Wettest ever tournament can’t dampen spirits
The 2012 London Tournament may be remembered for rainfall of epic proportions on Saturday morning and early afternoon, but once again the British Baseball community came together to celebrate the annual midsummer classic in Croydon with a few surprises, a few cupsets and, as always, a lot of laughs.
The Richmond Dukes won their first ever games on Saturday, beating the Milton Keynes Bucks’ second team (part of the Midlands Minor League expansion programme taking place this summer) and the Herts Eagles, while the MK Bucks’ top team caused somewhat of an upset, on paper at least, by beating the Essex Redbacks and thus ruining my predictions for who would be in which tournaments come Sunday!
The Redbacks also lost to their namesakes, the Essex Arrows, as former Arrows pitcher Richard Chesterton couldn’t find his no-hitter form from earlier in the season, but they were able to take solace in being very big fish in a much smaller pond on Sunday, sweeping two big wins to secure the Frank Brady Trophy. The Guildford Mavericks
In the main tournament, Croydon Pirates, Caribe Tribu (Latin Boys/Tigers and friends), London Metros, Croydon Pirates III joined the MK Bucks’ top team, the Richmond Dukes and Dutch side Zuidogels in the action on Sunday. Early on it was clear that Tribu had come to win, and their party atmosphere matched to unquestionable talent saw them walk away with the prize; the second time in two seasons a team from south London has won on their home diamond, somewhat inevitable given that the Pirates’ top team were their opponents in the final!
Once again, though, the festival spirit of the action was something to behold, and players from all teams joined others on the diamonds to help fulfil fixtures and make games more competitive. Gian Jimenez from the Bristol Badgers joined GB Under-23 teammate Luke Foley in helping the Essex Arrows over the weekend, while another young stud from the recent GB tour Stuart Harper-Horn helped out the Stourbridge Titans.
In the NBL, a rescheduled match between the Herts Falcons and London Mets saw a split for the title-chasing pair. After two defeats last time out, the Mets were happy to get back to winning ways in the early game, but fell in the late afternoon at Finsbury Park as the Falcons remained second in the standings, the Mets remaining third, both behind the Harlow Nationals and momentarily above the Southampton Mustangs.
Two wins for the Oxford Kings saw them leapfrog the Bristol Badgers, who weren’t playing, to the Pool A lead in AAA South. Their opponents, the Cambridge Royals, slipped to two games back of the Essex Redbacks in Pool B with each having only four games to play. However, on Sunday 5 August, the two square off, and if the Royals sweep the Latin Boys in a couple of weeks, and the Redbacks lose both to the London Metros, it’ll be an all-out title decider on the final weekend of the regular season.
AAA North saw a lot more action than it had anticipated following the horrendous weather during the week. It was business as usual for the Liverpool Trojans, comfortably winning twice against the Halton Jaguars, while the Menwith Hill Patriots staked their claim for second with a sweep of the Manchester As – the first on a walk-off, the second on slaughter.
AA North was not exactly the hotbed of activity, but the Sheffield Bladerunners picked up two wins over the Newton Aycliffe Spartans. In the first, true to form, the Bladerunners won by 11 and blanked their opponents, but tables turned in Game 2 when the Spartans threatened to achieve an amazing victory, eventually going down 11-10 in a topsy-turvy afternoon’s action. Elsewhere in the division, a bit of time off the diamond allowed the Oldham North Stars to clean out the attic and down at Oldham Library they came across a couple of trophies; the first, a Schoolboys League trophy from the late 1930s and the second the 1955 Oldham Owl’s National Baseball Championships silverware. Their current record (1-9) doesn’t do their history much justice.
The Midlands saw the promise of an epic summer evaporate as the Leicester Blue Sox robbed the Nottingham Rebels of the chance of an unbeaten season, winning 12-11, the day after the two sides’ new youth sections played the first organised junior baseball in the region for nearly 30 years.
Rearranged games in AA South saw sweeps for the London Mammoths and Herts Hawks over the Kent Mariners and Essex Redbacks II respectively in Pool B, the Mammoths and Hawks moving to first and second in the league, while the Richmond Dragons and Southampton Mustangs II split a pair in Pool B. Standings don’t much change, but Southampton will be happier to have not lost twice, while Richmond will be chuffed that they’re still in touching distance of a playoff spot.
