Earlier this year Herts Baseball Club completed the latest stage of development of Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead. The wettest April on record halted the British baseball leagues but finally on Saturday the rain stopped and youth baseball teams and fans from across the country came down to the ballpark to officially unveil the upgraded facilities.

Teams from Horsham and Leicester made the long trip to Hertfordshire to join teams from Herts for a day of baseball in the Under-17, Under-14 and Under-11 British baseball leagues.

During the opening ceremony the teams had the opportunity to recognise the fantastic support from BaseballSoftballUK (BSUK) who awarded a £10,000 grant for the Grovehill Ballpark project in line with their 2009-2013 Whole Sport Plan and Sport England’s strategic aims for the sport. This grant, together with nearly £7,000 raised separately by Herts through various fund-raising activities, was invested in the installation of perimeter fencing along the first and third base dead-ball lines of both diamonds, making each diamond a fully-enclosed baseball venue. Further fencing was installed to create four fully-enclosed team dugouts for home and visiting teams on both diamonds.

Herts Baseball Club President, Aspi Dimitrov, said: “This is just one of so many Herts projects which BSUK has supported. Apart from the ballpark development, BSUK was instrumental in starting our club’s youth programme in 2007 and it is very fitting that the upgraded facilities are being unveiled by the members of the youth programme”. Dimitrov added: “In addition to BSUK’s £10,000 grant there have been so many members and parents involved in raising the additional £7,000. Without them this would not have been possible. It was also very appropriate that Horsham and Leicester were present as they have also contributed over the years by taking part in events such as the Herts Futures Tournament and the Herts Spring League which have generated additional funds for the ballpark development. Everyone has played a part in building these baseball facilities and teams from around Great Britain will be able to enjoy them for many years to come”.

After the opening ceremony fans enjoyed four baseball games.  For full reports, box scores, gamecast, photos and more from these games follow the links below:

U17 League: Horsham Hornets @ Herts All Stars U17

U14 League: Leicester Blue Sox @ Herts All Stars U14

U11 League: Leicester Blue Sox @ Herts All Stars U11

U11 League: NEW GAMECAST Leicester Blue Sox @ Herts All Stars U11

Written by hertsbaseball.com correspondent, Chris Jones

On Saturday 19th May Herts U11 faced the Leicester Blue Sox in a friendly on the freshly-mown second diamond at Grovehill.

The Blue Sox established their Junior section earlier this year, and this was their first ever road trip. As it is early days, the club lacks the numbers to field U11 and U14 teams simultaneously, and so their U11 team contained a mix of younger and older players. They turned out to be more than a match for Herts.

Nevertheless, it was a very enjoyable, fast-paced game with hits galore and some moments of high quality fielding. The final score of 19-3 perhaps flattered the Blue Sox; the hit count was 28-13 and it was only in the last inning that the game finally ran away from Herts.

Coaches were pitching. The Sox made a strong start, scoring five at the top of the first inning. Herts batters Blake Edwards, Theo Longboy and Thomas Garton then hit successive singles, with Oliver Durer hitting another to bring Blake home for Herts’ first run.

Herts shut out the Blue Sox in the second, thanks in part to a fine catch by Blake Edwards at third base. At the bottom of the second, Herts were unlucky to have both Lewis Auchterlounie and Cameron Manning tagged out running for home.

Leicester chalked up three more runs in the third, with no reply from Herts, moving the score to 8-1 to the Blue Sox. In the next, Herts restricted Leicester to two runs, with some smart defense, Alex Trautman and Joshua Jones combining for a 1-3 ground-out which would not have looked out of place at Fenway. Frustration again for Herts, though, as once again they left runners on base at the end of their inning.

To the fifth and last inning, this time with no five-run limit. Blake Edwards took another fine catch, but some good hitting allowed the Sox to pile on the runs – a fly ball double to the centre field fence produced three runs; another line drive brought home another two runners, and four more runs were scored before the innings closed. Playing largely for pride by this point, Herts picked up two runs: Oliver Durer and Lewis Auchterlounie made base hits, and Alex Trautman ran them in with a line drive single. But with bases loaded once again, Herts struck out to leave the final score 19-3 to the Blue Sox. Four Herts batters emerged with two hits from two plate appearances: Blake Edwards, Oliver Durer, Lewis Auchterlounie and Alex Trautman.

