BBF Round-up: Shocks and surprises!
Not that we should be so amazed. After all, last year was supposedly an anomaly and summers aren’t usually rained off en masse, but after two weeks of relatively sunny conditions, I hope you can understand my excitement about the prospect of baseball when I finally get my personal season underway this weekend…
NBL – history made and streaks started
Starting with the NBL, which entered its second competitive weekend in 2013, there was a great comeback victory for the Lakenheath Diamondbacks as they held the dangerous Herts Falcons to a split series, in so doing allowing the Southampton Mustangs to join the Falcons at 3-1 after the south coast side took two really close wins against the Essex Arrows in the Arrows’ first games of the year.
In Croydon, the South London Pirates and Essex Redbacks also split a pair. It was the Redbacks’ first win in the NBL and the Pirates’ first of the season, as they both joined the Diamondbacks at 1-3.
Unfortunately, the unrelenting rain on Saturday night did for Harlow as the Northbrooks Rec was flooded out. Their game against the London Mets, which promised to be a real cracker so early in the season, will need to be rescheduled for later in the summer, where hopefully the same fate won’t befall it!
AAA Midlands – new tier, similar story
Following the reassessment of the division, the AA Midlands moved up to the AAA level in 2013, aiming to win a trophy or two a little higher than where they finished last season. The Nottingham Rebels showed no signs of rustiness as they got the defence of their regional crown underway with two wins over the spirited Stourbridge Titans, who have perhaps been pulled up by the four other teams rather than having yet justified their spot at AAA, while the Leicester Blue Sox and Birmingham Maple Leafs split a couple in what has become a perennial fight between the two big cities.
The MK Bucks will have been looking in from the side hoping that they can capitalise on any mistakes this year, as their strong team hopes to claim a National crown having gone two playoff campaigns since their last trophy.
AAA South – young guns make a show
The Cambridge Royals, who have had an excellent start to their BBF careers, will not have been complacent despite out-ageing the youthful London Mets II. The Mets team is made up of players all under the age of 20, but justify their place in the AAA division having represented, or continuing to represent, many of the GB development squads. Despite going down 11-9 in the opener, the Mets bounced back at Coldhams Common to edge a nervy 5-4 success and both teams can be happy with their opening day’s efforts. Both will surely compete for playoff spots at the end of the summer.
New teams the Herts Ravens and Leones de Feltham will both have to wait another week before making their debuts in AAA South, with the weather accounting for their fixtures against the Richmond Knights and Oxford Kings respectively. The Bristol Badgers and London Metros once again couldn’t be divided, the Badgers nudging Game one 5-2 and the Metros answering with a big 10-0 whitewash in the second fixture as they, too, head into week two with a win apiece.
AA South – biggest division loses two major players
Two shocks landed on the desk of commissioner and Southern Leagues Secretary Nick Hadley on the weekend. Both the Poole Piranhas and Essex Redbacks II confirmed they’d not be able to field a team in the division this season. For Poole, the obvious, but unexplained, reason was that two of their best players moved to the Herts club in the winter and are propping up the NBL team there. For Essex, the move into the NBL has stretched player availability, and being unable to fill gaps that were created meant that two teams was the best they could do while preserving the quality of the competitions they’re in.
However, it wasn’t all bad news for Hadley. As the coach of the Richmond Dragons, he was in charge of the division’s best team after the weekend standings, as they swept the Kent Mariners comfortably in a double-bill at Flood Field – so often aptly named but this weekend being able to withstand the weather. However, Sunday’s other double-header was victim to the rain on Saturday as Broadwater School in Guildford was in no fit state to host the Mavericks and Daws Hill Spitfires, meaning this fierce rivalry will spill over into the rest of the season.
The Sidewinders easily brushed aside the Southampton Mustangs II and the London Mammoths won the battle of the big boys when they overcame the Herts Hawks in Hemel Hempstead.