Category: Youth Leagues

12 June 202412 June 2024 by Herts Baseball News Editor

Youth summer camps come to Herts for 2024

In a year which has seen MLB return to the UK with a bang, Herts Baseball Club is thrilled to announce a new offering for our players – and for kids across British baseball.

The club will run a Summer Youth Baseball Training program at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead designed to cater to young players of all ages and skill levels. Sessions will take place from 23rd July to 15th August, every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

The program will be divided into two levels, Beginner and Experienced, to ensure the best and safest development of all of those taking part. Please ask your coaches if you have questions about which level suits you best.

The cost is just £15 per week (the fourth week has two sessions rather than three), or £50 for all 11 sessions. We feel this is excellent value, considering the expert leadership provided by Coach Stephen and his team. It is important to us to make sure baseball is available to as many families as possible.

Experienced Players

Skill Level: Players with over 1 year of baseball experience.
Age Group: 11-16 years old
Time: 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM (3 hours per session)
Training Content:
- Advanced skill development
- Pitcher and catcher training
- Hitting drills and techniques
- Physical conditioning

Beginner Players

Skill Level: Players with less than 1 year of baseball experience, or under 10 years old.
Age Group: less experienced players or under 10 years old
Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM (2 hours per session)
Training Content:
- Basic skill development
- Introduction to catch and throw
- Fundamental hitting drills
- Body coordination training

Registration

Participants will need to be registered with the British Baseball Federation (BBF), the sport’s UK governing body. To do this, you must sign up through the Sport80 website. All our existing players will already have done this, but please ensure you sign up if you are new to the season.

To register for the Herts Summer Baseball Training program, please fill in the online registration form. Ensure you select the appropriate skill level group for your child. If you have any questions, please consult your coach. Payment will be taken through the club’s Direct Debit process.

Training Content Breakdown

Individual Skill Development

Throwing: Techniques to improve accuracy and strength
Catching: Proper catching techniques and positioning
Fielding: Infield and outfield drills to enhance agility and reaction time

Pitcher and Catcher Training

Pitchers: Mechanics, control, and various pitching techniques
Catchers: Stance, receiving, blocking, and throw-down drills

Hitting Training

Beginners: Basic batting stance, swing mechanics, and tee work
Experienced: Advanced hitting strategies, live pitching, and situational hitting

Physical Conditioning/ Body coordination training

Strength Training: Age-appropriate exercises to build muscle and endurance
Agility Drills: Enhance speed and coordination
Flexibility Exercises: Stretching routines to prevent injuries
Body Coordination Drills

We look forward to seeing you at the Herts Baseball Club Summer Camp — and helping our young players enhance their skills and enjoy the game of baseball!

10 May 202411 May 2024 by Herts Baseball News Editor

BBF Youth Super League comes to Herts

The BBF Youth Super League comes to Grovehill ballpark this Saturday, 11 May. It’s a competition run by the British Baseball Federation (BBF) covering the Under-15, Under-12 and Under-10 age groups.

Herts young stars will take on teams from the London Mets, LYBL, and the Buccaneers travel team. The first game starts at 10am, the last game at 4pm.

The Herts teams put in a tremendous performance with some great games when the first round was played at Farnham Park earlier this year.

We are on the hunt for volunteer umpires and helpers so do give us a shout if you think you can do something to help our youth baseball division.

*Herts in action in Round 1 at Farnham Park*

Each of the competing clubs will host a round of games, so there will be one more to be played at Finsbury Park.

Players should make sure they are registered with the BBF to play with the Herts youth league teams this season.

2 December 20234 December 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

2023 Season Review

The following article was featured in Herts Baseball Club’s 2023 Annual Report distributed to club members ahead of its annual general meeting held on 26 November 2023.

It has been another record year for our club growing by 16% and we now have 248 adult and youth members. This has enabled us to have one or more teams at each of the four adult league tiers and in all four youth league age divisions. Substantial investment has gone into upgrading both ballparks and facilities and we are in a strong position to go further in the coming years after adding new revenue streams which increase our healthy cash reserves. MLB and other strategic partners have recognised us as an organisation they can work with and we hosted two MLB events – one in Hemel Hempstead and one in London. There are exciting opportunities on the horizon.

This would not be possible without the hard work, care and dedication of board and non-board staff, and the wider membership. We have been receiving very positive feedback from club members, parents and fans and I would like to join them in thanking you, the members, for your incredible contribution.