Coach Mike Wakelam commented “Full marks to the Blue Sox – they batted and fielded well and thoroughly deserved the win. We wish them all the best as they develop the club. But I was encouraged at the progress our U11s are making – we are a young team, but we’re working hard, improving our skills and having a lot of fun.”

GAMECAST – IN CASE YOU MISSED THE GAME OR WANT TO SEE IT AGAIN

To relive the full game with full statistical analysis fans can view a new facility which Herts Baseball Club is testing at the moment. CLICK TO OPEN THE GAMECAST AND PRESS REPLAY IN TOP RIGHT CORNER

 

HORSHAM SWEEP HERTS

The Herts U17 All Stars clashed with the league leaders from Horsham knowing that winning both games of this doubleheader would bring them level with the Hornets in the U17 League standings. From the start it was clear that this would be a very difficult task.

Horsham jumped to an early lead in game 1 and never looked back. Herts managed to keep within reach in the first 3 innings but never seemed to match the Hornets. There wasn’t much disparity in terms of hits (Horsham-11 Herts-7) but 4 errors and 5 walks put too much pressure on the home team’s defence. Carlos Casal Jr went 2-2 with a double and scored 2 runs. RBIs for Kyle Lloyd-Jones (2), Marty Cullen Jr (2) and Brodie Caress (1) helped Herts put 5 runs on the scoreboard, but it wasn’t enough. The Hornets won it 12-5.

Click to view Game 1 box scores and play-by-play

The visitors continued the relentless pressure in the second game. Starting pitcher, Dean, didn’t give Herts any breathing space allowing only 3 hits by Carlos Casal Jr, Liam Green and Brodie Caress. 7 walks allowed and 4 errors by Herts made it a very difficult afternoon. Final score 16-2

Click to view Game 2 box scores and play-by-play

Herts travel to RAF Daws Hill next Saturday, 26 May, for a doubleheader against the Cobham Cougars.

HERTS U14 SECURE WIN IN LATE INNINGS

The Herts U14 team picked up their second win of the season. It turned out to be a very dramatic game against the visiting Leicester Blue Sox.

Callum Vangundy was the hero of the day for Herts both defensively and offensively. He started on the mound and proved to be very effective. Late in the game he blasted the ball over the centerfield wall for his first home run of the season. Leicester tried to rally the late in the game scoring two runs in the sixth and seventh inning, but the Herts defence closed the door to secure a 10-8 win. An exciting game and a wonderful opportunity for Herts to meet Leicester for the first time. It is good to see Leicester starting their youth programme this year and developing it so quickly. Members of Herts Baseball Club are already looking forward to seeing them again soon.

 

The Herts U17 team came up against the reigning National U17 Champions, the London Mets. The team from the capital is always a formidable opponent and they have strengthened further with several new players from Venezuela and Japan. They beat Herts convincingly on the day, but the visitors are a much more solid team this year. The players are a year older, bigger and stronger and seem to have much greater confidence even against the champions.

John Peters shut them down allowing only 1 hit and 1 run over 5 innings. The Mets have just returned from the Pony European Qualifiers in Prague where they faced hard throwing pitchers so they didn’t seem intimidated by herts flame thrower, Liam Green. In fact the off-speed pitches of 13-year-old, Brodie Caress, seemed to trouble them more. Brodie was one of the few Herts pitchers who managed to contain the Mets offence allowing only 1 hit and no runs. Marty Cullen Jr got the only hit for Herts in that first game of the series, but depite the 13-1 loss, it was very positive to see only 1 error committed by the team.

