Around the leagues on a big return

Other sports across the UK found a way to dominate headlines on Sunday instead of British Baseball, but the results in the BBF leagues were as exciting and enthralling as any from the Premier League, Grand Prix or various codes of rugby played over the weekend.

In fact, the only difference was that there were substantially fewer fans!

The sun finally shone for the first time in a fortnight, but some games were still cancelled because of the torrential weather during the early half of May. Oldham didn’t travel to Newton Aycliffe as the field hadn’t drained, while the Kent Mariners’ home debut had to be switched to Grovehill Ballpark at short notice against the Herts Hawks.

Staying with AA, the South saw goose eggs hatch, for better and worse, while other runs continued and big leads in the division became more established. The Poole Piranhas moved to 5-0 with a sweep of their south coast rivals, the Southampton Mustangs II, who found themselves falling down the rankings with a 2-2 record.

That would be matched by the Essex Redbacks II, who went in the opposite direction, picking up a sweep over the Brentwood Stags, who fell to 0-4. The Guildford Mavericks stayed perfect with two big wins over the Latin Tigers, who fell to 1-3, while the Croydon Pirates III lost for the first time this season against the Sidewinders, who won their first game.

The Kent Mariners (now 0-4) lost both games in their double header against the Hawks, with some late drop-outs causing an issue for the Mariners who weren’t expecting to travel, while the Richmond Dragons won their first game in issuing the Thames Valley Bisons their first defeat in the only split series of the league.

The Hawks and Redbacks II moved up Pool B dramatically to chase down the London Mammoths (still 3-0 after a weekend off), while the Guildford Mavericks took second place outright as Pool A went from five unbeaten records to two in the space of six hours.

AA North had only one double-header, with the Sheffield Bladerunners (6-0) picking up two tight wins over the Harrogate Tigers to move to 6-0, the Tigers dropping to 2-4. Manchester’s home ground wasn’t playable, and with the football they were unable to make the trip from the north west to play Hull at the Scorpions’ field.

The Midlands saw the Nottingham Rebels stunting the good early work of the Leicester Blue Sox in picking up a close win, the Rebels now 2-0 and the Blue Sox 3-1 to rearrange themselves first and second respectively. Elsewhere, the Milton Keynes Bucks beat the Stourbridge Titans after a big first inning, and then the Titans’ minor-league players turned the tables in the friendly following the main event. However, the Titans are officially winless this season, while the Bucks move to 2-1.

AAA North next, with the Liverpool Trojans winning two games against the Manchester As (1-5). The unbeaten Trojans (8-0) powered through to win 6-2 in the first game, while after allowing a couple of runs in the first inning of the second game they rallied to finish in five innings – a monster 10-run third providing the main backing.

Cartmel Valley Lions (4-4) and Halton Jaguars split a couple of high-scoring games, the Lions winning the first in five frames and the Jaguars (1-5) taking Game 2 over the distance, while the Bolton Robots of Doom were relegated to the foot of the table, a little like the town’s football team, after two big defeats to the Menwith Hill Patriots (6-2). The scores were very similar to those they handed out to lesser opposition throughout much of last season in AA North, but they are certain to start swinging sweetly soon.

AAA South had some big match ups and some games that went against form, to say the least. Last year, the Richmond Knights (2010 AA Champions) struggled massively, but since the Club folded its first team (the 2010 NBL Champion Flames) they have been resurgent and exemplified their return to form by winning two of three in a unique triple-header against the Oxford Kings (2010 AAA Champions, 2011 AAA runners-up). The Knights move to the top of the pile in Pool A with a 4-2 record, while the Kings dropped to 2-4, good enough for third place. The Bristol Badgers easily dispatched the Windsor & Bracknell Bears twice to move themselves to 3-3, resigning the Bears to a 1-3 start.

In the other half of the division, Pool B saw the Essex Redbacks come up against the Latin Boys again, and again the Redbacks took the Game 1 easily before losing by a solitary run in the second fixture. The Essex side stay top, with a 6-2 record, while the Latin Boys lead the chasing pack with four wins and three losses. Some of the most exciting baseball of the day was seen in Finsbury Park (not for the first time in the history of the game in Britain), where the Cambridge Royals snuck Game 1 2-1, but lost Game 2 5-4 against the London Metros. The Metros (3-4) take third while the Royals (2-4) stay bottom, but AAA South is looking like the most evenly-matched league in 2012, with no teams unbeaten or winless after four weekends of action. Only the Pool winners are guaranteed a spot at the NBCs, though, with the next two best records playing for a chance to join them. It will certainly be game on for everyone over the next three months.

Single A South saw the Essex Archers record their biggest win yet, 37-1 against county rivals the Braintree Rays. The Archers (4-0) have scored 107 runs in their four matches (one of which was a 9-0 walkover), conceding only seven, while the Rays fell to 0-2 in the early running.

Elsewhere in Essex, the Redbacks III made their debut, at the third time of asking, against the London Marauders. The Marauders’ experience told with a 20-15 win in their first game of the season, but it was good to finally see the Redbacks (0-3) take the field at this level. The Herts Raptors (1-1) became the latest victims of Hove Tuesday (2-0), but the game of the day was in Guildford as the Tonbridge Bobcats (now 0-3) narrowly lost 30-29 to the host Mavericks II (4-0), who, like the Archers, are only a couple of wins away from securing a playoff place already at this early stage.

To conclude, then, this round-up heads to the National Baseball League – where there was no let-up to the drama.

After hearing during the week that the top five from the division would qualify for the playoffs (the top three automatically to the NBCs), never has there been more pressure to perform well consistently through the season.

The Harlow Nationals (7-2) swept aside the Croydon Pirates (0-6), although they took all 14 innings to do so, while the Southampton Mustangs didn’t need to throw a ball after the Bracknell Blazers forfeited their games. The Mustangs also moved to 7-2, joining the Nationals atop the standings and replacing the Herts Falcons (6-2). The Lakenheath Diamondbacks (now 2-5) split their series against the Falcons, but remain one and a half games behind the Essex Arrows (5-5) in fifth after the Arrows swept Lakenheath last week.

The Arrows kept a .500 record with a split series at Waltham Abbey against the London Mets (5-2), who drop from second to fourth. Although it may be presumptuous to suggest that the Blazers and Pirates will struggle to comeback, they are both a long way from fifth place and an outside shot of making the playoffs already, the Blazers effectively with a win to be deducted as well through the forfeits this weekend. Let’s just hope they can tally one this season to at least force the ruling.

Photo courtesy of Colin McNeillie