Adult Baseball

In 2022 we saw the unusual scenario of having one team in the Triple-A League and our other four teams all in Single-A. This year, the number of teams increased from five to seven and the allocation of teams was more balanced – one team in the NBL, one in Triple-A, two in Double-A and three in Single-A. From previous years we know that moving up the leagues is not an easy step to take. It became even more difficult when, after submitting the league entries in January, the Hawks lost five or six players from their strong 2022 roster and a similar number of new experienced players who were expected to strengthen the Ducks, withdrew their club registration shortly after registering due to change of circumstances. That had a significant effect on the competitiveness of those two teams in Double-A.

Despite this being an expansion season, the Cardinals, Raptors and Ravens achieved a considerable improvement with a combined record of 42 wins and 30 losses (.583) compared to 29 wins and 49 losses (.372) in 2022.

Cardinals and Ravens qualified for the Triple-A and Single-A postseason, respectively, reaching the semi-final stage which is an outstanding feat.

Falcons and the NBL Pilot Project

After a one year absence, the Herts Falcons were back in Britain’s top league. In addition to the return of a number of former Falcons players, we saw a large number of talented young players with international experience with the various Great Britain national teams.

There were games when the team showed that they can compete against the best NBL teams, but at the end we have to give credit to our opponents and accept that the Falcons did not do enough to stay in the playoff race.

But there is no doubt about the enormous potential of this group of young players not only to close the gap on the leading NBL teams but to overtake them in the coming years.

There was a recognition of this when Falcons third baseman, Jack Warrington, was selected as the only British player among the top 90 young European prospects to take part in the MLB Development Tournament during the MLB London Series in front of the MLB scouts.

The return of the Falcons to the NBL was in conjunction with the club’s Pilot Project which had the aim to increase the number of fans and provide a more immersive game day experience.

Despite operating on a limited budget, we sold a total of 284 tickets for the four NBL home games. The total included a number of complimentary tickets given to local primary schools and an organisation which supports people in Dacorum facing homelessness or social exclusion.

The department made a small profit. It would have been interesting to see what the results would have been if the team’s win-loss percentage was higher and had avoided some of the blow-out losses.

The project achieved most of the goals which were set, including:

Falcons’ return to the NBL
Grow the club’s fan base
Increase attendances at home NBL games
Increase publicity and media coverage
Raise the club’s profile
Inspire more children and adults to play baseball and join Herts

Youth Baseball

The Herts youth baseball programme grew again this year setting another record high.

The club was represented in all four age brackets of the national youth baseball championships picking up a silver at U19 level and two bronze medals for the U16s and U11s.

There is still a gap between our youth teams and the leading youth programme, but that gap is getting smaller every year.

The coaching staff deserve a lot of praise for raising the standard further and providing more playing opportunities, some of which were added extras on top of the membership packages.

Coach Lee Manning once again ran the midweek youth baseball sessions in Hemel Hempstead and coach Stephen Wong added ten summer holiday sessions and four April half-term sessions. The Basing Hill branch also added twelve midweek evening sessions to the calendar.

U13 players also had the opportunity to work with coach Monte Brooks from The Master’s University, California who have seen a number of their players play in MLB.

Like any organisation, there will be hurdles that we need to overcome. This year, a large number of U11 players in Hemel Hempstead made the transition to U13 leaving a lower number of players in that U11 group. That made it difficult for U11 coaches to run regular season games. Although the size of our programme is at a record high, we are still slightly short of the level needed to run local league play in every age group on our own. Disproportionate fluctuations in numbers from one year to the next can leave one or more age groups vulnerable so we need to keep pushing for growth to reach the scale which will ensure stable regular season game schedule.

This year it was very satisfying to see the work of the youth baseball staff in the previous three years show results with many Herts youth players starting their transition to adult league baseball with the Hawks and in the Hunlock Series.

I must give a special mention to the parents. They see that the club is looking to build something special and provide children with lifelong memories and they have become very involved supporting all aspects on and off the field, from coaching and umpiring to concessions and field maintenance.

Financials

The club continues to be in a healthy financial position. We were able to avoid any major increases in membership fees this year. However, we are operating in difficult economic conditions with high inflation. We need to do our best to keep baseball affordable while continuing our prudent management of the club’s finances. There will be some cost pressures which we will not be able to avoid and club members also will have to adapt to the new membership fee structure which the BBF is about to announce for 2024.