Click to view game 1 box scores and play-by-play

In game 2 Marty Cullen Jr started on the mound. His pitching kept the Mets much quieter. Herts kept within touching distance right up to the fifth inning when the score was 7-2, but 5 runs in the bottom of the fifth clinched the second win for London on the day with a score of 12-2. Kyle Lloyd-Jones (2-3 RBI) and Richard Ganster (1-2) were the bright spots in the Herts batting lineup.

Click to view game 2 box scores and play-by-play

Last year Herts lost 19-2 and 23-10 in the same matchup and the team will be going back to Hertforshire knowing that they have made major improvements over the last 12 months especially given the fact that the Mets have strengthened further this season.

Next up for Herts is a home double-header against the Horsham Hornets who are joint leaders in the U17 League standings. First pitch 11:30am, Saturday, 19 May 2012.

 

Written by hertsbaseball.com reporter Chris Jones

Herts U14 team last played a month ago, before the wettest April on record forced the cancellation of three successive weekends’ baseball. It felt good simply to get out into the sunshine and play the game. Twelve U14s made the trip south to face a daunting double-header against an experienced, well-drilled London Mets side.

In horseracing terms the Finsbury Park going would have been described as ‘soft’, but the Mets ground staff did a good job in creating a playable surface. After the Herts team squelched over to the visitors’ dugout, more of the handsome new Herts baseball jerseys were distributed to the players. Herts fielded a few new joiners (a big welcome to Leon Bowers, Alex Guthrie and Tom Jansson-Wright), and the team took to the field in a combination of white jerseys, an anorak and a couple of “Drew Mayhew” Herts t-shirts.

From the first inning Herts were up against it. Mets starting pitcher Takiya struck out the first three batters without bat touching ball, and in response London hit a triple and a double. Although base-stealing is not allowed at this level until pitch passes plate, the Mets also advanced six bases on wild pitches or passed balls. Callum Vangundy then struck out batters six and seven with some good pitching to close the inning. The second and third innings followed a similar pattern, and by the bottom of the 3rd Herts found ourselves down 10-0. But their defensive play had started to improve, with a good ground-out at first and a nice tag applied at third base. At the top of the fourth the visitors picked up their first two hits of the game: Aaron Witter hit a single and Callum Vangundy followed up with another single to bring home Tom Adams for an RBI. However, Herts continued to give up runs in the remaining innings, and the game ended 19-1 to the Mets. The difference between the two teams was mainly down to London’s 66% strike percentage, compared to Herts’ 40%; but more consistency will certainly come as pitchers gain experience on the mound. All credit to Herts, though – despite the scoreline, heads didn’t drop and there was a high level of commitment throughout.

Click to view game 1 box scores and play-by-play

The second game started more evenly. Herts picked up an early run after Tom Adams hit a single and Callum hit a double to bring him home. Starting pitcher Ben Jones then pitched a tidy inning, giving up only two runs. Later in the game he was relieved by Gavin Peterson who produced one of his best performances on the mound. The London Mets won the second game convincingly once again with a score of 15-1 and they certainly look like one of the favourites in the Under-14 League this year.

Next up for the youngsters from Hertfordshire is a home game on Saturday, 19 May, with the Leicester Blue Sox U14 team visiting Grovehill Ballpark in Hhemel Hempstead for the first time.

A confirmation has just been received that the BBF U17, U14 and U11 league games scheduled at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead this Saturday, 5 May 2012, have been cancelled. 

A club spokesperson indicated that “the ballpark is still waterlogged and is still unplayable. There have been several inspections of the venue over the last 48 hours and there is still a significant amount of standing water.”

This comes after it was confirmed this week that this has been the wettest April since records began. This is the third consecutive week of cancellations of youth league games which is causing a major disruption to the league schedule, but the hope is that the baseball season can resume next week.

The ongoing rain over the last few weeks has taken its toll on baseball fields around the country and another event has now been rained out.

All Herts youth teams were scheduled to travel to Forest Glade in Essex this Saturday for their first league games on the road. However, the Essex RedBacks have confirmed that their field is completely waterlogged at the moment and there is absolutely no chance of the water drying out in time for Saturday’s games.

