow previous encounters. However, the next 2 batters were retired and the Hawks took up the bats.

 

Paul Auchterlounie, promoted to leadoff for only the 2nd time in his 10-yr Herts career reached on error and reached home on an RBI single by Carlos Casal. Game on! The next 3 batters reached before the first out of the inning. The bottom 3rd of the order all reached, including Little Leaguer Liam Green getting his first senior RBI. Paul A batted for the 2nd time in the inning, promptly hitting a triple bringing in 2 runs, and was then batted in by Humberto Goncalves. 8 runs in, great start.

 

A scoreless 2nd on both sides, with another 2 Ks by Hoffman, and a single run in the 3rd from Kent perhaps reminded Herts that the game was by no means over, and they plated another 3 in the bottom of the 3rd. Somewhere in the 2nd or 3rd inning should have been a caught stealing but Casal dropped the throw from Paul A with the runner a good foot away from 2nd base. Still, that’s baseball!

 

Herts blew the game open in the bottom of the 4th sending 13 batters to the plate, and all 9 runs came with 2 outs in the inning. Bochan replaced Goncalves on the base paths, and there were 2 RBIs each for Casal, Pete Kikel and Hunter Devine with Devine’s coming on a monster triple that went over the glove of LF into the corner.

 

Bottom of the 5th saw another change to the Hawks lineup as manager Cullen replaced Auchterlounie and Kal Dimitrov moved to behind the plate from CF. Bochan hit yet another triple and came home on an error. 3 runs from each team in the 6th inning left Kent needing a huge 11 runs just to avoid the 10-run slaughter rule. 2 K’s from Kikel – who replaced Hoffman on the mound – a walk and a popup ended the game.

 

Hawks players really showed what they’re about in this game, perhaps inspired watching the NBL Falcons come from behind to win their game 2 earlier in the day. Whatever it was, let’s hope it carries forward into Sunday’s DH at Thames Valley.

 

Can the 6 game losing streak be followed by an 11 game winning streak?

This is baseball. Anything can happen.

 

 

Kent Mariners at Herts Hawks
Score By Innings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Kent Mariners 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 4 3 9
Herts Hawks 8 0 3 9 1 3 0 24 20 3

Herts Hawks 24, Kent Mariners 4
Herts Hawks Kent Mariners
  ab r h bi   ab r h bi
Paul Auchterlounie c 3 4 2 3 Gary Ward p-ss 4 0 0 0
(b5) Marty Cullen c-cf 2 0 1 1 Gary O'Mare c 3 1 2 0
Humberto Goncalves 1b 4 1 2 1 Kalid Basyuni cf 3 1 0 0
(b4) Greg Bochan pr-1b-2b 2 2 1 1 Dicky Gofton ss-p 3 0 0 0
Carlos Casal 2b-3b 6 3 3 4 Dean Ward 1b 3 0 1 0
Peter Kikel 3b-p 6 3 3 4 Adam Brown 2b-lf-3b 3 1 0 0
Mark Hoffman p-1b 4 2 1 0 Adrian Plug lf 2 0 0 0
Kal Dimitrov cf-c 5 1 3 1 Nigel Ward rf 3 0 0 0
Hunter Devine ss 5 2 2 3 Matt Ward 2b-3b 2 1 0 0
Chris Barnes lf 4 2 1 1
Liam Green rf 3 4 1 1
TEAM TOTALS 44 24 20 20 TEAM TOTALS 26 4 3 0

E: Hunter Devine(2), Mark Hoffman, Matt Ward(3), Adam Brown(3), Dicky Gofton(2),
Kalid Basyuni. LOB: Kent Mariners 5, Herts Hawks 8. 2B: Humberto Goncalves(2), Peter
Kikel, Liam Green. 3B: Hunter Devine, Paul Auchterlounie, Greg Bochan, Gary O'Mare.
SB: Peter Kikel(2), Gary O'Mare(2), Kalid Basyuni, Dean Ward, Adrian Plug.

Herts Hawks IP H R ER BB SO
Mark Hoffman W 6.00 3 4 0 3 9
Peter Kikel 1.00 0 0 0 1 2
Kent Mariners            
Gary Ward L 3.00 12 12 5 1 2
Dicky Gofton 3.00 8 12 5 3 2

HBP: by Dicky Gofton (Paul Auchterlounie). . . , by Gary Ward (Chris Barnes). . PB:
Paul Auchterlounie, Marty Cullen, Gary O'Mare(2). T: 2:43. A: 46.