BBF champions crowned in weekend of baseball
As has been the case all summer, in between relentless rain, some epic thunderstorms and a few hours of pleasant, if breezy, conditions, the National Baseball Championships at Herts Baseball Club answered the final questions asked in this year’s senior baseball season.
Prior to the weekend I was able to get the key insight from some of the managers to ascertain the strengths of the sides going in to the weekend, but although there was some optimism from each of the clubs, there was only one real ‘upset’, and that was not really unforeseen either.
Let’s start with the NBL, the top tier of British Baseball.
Saturday 25 August
NBL first preliminaries
London Mets 11-12 Harlow Nationals
Southampton Mustangs 6-8 Herts Falcons
Sunday 26 August
NBL second preliminaries
Herts Falcons 9-14 Harlow Nationals
London Mets 11-8 Southampton Mustangs
London Mets 8-11 Herts Falcons
Monday 27 August
NBL Final
Herts Falcons 3-6 Harlow Nationals
In a return to double-elimination baseball, where the top four teams would play at least two games over the first two days, if not three, to qualify for the final on Monday was a return to previous seasons’ playoff formats. The Harlow Nationals had an early scare to eventually come through against the London Mets, meaning the defending champions went through to the winners’ bracket on Sunday, while the Herts Falcons edged the second preliminary game over the Southampton Mustangs.
So far, it had gone to form.
The Nationals then beat the Falcons on Sunday morning to secure their place in the final, while the Falcons (2-2 over the weekend) would then play the London Mets (who beat the Mustangs (0-2) in the losers’ bracket playoff). The Mets (1-2) went down to their hosts as well, which set up a replay of the Nationals-Falcons game from Sunday morning in the final. Only the Mets defeat of the Mustangs couldn’t have been predicted purely on the paper standings in the four games so far, and as has been seen in the NBL this season, any side can, at any time, beat any other team.
The Nationals (3-0) made a clear statement to the division with early runs and strong pitching as they closed in on their second successive Championship, and by 1pm on bank holiday Monday they had clinched the title for the second time in only their second season.
Sunday 26 August
AAA Semi-finals
Cambridge Royals 2-3 Liverpool Trojans
Essex Redbacks 11-4 Oxford Kings
Final
Essex Redbacks 3-13 Liverpool Trojans (8 innings)
In AAA the formbook was thrown into doubt in the first game as, at 2-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Liverpool Trojans were being held against their wishes against the upstart Cambridge Royals, who jumped up two divisions in 2012 having blasted by their opposition in Single-A last year. But a hit batter with the bases loaded saw the Trojans through to their third successive final to defend their title.
Similarly, though the Oxford Kings perhaps had a better season on paper (three more wins and three fewer defeats than the Essex Redbacks), the Essex side had won 12 out of the last 13 meetings and made it 13 out of 14 with a seven-run success.
However, in the final the Trojans threw last year’s hero Martin Godsall against Essex’s Vince Warner. The two pitchers combine to rack up almost 70 years of baseball experience, and fall just shy of a century in real terms, between them; fitting that with Roger Clemens announcing a comeback at 50 in America, the two veterans would square off again in Grovehill. But it was Godsall who won his second championship in two years (he has now pitched 24 innings for just five runs, two earned, in the past two NBCs, winning four games out of four as well). The Trojans, like the Nationals, defended their division.
Saturday 25 August
AA Semi-finals
Milton Keynes Bucks 13-9 Poole Piranhas (10 innings)
Herts Hawks 1-13 Nottingham Rebels (5 innings)
Sunday 26 August
Final
Milton Keynes Bucks 22-26 Nottingham Rebels
It was all about the Midlands in the two lower brackets.
The Nottingham Rebels have been causing havoc all season in AA Midlands and carried their form over to easily blow by the Herts Hawks in the second semi-final of the AA competition, taking just 77 minutes to wrap up the win. That followed a 4-hour marathon, interrupted by heavy rain, between the Poole Piranhas and MK Bucks, where the Midlanders upset the form book (9-5 in 2012 compared to Poole’s 14-1 record). The game headed into extra innings after being 9-9 after 9, but a four-run rally saw the Bucks home in the tenth.
In the final, the Bucks took an early lead but were pegged back and surpassed by the Rebels as they feasted on a lack of pitching depth. However, the Bucks wouldn’t lie down and continued to try to come back, eventually falling only four runs short with the tying run on deck. The Nottingham Rebels were the first new champions of the 2012 NBCs.
Monday 27 August
Single-A Final
Leicester Blue Sox 16-8 Hove Tuesday
And that was followed up by the Leicester Blue Sox, who benefited from a nine-run first inning against the previously unbeaten Hove Tuesday. The Blue Sox last made the NBCs when they were defeated in extra innings by the Richmond Knights in 2010, and themselves were winners of the Single-A title in 2009, while Tuesday were concluding their first ever season together. Though nine runs would be enough, Hove at least fought back to take it to nine innings, and even though it was seeming to delay the inevitable, it was a good level of heart and commitment that earned them respect, and a Runners-Up trophy, if not the unbeaten season they had wanted.
ROUND-UP
Clearly something has gone right when working out the best teams this summer. There were only two blow-out victories by more than 10 runs, compared to last season when three of the four finals, and two of the semi-finals – 5 of 8 matches – were won by slaughter.
No games in the NBL were won by more than five runs, and five of the six were wrapped up by three or fewer. Although there were a few fielding mistakes and teams will have to admit they ran out of the pitching depth they’d have liked to have displayed, no team was over-and-away better than any other (last year the Nationals provided two of the reduced-innings victories).
The Championships were well attended despite of the weather, although the bank holiday timing may have prevented a few people from coming if they weren’t participating as family comes first. For a lot of neutrals, the semi-final > final format commented that it is easier to understand and generally better to watch for the NBL; though the chance to see more top level baseball in the UK is good, it seems as though later in the event pitchers were eaten into and teams may have struggled.
Certainly the semi-final > final format in AA baseball was better than just a straight final as it was last year, while there is scope for there to be a look at how the Single-A playoffs work in the future. But overall, the scheduling works in the time allowed.
A lot of effort went into the planning by the BBF and GB Baseball volunteers, and the scorers, umpires and technical commissioners made sure the event ran as smoothly as possible given the poor weather that has blighted the season, and especially the Saturday of the event.
Within the next few years it would be guessed that the NBC will be held at a purpose-built facility either in Farnham Park or Milton Keynes, both of which are at the development stages so far, as we strive to build a home for British Baseball and British Softball.
So although a senior season is now complete until training starts again in January, there’ll be friendly matches and a few tournaments here and there, and, more importantly for the senior guys, the European Baseball Championships and the World Baseball Classic Qualifiers in the Netherlands and Germany respectively this September (of course, I’ll keep you posted with the progress of the GB team).
And domestically, the junior playoffs take place over the next couple of weeks with the National Youth Baseball Championships in Cartmel Valley. Again, I’ll make sure that you’re informed. Who said this is America’s national pastime?
