Perfect games and plenty of passion
The youth playoffs took place last week while the adults were battling it out at Hemel Hempstead for overall supremacy.
Although just one round, some teams were expected to play three games on the day to qualify, but in order to give themselves every chance of making the National Youth Baseball Champions (NYBC) that’s exactly what they did.
At Dawes Hill, High Wycombe, the southern Ponies (under 17) qualifiers were decided. The Cobham Cougars outplayed the Horsham Hornets to win 9-3 to go through as #2 seeds to the event in Richmond this weekend, while the London Mets came through as #1 seeds following a comprehensive 20-1 victory over the Essex Redbacks, who themselves had narrowly defeated the Herts All-Stars 11-10 to get to the second playoff round.
The Ponies qualifiers threw up no major surprises; Cobham hadn’t played any official league games during the year but their extensive youth programme has consistently provided talented players, and the London Mets as defending champions imposed themselves well on the competition with a strong victory.
Things were vastly different at Finsbury Park as the London Mets Broncos crashed out following the performance of the season at youth, and possibly even national, level.
Chris Keifer, who had been playing up a level in the Ponies division most of the year, and performing well there, took the mound against the Mets in the do-or-die game between the Forest Glade Redbacks and the hosts, and set about throwing a PERFECT GAME.
It was all about Keifer in the final game of the day as he blasted through the entire line-up, striking out 14 of the 15 batters he faced in the five-inning fixture. On top of that he benefited from nine runs produced by his own batters and the Forest Glade Redbacks had secured a big scalp, going through as #3 seeds to the NYBCs.
Earlier at Finsbury Park, Keifer had launched a home run in a 16-2 defeat of the Bracknell Broncos, while the Herts All-Stars had easily beaten the Essex Atoms 12-1. The All-Stars then produced the first upset of the playoffs in defeating the Mets 10-4 in order to go through to defend their national title – putting that result in context, the Herts team hadn’t beaten the Mets since last year’s playoffs.
Following the victory against Bracknell, the Forest Glade Redbacks rested a few key players against the London Youth Baseball League – who won 11-0 to qualify as #1 seeds – thinking that they would be taking on Herts in the final playoff spot. The LYBL, like Cobham, has mostly played internally this season but while proving an unknown, they also bring a high level of quality to proceedings; they’re based at RAF Dawes Hill and have a lot of knowledgeable coaching staff.
The northern teams that will join the party in Richmond on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th September include both Cartmel Valley sides and the Halton Polecats Ponies. The Halton Broncos were due to take the second position, but having played the entire season with eight players and earning a 5-4 record, they were unable to confirm how many players they’d have for the weekend, thus a third spot opened up for the southern teams.
The northern divisions were decided by league standings rather than any playoffs, but it just means that when Cartmel Valley and Halton make the trip south they’ll be a little fresher for the fight.
The Cartmel Valley Ponies take on the Cobham Cougars at 11am while the London Mets welcome the Halton Polecats to their home town, if not their home diamond, at 2pm. The 3rd and 4th place playoffs take place at 10:30am on Sunday while the final starts at 1pm.
The times are the same in the Broncos NBCs, but the teams are different. Only Cartmel Valley have a chance of the double, taking on the Herts All-Stars in their semi-final, while the Forest Glade Broncos will take on the LYBL afterwards. The Redbacks may choose not to rest players against their opponents this weekend!
My predictions that the Mets would be favourites for both divisions was short-sighted, but I can’t see past them retaining their Ponies crown this season. However, the Broncos division is much harder to call and could be one of any four teams. Realistically, the Redbacks will struggle to get past the London Youth Baseball League, but as proven last weekend anything could happen.
The matches take place at Kew and Ham Sports Association, where the Richmond Baseball Club is based, and entry is free.