Ballparks

In 2022 the club was awarded £2,851 match-funding from the BSUK Facilities Fund to be invested in improvements at Grovehill Ballpark with a total cost of £5,851. The first stage of the work involving the installation of mound clay blocks for both pitching mounds at Grovehill was completed in 2022. The main part of the project involved verti-draining, overseeding, top dressing and other procedures to improve the playing surface on both diamonds. It was scheduled for Spring 2023.

Our contractors struggled to time the project due to heavy flooding in the Spring followed by a very dry spell which made the ground too hard for the spikes to penetrate the soil. As a result, it was implemented in September 2023 and grooves of newly grown grass could be seen during the Hunlock Series games in October (see photo above).

We had wonderful support from Dacorum Borough Council who assigned two additional rooms to us.

They also re-painted all our rooms and installed new female and male toilets and washing facilities.

The club also acquired a new paint-based line-marking machine for Grovehill.

We completed the second phase of the Basing Hill Ballpark project with the installation of the infield perimeter fence.

Thanks to the Brent Cross Town Community Fund £2,632 award we were able to fund the purchase of a baseball pitching machine for Basing Hill which means that now both ballparks have one.

It is important that we increase awareness about ballpark and facilities operational and maintenance procedures and train the designated team supervisors so that we can ensure that our ballparks are kept at the highest standard year after year.

Media and IT

Our media operations continue to be among the best in British baseball, with the club and its members featured by various media organisations and publications.

The number of followers of our various media channels continues to grow at a good rate.

We saw an increase in quality and volume of video content on our YouTube channel which members and other followers enjoyed this year.

As always, our IT Director, Greg Bochan, was hard at work keeping the club’s IT infrastructure running, integrating all of its separate components to work smoothly with each other and enabling us to do things which would be impossible without this technology.

Events

Our club’s reputation for having some of the best ballparks in the UK and being able to host high profile events is paying off as we had the honour of hosting two MLB events around the MLB London Series. The first was the MLBPAA Youth Clinic featuring World Series winners, David Eckstein and Jake Arrieta, running a clinic with 60 kids from British baseball clubs around the UK.

The second was the MLB First Pitch event at Grovehill for around 200 pupils from local primary schools.

There was no Herts Futures Tournament in 2020 and 2021 but it is starting to regain momentum with the number of teams increasing from eight in 2022 to twelve this year.

The season would not be complete without the Hunlock Series. It also gave us an opportunity for all our adult teams to remember club member Dan Gipple who passed away this year.

British Baseball

Momentum is continuing to gather for baseball in the UK. The Great Britain National Team overcame the odds at the World Baseball Classic and secured a place in the next edition in 2026 without having to go through the qualifying stage.

British coach Liam Carroll was appointed as the manager of the Boston Red Sox’s Single-A affiliate.

The MLB London Series was back. In 2024 we will welcome the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies.

2024

I expect to have a number of personal commitments coming up as we go into 2024. Although I will still be able to perform office-based roles such as Treasurer and Secretary, this will affect my ability to cover some of my other roles such as events and facilities manager. I am also mindful of the fact that I have been a board member of the club since 2004 and it may be appropriate for club members and the board to have the opportunity, periodically, to consider whether they wish to appoint different persons in the roles which I am covering at present. The last time I stepped down from my roles was in 2015 and perhaps now is a good time to do that again.

If no candidates are appointed at the upcoming AGM and if the board decides not to co-opt others to these roles, I would be very happy to be co-opted again to roles which I am able to perform in 2024, if the board decides that this is in the club’s best interest. Whatever the decision of club members and the board, I will of course be very keen to ensure the best possible transition and hand-over of roles which are assigned to others in 2024.

We have grown from having one adult team with 19 members playing on one diamond in 2004 to an organisation with around 250 adult and youth players today and three diamonds – two in Hemel Hempstead and one in NW London.

These are exciting times for our club and its members and there is enormous potential and opportunities to continue growing and developing the club as we strive to get to the next level.

Aspi Dimitrov

President

3 October 20236 October 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

Teams from Essex and Cambridge are the 2023 Herts Futures Tournament champions

The Essex Redbacks won the U15 and U11 divisions of the Herts Futures Tournament while the Cambridge Lancers won the U13 bracket but all the teams played their part in making this another successful edition of this competition.

