NBCs to celebrate the boys of this intermittent summer

The National Baseball Championships are here. This bank holiday weekend, the best clubs in the country will take to the diamonds in Hemel Hempstead as the #roadtoherts sees 14 teams playing for regional and national acclaim in a season that’ll go down in history (as one of the wettest ever, anyway!)

NBL

The Harlow Nationals clinched the NBL pennant, and top seeding for the NBCs, with a win in the first game against the Herts Falcons. The Falcons took the second match, but it was a bit of a dead rubber as they could then only finish second, while the Southampton Mustangs, who weren’t playing, finished third.

The Lakenheath Diamondbacks’ late run at the end of the season couldn’t be maintained in a one-off match against the London Mets, as the Mets, though faltering after an excellent start, had enough to come through and win the fourth NBC spot with a 14-6 victory. It’s the first time in two seasons that the London side will have a chance of winning the title while the Diamondbacks won’t have a chance of going one better following their defeat in the final 12 months ago. The Nationals and Falcons are each fancied to do well – the Nationals are reigning champions, the Falcons will be on home soil – while the Mustangs will hope to up their game after walking themselves out of contention when they ran out of pitching in last year’s showpiece.

NBL NBC tree

Saturday

Game 1: Nationals vs Mets

Game 2: Falcons vs Mustangs

Sunday

Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs Winner Game 2 (winner straight through to final)

Game 4: Loser Game 1 vs Loser Game 2 (loser automatically eliminated from NBCs)

Game 5: Loser Game 3 vs Winner Game 4 (winner goes to final)

Monday

Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs Winner Game 5

Game 7: Winner Game 3 vs Winner Game 5 (only required if Winner Game 3 loses in Game 6)

To win the title this year, three wins in the NBCs are required, which harks back to a former age where there were best-of-three series as well as double-elimination formats as with this season’s NBL NBC. You may need to even play five games to win the whole thing as well.

It’s all a lot easier in the rest of the divisions…

AAA

The Liverpool Trojans didn’t slip up in their title defence, despite the best efforts of the weather, as they overcame the Menwith Hill Patriots in a weather-shortened match at Bootle Stadium. With a 14-7 lead, the field became sodden and too dangerous to continue, so the umpire called the fixture.

Unfortunately, no such dramas were on show in Herts as the Bristol Badgers had to forfeit their playoff match against the Cambridge Royals, allowing the Royals free pass into the NBCs for the second time in two seasons. Last year the Cambridge side won the Single-A title. This year they’ll be hoping to prove themselves two divisions higher, and have the reigning champions as the first hurdle to overcome if they’re to perform the feat.

AAA NBC tree

Sunday

SF 1: Liverpool Trojans vs Cambridge Royals

SF 2: Oxford Kings vs Essex Redbacks

Monday

Winner SF 1 vs Winner SF 2

Like last year, a semi-final/final format is nice and easy to follow. The Essex Redbacks initially thought they had the Liverpool Trojans in the semi-final stages for the second consecutive year after a technical error on Monday morning, while the Cambridge Royals will have to play their best baseball all season to make the final. It will be an excellent weekend of baseball in AAA.

AA

Away from forfeits or technical errors, it came down to skill and heart and passion on Sunday, as well as a couple of grand slams, to deliver this season’s AA NBC candidates.

The Herts Hawks did what no other side has managed in 2012 when they beat the Guildford Mavericks (12-7 the final score), in Guildford no less, to consign the Mavericks to their second consecutive playoff-laden but NBC-less season. In 2010 they made the final of the Single-A tournament, but despite excellent regular seasons they’ve fallen at the last regional post-season stage in each of the past two years. The Hawks have put together their best summer in four years to get to the NBCs, and with home advantage they’ll fancy themselves at the tournament. A grand slam from Andy Fulford was the blow that landed them the berth.

Another grand slam was enough for the Poole Piranhas to edge past the Sidewinders in a classic pitching duel, a 5-4 win for Shannon Hall over Taadaki Sakurai. Carlos Velazco’s big hit gave the Piranhas a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. The Poole club make their first NBCs since they competed in 2008 as the Bournemouth Sharks.

The Nottingham Rebels made the Harrogate Tigers feel a lot like the Midlands sides the Rebels have been beating all season, blanking the Yorkshiremen through seven frames for a 16-0 win, while the Milton Keynes Bucks drew first blood, and then wouldn’t allow a bandage to be applied, when they beat the Sheffield Bladerunners 13-2 in Sheffield. No Northern teams will be replicating the Bolton Robots of Doom’s AA National Championship success this year.

AA NBC tree

Saturday

SF 1: Nottingham Rebels vs Herts Hawks

Sunday

SF 2: Poole Piranhas vs Milton Keynes Bucks

Monday

Winner SF 1 vs Winner SF 2

Last year saw a one-game final between the regional winners. This year welcomes a weather-dependent semi-final/final tournament, and the Midlands clubs will fancy their chances. The Bucks last took to the NBCs by winning the 2010 Single-A title, while the Rebels, Hawks and Piranhas make their first appearances in their current monikers at the 2012 Championship weekend.

Single-A

The Leicester Blue Sox had to fight off a challenge from the Manchester Torrent after the Birmingham Maple Leafs dropped out of playoff action this weekend. And they fought it well, winning by 10 runs (25-15), to set up an excellent final for the Single-A championship against Hove Tuesday. Tuesday made light work of the London Marauders (13-3 final score), who had already experienced mercy-rule defeat at the hands of the Southern champions, to set up the possibility of a national title returning to Brighton.

Single-A NBC tree

Monday

Hove Tuesday vs Leicester Blue Sox

The Blue Sox missed out on taking up playoff action in 2011, but have returned to form, missing out on the Midlands AA berth by a single game but making the most of the opportunity in Single-A. They’ll hope to go one better than their divisional rivals, the Birmingham Maple Leafs, who lost to the Cambridge Royals in the Single-A Championship this time last year. For Tuesday, they’ll be replicating the efforts of the Royals; unbeaten all season in their debut summer. The Royals won the title in 7 innings 12 months ago. Could history repeat itself?