BBF: Repeats, a threepeat and heart breaking defeats
On a weekend where only the die-hard fans, loved ones and paid-staff would want to be in a field away from shelter, it fell upon the best kids and senior players in the country to inspire those hardy souls against the weather and put together an entertaining display of baseball.
And they duly obliged, bless ‘em.
I have got to stop predicting the outcome of things, as it seems to have been the kiss of death to most of the teams involved in this year’s British Baseball Federation Youth and senior National Baseball Championships.
I went 0-4 with the senior competitions. In picking the London Mets to win their first national title in five seasons I inadvertently handed the initiative to the Southampton Mustangs – their semi-final opponents – who raced out to a six-run lead in the first inning and never looked back, eventually rounding off an impressive 15-1 victory against a Mets team many beyond just myself had backed to go all the way in 2013.
In the other semi-final, a result for either team could not be determined an upset. The top seeds were the Herts Falcons, who have lost only four times this season, while their opponents were double-defending champions Harlow Nationals, who have never lost a playoff game. By the end of the weekend, they were a perfect 9-9 in their three years together, having won a third consecutive championship and joining only the Cobham Yankees and Enfield Spartans in having achieved the feat in Britain.
It was a nail-biting 8-7 win in the semi-final against the Falcons, but a more comprehensive 12-7 victory against the Mustangs that clinched it in the final.
But for me, and many others, the excitement and enjoyment came from watching the younsters play on the other diamonds at Farnham Park.
On Saturday, the four Under-14s teams combined to score/concede just six runs throughout the day, with the Forest Glade Redbacks beating the Halton Polecats Broncos 3-0, and the London Mets Broncos beating LYBL Bulldogs 2-1 in the second extra inning. That’s right, in 14 innings of baseball, they had conceded as many as the second-best team in the NBL’s regular season managed in just one frame against a relative underdog earlier that day.
The final itself wasn’t as close, with the Mets racing out to a 7-0 lead before a late rally was killed off at two, bagging the Mets their second consecutive title, and fourth in seven years. It was an important win for the Broncos; all of the London club’s teams had made the playoffs, five of seven had gotten to the NBCs/YNBCs, but only two were able to lift the trophy. But better two than none.
That was because the London club’s Under-17 team had lost narrowly in a thrilling contest to the Herts Harriers, going down 6-4 to their esteemed opponents. The Harriers side was full of players who had won the Bronco title three years before, and that added time growing up together and playing with each other showed at the crucial times. Their opponents in the final would be the Cobham Cougars, the defending champions, who made their fourth consecutive appearance in the showpiece event with a comprehensive 10-0 win over the Halton Polecats Pony.
The final started brightly for Herts – top seeds – as they led by two after the first frame, but by the middle of the fifth they were five runs behind. Momentum shifted back and forth, eventually seeing the Harriers need four runs in the bottom of the final frame to force extra innings. That tying run was at the plate, but struck out, to end the contest before an argument between Herts players and coaches and the umpire as to whether the catcher dropped the ball ensued. Buoyed by the voracious support of their fans blowing horns and trumpets, the arguments, though purposeful, fell on deaf ears and it was the Cougars who would be the dominant predators once again.
In the 3rd/4th place playoffs, Halton again struggled against stronger opposition and unfortunately lost both the Broncos (to LYBL, 16-0) and Pony (to the Mets, 9-2).
Those games rounded off an exciting weekend of tournament action and a good debut of the event at the new home of baseball and softball, Farnham Park.
I’ll do a little further reporting over the next few weeks to assess the strengths and weaknesses of this season against those that have gone before it, but I’ll not have much more competitive action to report on. Especially after the heartbreaking news that wrestling would be reinstated into the Olympics in the place of baseball/softball or squash.
Few could be surprised – I for one think wrestling deserves to always be there in the sense that it’s a true Olympic sport (what higher honour than winning Greco-Roman 94kg gold?!), whether or not another sport should have had to bid for re-election is a debate for people who are paid to debate such things.
Back to the drawing board, then, and hopefully events as exciting as this will prove there’s an appetite for the sport here in the UK, and that by expanding our fan base and commercial appeal, through development of junior programmes and wider outreach within our communities, we might even be able to press for the sports to be a staple of the national sporting curriculum. And then, and only then, can we expect to push home any message other than ‘Play Ball!’