The number of entries was up from 7 last year to 14 this year so it is good to see British baseball gradually recovering after a difficult 2020 Covid year.

The day started with the traditional opening ceremony introducing the teams and umpires. With Great Britain national team preparing to play in the European Championships final against Spain on the following day, this was a perfect opportunity for the players and fans to show their support.

The first U15 division featured three teams and Essex Redbacks dominated from start to finish. The Essex Redbacks also won the U11 division.

The U13 bracket went right down to the wire. The Buccaneers U13 were in pole position to win it with an unbeaten record but in their final game the Herts Hawks U13 proved to be too strong.

That gave the Herts team 3 wins and 1 loss which which proved to be just short as the Cambridge Lancers U13 had a marginally better record of 3 wins and 1 tied game against the Buccaneers U13 which reached the time limit with a score of 0-0 so it was not possible to determine the winner on the “roll-back” rule.

View the HFT scoreboard and final standings.

Since its creation in 2008, the Herts Futures Tournament has been a great day for the youth baseball community to get together at the end of the year. The club was delighted to see so many players, parents and coaches come along to enjoy it once again.

Our three photo albums from the day can be seen on our Flickr page – please feel free to find yourself!

Album 1

Album 2

Album 3

26 September 202325 September 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

Herts Futures Tournament this Saturday.

Ten teams will be in action at the 2023 Herts Futures Tournament (HFT) which will take place this Saturday, 30 September 2023. The number of entries is up from 7 last year so it is good to see British baseball gradually recovering after a difficult 2020 Covid year.

U15 Division

Essex Redbacks (U15)
Herts Falcons (U15)

U13 Division

Brighton Fireballs U13
Buccaneers U13
Cambridge Lancers U13
Herts Hawks U13
Herts Raptors U13

U11 Division

Herts Londoners U11
Northants Centurions U11
Sheffield Cubs U11

The opening ceremony will take place at 10:30am. The first games begin at 11:15am.

To view the games schedule click here.

“Herts Baseball Club welcomes new players at any time of the year” said the club’s co-Director of Youth Baseball, Aspi Dimitrov. “Any children aged between 6 and 15 who are interested to give baseball a try can contact the club. It is not too late to play in these games, regardless of whether you are a complete beginner or an advanced player.”

The HFT was first held in 2008 and is now a permanent fixture in the British baseball calendar. It brings together youth teams from across the country for a day of baseball at one of the best baseball venues in the United Kingdom.

For more information about the event visit the Herts Futures Tournament homepage.

24 September 202325 September 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

One silver and two bronze medals for Herts in the National Youth Baseball Championships

LYBL continue to be the dominant force in British youth baseball as they finished in first place in all four age divisions of the BBF Youth National Baseball Championships. However, Herts Baseball Club is closing the gap.

U19

The Herts Falcons faced LYBL in the U19 national final. There were exceptionally talented players on both rosters with experience playing in the National Baseball League and for the Great Britain U15 and U18 National Teams. Those who were at the game saw very high level of baseball and a number of GB coaching staff were there too to assess British players.

Ten of the U19 players were members of the Herts Falcons NBL team this season – seven of them were on the Falcons U19 roster and three were with LYBL U19 as this was the youth baseball programme which they came through. Unfortunately for Herts, Ben Sporleder, wasn’t able to recover from an injury in time for this game and Tasuku Ishihara also wasn’t available to play. This opened an opportunity for U19 players from the other Herts adult league teams to shine in this final. All seven Herts adult league teams were represented on the Herts Falcons U19 roster.

Dan Moran was the starting pitcher in the first game of this best-of-3 series and he had an excellent outing. The game went right down to the wire with LYBL U19 leading 4-3 going into the final inning, but they managed to drive in 4 more runs to win the game.

Game Two became a must-win for the Falcons U19 and they had the best possible start taking a 2 -0 lead with starting pitcher Erik Gustafson keeping LYBL batters off balance and getting outs. They had the opportunity to extend their lead when they loaded the bases with no one out in the later innings but LYBL U19 stayed calm under pressure to get out of that situation without allowing any runs to score. That was a missed opportunity and the momentum of the game changed. LYBL took the lead and didn’t look back as they won Game Two 9-3 winning the series and lifting the U19 national championship trophy. GB U18 National Team manager, Erick Henson, chose Kaden Horwood as the MVP (Most Valuable Player) of the series.