This is very unfortunate as the RedBacks had put so much work to make this a very special event. It was going to include the official opening of the RedBacks’ second diamond with special guest Josh Dubovie who is a former Eurovision star. Dubovie was scheduled to perform a few hits and the national anthem before throwing out the inaugural first pitch.

The event has now been cancelled officially.

Baseball is not the only sport suffering at the moment. Large horse racing events and other sports are experiencing postponements. Hopefully the weather will improve and we will be able to resume the baseball season soon.

 

The Great Britain National Team has confirmed that three members of Herts have been selected in the GB Under-16 National Team to travel for a series of games in Canada with another three Herts players staying in the UK for games with the GB U16 Team to be held around the UK this summer.

A total of six Herts players were part of the GB Under-16 National Team preliminary roster for GB Team pre-season training and games. Carlos Casal Jr, Marty Cullen Jr and Tom Everex-Armstrong will be part of the group of British players which will be representing the country in a gruelling games schedule in Eastern Canada between 12 and 22 July.

Brodie Caress, Callum Vangundy and Jose Morillo, for whom this is a first year with the GB setup, will continue their involvement with the GB Under-16 team in friendly games scheduled this summer which do not clash with the Under-17 and Under-14 British League schedule.

The progress of Herts players with the GB teams is a tremendous boost for Herts as an organisation. The Club is even more excited by the fact that there are many more talented players coming through the various age groups of the Herts youth system, from the U-11 and U-14 teams through to the U-17 age group. The opportunity is there for any young players who want to get involved in baseball to progress and wear the GB Team jersey. But you don’t have to be a GB National Team player to play baseball. Any interested players, boys and girls between 6 and 16 years of age, from complete beginners to advanced players can join the Herts baseball youth teams (click here for more details).

The British Youth Baseball League season is up and running. Herts welcomed the Forest Glade RedBacks to Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead with the Under-14 and Under-17 teams of both clubs going head-to-head in two doubleheaders.

U17 LEAGUE

In the U17 games Herts started the season with a win after a very impressive offensive display. They had 15 hits over 5 innings with Kyle Lloyd-Jones (4-4), Marty Cullen Jr (3-4), Jonny Compton-Weight (2-3), Liam Green (2-3) and Tom Everex-Armstrong (2-4) each contributing with multiple hits. On the mound Zack Longboy and Liam Green struck out 5 batters each allowing only 3 and 1 earned runs, respectively. Despite being outhit, the RedBacks put up a good fight staying in the game right to end.

Click to view Game 1 Box Scores and play-by-play

In the second game the Herts All Stars continued their offensive assault taking an 8-1 lead after two innings and they seemed in control with starting pitcher Marty Cullen Jr. allowing only 2 hits and no earned runs recording 5 strikeouts over 3 innings. The RedBacks bounced right back with an amazing come back. They scored 9 runs in the next four innings taking advantage of 7 fielding errors by the Herts defence. Going into the final inning Forest Glade had a 10-8 lead. Herts reduced the deficit to 10-9 after Kyle Lloyd-Jones worked a walk and then advanced all the way home thanks to several wild pitches. Jonny Compton-Weight, representing the tying run, also reached base with a walk and quickly made his way to third base, but there were already two outs. The pressure was on Everex-Armstrong to get a hit or to see enough pitches in the hope of inducing another wild pitch from the flame-thrower. At the end the RedBacks pitcher kept his composure ending the game with a strike-out.

The Herts All Stars will be disappointed that they let an 8-1 lead slip away, but Manager Cristobal Hiche felt that the visitors from Essex deserved a lot of credit. “We played two great games with very good hitting from all our players. We need to give a lot of credit to the RedBacks who bounced back and were able to beat us in the second game” said Hiche. He added: “We still need to improve in many areas but I’m very happy with what I saw. I’m looking forward to the next two games”.

Next up for Herts is another home series this time against one of the championship contenders, the Horsham Hornets. First pitch is at 11am.