Single-A only had a couple of scheduled games, but the Herts Raptors squeezed an incredibly heated and tight tussle against the Old Timers 17-15, giving the Raptors a real edge heading into the post-season, while Hove Tuesday and the London Marauders’ game was postponed due to the NBL fixture at Finsbury Park. This much-anticipated game between the last two unbeaten sides in the division will determine the outcome of Pool B, if it ever gets played!
To conclude the GB Baseball tours of recent weeks, the GB Juniors lost in the semi-final to Sweden, meaning they won’t qualify for the European Junior Championships next summer. The win prior to the tournament against the old foes didn’t translate in the semis, going down 13-2, but the Juniors did play extremely well during the tournament and came third overall with a 9-6 win against Poland to complete the week’s work. Jordan Edmonds (Bracknell Blazers) and Dale Hargan (Bolton Robots of Doom) both had multi-hit games, but the big power came from Callum Murphy (Ontario Terriers, Canada), who had a triple and knocked in five runs on three hits.
The GB Cadets are in action in Canada this week, and appeared on the jumbotron at Rogers Centre in a match between the Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Indians over the weekend. I’ll be able to report on their success next time out.
So this weekend sees a couple of real nail-biters set to take centre stage. Let’s start with the top tier.
In what I believe was planned on being an NBL showcase event (prior to the relentless rain washing out fixtures), only four games are scheduled with the Herts Falcons taking on the Bracknell Blazers, London Mets hosting the Harlow Nationals, Lakenheath Diamondbacks facing the Southampton Mustangs and Essex Arrows taking on the Croydon Pirates.
In AAA South, the Redbacks face the Metros, the Oxford Kings take on the Richmond Knights and the Bristol Badgers face the Latin Boys. The Royals will win two from the Windsor & Bracknell Bears. Sweeps for the Kings and Badgers will effectively eliminate the Knights from the playoffs, but both will still have to face off for the Pool A title and confirmed NBC place on the final day of the season. The Boys and Metros both need sweeps to give themselves any hope of a playoff spot, but in reality they, too, are out of the running.
The weather had better stay away from grounds across the North, else the schedule really won’t be completed by the playoffs.
AAA North once again hosts some dramatic action as the Menwith Hill Patriots welcome the Liverpool Trojans in what could be a prelude to the one-game first-vs-second playoff action for an NBC spot. The Cartmel Valley Lions will want to stay in the running as they currently hold that all-important second place, and with a pair of wins over the Manchester As they’ll do so, while Halton Jaguars and Bolton Robots of Doom play for pride.
The Sheffield Bladerunners take on the Hull Scorpions in a must-win pair for the Scorpions if they’re to play for the AA Championship, while the Harrogate Tigers will look to pick up a couple of wins against the Newton Aycliffe Spartans to stay close to Sheffield. The Manchester Torrent and Oldham North Stars face off in the North West, again hoping to beat the weather.
AA Midlands last weekend saw the end of one of the few remaining unbeaten seasons, and the Milton Keynes Bucks will hope to capitalise on the Nottingham Rebels’ slip. The Leicester Blue Sox, who provided the banana skin, take on the Stourbridge Titans. Two wins could see them go second if the Rebels sweep the Bucks, although Nottingham will almost certainly win the league if they can avoid double-defeat to MK.
Rescheduled fixtures across AA South means that this year’s longest unbeaten record will last a week longer as the Guildford Mavericks aren’t set to play, with other teams filling fixtures. The London Mammoths, Croydon Pirates III, Poole Piranhas and Essex Redbacks II combine for three games at Roundshaw Playing Fields to get games in, while the Sidewinders will return to a share, or more, of the lead in Pool B with two wins against the Kent Mariners. Daws Hill will secure their playoff place with a sweep of the Brentwood Stags and the Herts Hawks take on the Thames Valley Bisons, with the winners set to shore-up their post-season spot as well. The Richmond Dragons will make a big move towards a playoff position if they sweep the Latin Tigers in Croydon, where six teams from the division will be at Roundshaw Playing Fields this weekend – if you like AA action, come down to check it out. The Mavericks and Southampton Mustangs II are the only sides without matches this weekend.
And last, but not least, the Essex Redbacks III will hope to steal Hove Tuesday’s unbeaten season from them in Single-A South, while the Raptors will look to kick on with a win against the Guildford Mavericks II. The Herts Eagles will hope to put an end to the London Marauders’ charge this season in picking up a key win, while the Old Timers will hope to get back to victorious virtue when they line-up against the Richmond Dukes, who themselves have tasted success for the first time at the London Tournament last weekend.