U16

The Herts U16 team also faced LYBL in the semi-final and their task was just as difficult. J.J. Sanders kept the Falcons U16 in the game with a commanding performance on the mound but LYBL found a way through the Herts defence to take a 4-1 lead. They managed to extend that lead to 10-1 after J.J. Sanders reached his regulation pitch count limit which is in force in youth baseball.

In the U16 Bronze Medal game the Falcons U16 came up against the Essex Redbacks U16s who took a 6-3 lead. Herts players needed to find a way back into the game and they produced a late comeback to win 11-7 and take the U16 bronze medal.

U13

The luck of the draw also paired Herts with the favourites LYBL in the U13 division. Chi Hong Wong and Hans Hartman combined on the mound for the Falcons. They and the defence behind them had to battle against a very competent opponent. Similar to the U16 semi-final, Herts kept pace in the first half of the game but LYBL took the game beyond them eventually. Final score 12-3.

London Mets were the opponents in the Bronze medal game and they won it 7-3.

U11

The Falcons U11 team secured the second Bronze medal for Herts Baseball Club. They came up against a strong Mets U11 team in the semi-final but bounced back in the Bronze medal game with a win against Essex Redbacks U11.

MLB Spy

There were over 200 players and many more fans at Farnham Park for the 2023 National Youth Baseball Championships and they may not have realised that among them was an MLB All Star. Chase Utley (pictured above on the bench) is a World Series winner with the Philadelphia Phillies but on Saturday he was quietly following the next generation of British Baseball players as an ambassador for MLB in Europe. Will one of them go on to play in MLB in the future? We look forward to following the progress of these talented young players in the coming years.

This Saturday

There is one more event for boys and girls aged between 6 and 15 this Saturday in the Annual Herts Futures Tournament. New players can still register to play in the tournament. Contact Herts Baseball Club for more details.

22 September 202322 September 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

4 Herts teams compete in the national youth baseball championships this Saturday

Herts Baseball Club will be represented in all four divisions of the 2023 BBF Youth National Baseball Championships this Saturday, 23 September.

U19 Division

The Herts Falcons U19 team goes into the Final as the underdogs against LYBL U19. However, Herts U19 manager, Will Zucker, is not fazed by the fact that the odds are stacked against his team. His roster features young players from all seven Herts adult league teams so it will be interesting to see if Herts players from the NBL, Triple-A, Double-A and Single-A leagues will be able to combine and work together as a team with very little time to prepare since the end of the adult league season last week.

The Final is a best-of-3 series with all three games being played on the same day. Pitching depth and physical stamina will be critical.

The club’s best finish in this age group was as runner-up in 2013 national championship when they beat the London Mets 6-4 in the semi-final and lost 6-9 in the final to the Cobham Cougars. Will Zucker was 16 years old and was the starting pitcher for the Herts Harriers in the final so this year he will have another shot at the U19 national title, this time as team manager.

U16 Division

Herts Falcons U16 will also face LYBL U16 in one of the semi-finals. The two teams met three times during the BBF Yotuh Super League regular season and LYBL won all three games, so they have the upper hand this Saturday. Herts U16 manager Nick Sanders will need his team to be at their very best if they are to eliminate the favourites. The winner will face the winner of the other semi-final between Essex Redbacks and LYBL’s second team.

U13 Division

The format in the U13 Division is the same as the U16s and Herts Falcons U13 will face LYBL U13 with an equally difficult task. Herts U13 manager, Stephen Wong, added 10 extra training sessions during the summer holidays and this Saturday is the ideal opportunity to see if his team will manage to close the gap on LYBL. In the other Semi-Final, LYBL’s second team clash with the London Mets. The winners of the two Semi-Finals will meet in the final.

U11 Division

The Herts U11 roster includes players from the club’s two branches in Hemel Hempstead and in London so manager Daniel Rose will have the difficult task of blendinU them together. They face Mets U11 in the second semi-final with the winner facing the winner of the other semi-final between LYBL U11 and Essex Redbacks U11.