Click to view Game 2 box scores and play-by-play

U14 LEAGUE

With many of last year’s players moving up to the Under-17 age group, this is expected to be a transitional year for the Herts U14 team. A brand new generation of Herts players will be coming through this year and in the team’s first league game of the year many of the players were aged just 10 or 11. They lost both games of the double-header against the visiting Essex RedBacks U14, but the performance showed that the team has a lot of potential to build a team which will be able to fulfil its potential in the next 2 or 3 years.

The RedBacks took a 5-1 lead in the first inning, but Herts soon caught up with them and just missed out at the end losing 16-10. With the Herts coaches using the game to assess a large number of young prospects the second game proved to be more one-sided but it was still a very productive day for Herts. The Herts coaches now have the difficult task of reducing the size of the squad but this does not mean that the roster for the next game will be final. It is expected that there may be significant movement between the teams and the evaluation and development of players is likely be an ongoing process throughout the whole season.

Manager, Kent Peterson, was very much looking forward to the season ahead after the positive performance against the RedBacks. He said: “Obviously we have some very young players but I saw effort and that is many times at least half the battle.”

Next Saturday there is another home double-header for Herts U14 against London Sports, a team which is new to the BBF leagues.

U11

The Herts U11 teams commence their season next Saturday as teams from London make the 20-minute trip up the M1 to Hemel Hempstead.

The waiting is over. The boys and girls of summer will get the 2012 youth baseball league season underway this Saturday, 14 April 2012, at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead. Players from across Hertfordshire, London and as far as East Anglia will be putting on the Herts jerseys as the race for the championships begins.

The season will open with several mouth-watering match-ups. In the British Under-17 League Herts will start their season against the Harlow Stars at 11am. The Stars will then play against the Forest Glade RedBacks, and the final U17 game will see the Herts All Stars meet the RedBacks in a repeat of the heart-breaking playoff game which Herts lost 11-10 in extra innings last season.

In the Under-14 League Herts welcome the RedBacks’ U14 team. First pitch is at 11am. Both teams reached the National Baseball Championships last year. The RedBacks finished in third place overall while Herts were the runners-up after losing in the final to LYBL. In the second U14 game the RedBacks will face the Bracknell Wildfire and in the third game Bracknell will play the Herts All Stars.

Under-11 League opens up with the Herts Giants and Herts Dodgers playing against the RedBacks U11 team which means that there will be a Herts-versus-RedBacks rivalry in every age group on Opening Day. In total nine teams will be on show with baseball from 11am to 6pm.

As always, at the start of every season, there will be many new faces with free agents joining the League and players moving to a higher age group, so it will be a fascinating opening day.

It will be the first opportunity for the Herts youth teams to play at their home, Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead, after the recently announced upgrade funded by BSUK as part of the long-term project to turn it into the best baseball venue in Great Britain.

There isn’t a better way to spend Saturday then at the ballpark enjoying a hot dog and all sort so of other snacks and drinks which will be on offer. The games begin at 11am. Free admission for all.

NEW PLAYERS CAN JOIN AT ANY TIME OF THE YEAR

Many new players have signed up with the teams over the last few weeks and it is not too late for new players to start playing in the League. Herts Baseball club welcomes new members at any point of the season, boys and girls from 6 to 16 years of age, from complete beginners to experienced players. For more details contact Herts Baseball Club.

OPENING DAY SCHEDULE – Saturday, 14 April

DATE	TIME	LEAGUE	VISITING TEAM	HOME TEAM
14-Apr-12	11:00	BBF (U14)	Forest Glade RedBacks	Herts All Stars (U14)
14-Apr-12	16:00	BBF (U14)	Bracknell Wildfire	Herts All Stars (U14)
14-Apr-12	11:00	BBF (U17)	Southern Stars	Herts All Stars (U17)
14-Apr-12	16:00	BBF (U17)	Forest Glade RedBacks	Herts All Stars (U17)
14-Apr-12	11:00	U11	RedBacks (U11)	Herts Giants
14-Apr-12	13:30	U11	RedBacks (U11)	Herts Dodgers