12 years of hurt…

The last time a Herts youth baseball team won the national championships was in 2010 when the Herts U14 team beat the London Mets 2-1 in the final. The closest that a Herts youth team has come to lifting the national championship trophy since 2010 was in 2011 and 2013 when they finished as runners-up in the U14 and U17 divisions, respectively. Can they bring the silverware back home this weekend?

20 September 202322 September 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

Hawks and Falcons are the 2023 Herts U15 and U11 League Champions.

The Herts Hawks U15 and the Herts Falcons U11 are the 2023 Herts Youth Baseball League champions in their respective age divisions.

U15 Division

Going into Game Two the Hawks led the U15 Championship Series 1-0 against the Falcons. Their dominance continued as they took a 9-1 lead. The Falcons mounted a late comeback scoring 5 runs in the final inning but it was too little, too late. The Hawks won it with a final score of 12-6 and lifted the U15 trophy.

U11 Division

In the U11 division, there was no room for error for the Herts Falcons who were trailing the series against the Londoners 0-1. They tied the series with a 12-6 win in Game Two so it went down to the third and final game of the series.

Despite home runs for Flynn Dunn and Alexis Marriaga, the Londoners found themselves 6-9 down going into the final inning. They drove two runs and put the tying and winning run on base but the Falcons kept their composure to get the final out and clinch the U11 title.

These last two weeks of Herts Youth Baseball League playoff action also featured contests including the Obstacle Relay Race, Power Pitcher and the Home Run Derby which finished in a tie between John Sanders with 2 home runs for the Hawks U15 and Alexis Marriaga also with 2 home runs for the Londoners U11.

The champagne cork seemed to surprise everyone.

There won’t be much time for this achievement to sink in as all eyes now turn to the climax of the 2023 youth baseball season as four Herts teams go into the 2023 BBF U19, U16, U13 and U11 national championships at Farnham Park, in Slough on Saturday, 23 September.

9 September 20236 October 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

In Remembrance of Dan Gipple 1960-2023

Herts Baseball Club has learned the sad news that club member Dan Gipple passed away two weeks ago.

The Gipple family joined the club in 2013 when Dan’s son Joe was ten and started playing for the Herts Under-11 team. As Joe developed as a player through the baseball age groups, Dan joined the Herts youth baseball coaching staff working alongside Mike Wakelam, Max Trautman, Jeff Witter and other youth coaches.

In 2018 Joe was old enough to start playing in the adult baseball leagues and both Dan and Joe made their senior league debuts with the Herts Raptors. Parents playing baseball side-by-side with their children is a special feeling and Dan and Joe had that opportunity to play together.

With the opening of Basing Hill Ballpark, both of them went on to play for the Herts Eagles reuniting with many of the coaches and players from their youth baseball years.

Dan wore Herts jersey number 54.

He has been battling with health problems for some time now. The medical procedures must have been very difficult for him but he did share with club members that baseball gave him strength through those hard times and kept him going.

The thoughts of everyone at Herts Baseball Club are with Joe and the rest of the Gipple family.

The Opening Day of the 2023 Hunlock Series was the ideal opportunity for the large number of club members gathered to remember Dan.

5 September 20238 September 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

Herts Youth Baseball League champions to be decided over the next two weeks

The 2023 Postseason Playoffs of the Herts Youth Baseball League start this Saturday. The finals of both the Under-15 and Under-11 divisions will be decided in a best-of-3 series.

In the Under-15 Championship Series the Herts Falcons U15 will come up against their old rivals the Herts Hawks U15. Game One was originally planned to be played at Basing Hill Ballpark but it has now been moved to Grovehill Ballpark to make room for the senior teams in the Single-A League Wild Card game between the Herts Ravens and the Cambridge Royals. Games Two and Three move to Basing Hill in the following week on Saturday, 16 September.

In the Under-11 Championship Series it will be a battle between Herts Falcons U11 and the Herts Londoners U11. The Falcons are an all star team of Hemel Hempstead-based U11 players while the Herts Londoners are an all star team of players based at the club’s Basing Hill branch in London. All three of their games will be played at Basing Hill Ballpark on 9 and 16 September.

Apart from winning the HYBL championships, the Herts youth baseball team coaches will also be assessing players for the 2023 BBF national youth baseball championships which will be played on 23 September at Farnham Park in Slough, and the Herts Futures Tournament on 30 September.

Boys and girls, from complete beginners to advanced players, can still register to play in these games as the season reaches its climax. Contact us for more details.