BBF Round-up: Rain still affects northern baseball schedule

Single-A South and the northern leagues got underway on the weekend with mixed results for teams making debuts and season-bows, but as with last year already the weather has disrupted plans despite seemingly perfect conditions down south.

NBL – Falcons bite as Nationals falter

It’s not been a stunning start to the double-defence of their crown for the Harlow Nationals. After ‘only’ managing a split against the heavily-fancied Southampton Mustangs on the opening day, their nearest rivals from last season, the Herts Hawks, capitalised and swept the Harlow team – the first time the Nationals have lost both of a double header in two seasons – to move the Essex club to just a 1-3 record, with the Falcons soared to 5-1 after three weeks of action.

The best Essex team this year, then, is an upset for the books – the newly-promoted Essex Redbacks bounced back from a 11-1 loss in the first game to the Essex Arrows to win 8-4 in the second match and improve to 2-4 in 2012. The Arrows join the Nationals at 1-3 and the early running seems to be being made outside of the county.

The Lakenheath Diamondbacks, who struggled so badly on opening day, are now 3-3 after sweeping the Bracknell Blazers, which were the Blazers’ first defeats in six matches. The Blazers’ 2-2 record keeps them mid-table, but if they want to reclaim a National Championship, losing games by a solitary run (as was the case in both of the exciting matches on Sunday) will need to become the exception rather than the norm.

AAA North – Run fest spoiled by rain

Results such as the 37-3 win for the Liverpool Trojans over the Menwith Hill Patriots shouldn’t happen at this level, really. But they did, and the Trojans started as they mean to go on, and how they’ve played most of the last three years – by not losing.

The chance for a split, or more likely a huge sweep, was washed out and Halton Jaguars didn’t even bother to make the trip to Cartmel Valley Lions in their season opener because of the weather. But after the first weekend the league looks a lot like it has done for much of the past decade. Liverpool are top.

AAA Midlands – Rebels surge, MK make their voices heard

The Nottingham Rebels pushed past the Birmingham Maple Leafs and needed only 11 of the 14 scheduled frames to win both games. In their bid to win a second consecutive National Championship, they’ve already won all four games and will remain top of the pile for at least another three weeks if they can make it five out five this weekend.

The Milton Keynes Bucks started their season with a handy win away at Stourbridge Titans, too, and although playing catch-up, the Midlands division looks to be heading the same way it has done for the past couple of years. The chasing pack will do well to cause upsets to the dominance of Nottingham/MK.

AAA South – Splits and sweeps as league develops

Leones de Feltham won both games in the battle of the new teams with Herts Ravens, while Oxford Kings also picked up both wins in their fixture against rivals the London Metros, meaning both the Kings and Leones jump to 2-0 records.

Good pitching was a fixture for most of the games this weekend, with London Mets II’s Rory Flood calming things down after a display of insane hitting more likely found in a softball match – the opening fixture against the Richmond Knights ended with a 26-14 run win for the Mets II, the second match a more paltry 11-1 victory for the Finsbury Park-mob.

But few could match Miguel Peralta who threw his second no-hitter in as many weeks for the Bristol Badgers as they split a pair with the Cambridge Royals; Cambridge’s Brett Curran doing a big job in the second fixture to restore parity.

After a fortnight’s action, Mets II, Oxford and Leones are top of the pile while the Badgers and Royals occupy mid-table with two wins and two losses. Herts, the Metros and Richmond all chase the leaders but there’s a long way to go yet.

AA North – Intriguing start to tricky division

The Hull Scorpions were the big winners after the first round of matches in AA North. Not only did they and the Manchester As complete both games, but the Humbersiders’ sweep cost them only one run and was achieved with plenty in the tank to spare. It was particularly impressive given the Manchester club’s drop down a division; they’d been a fixture of AAA North for a long while.

In the only other double-header to beat the weather, the Newton Aycliffe Spartans and Oldham North Stars – both of whom fought to avoid the basement position in 2012 – shared a win apiece. After early runs in the first match, things calmed down in Game 2 for a tighter 11-8 success for Oldham.

The Bolton Robots of Doom showed their quality at this level in winning early against Harrogate Tigers – their quest to reclaim their 2011 National Championship for the AA League began by sneaking a 15-14 win after relinquishing an 11-1 lead after three frames. Weather got the better of them, though, and they’ll have to pick up tools later in the summer to resume rivalries.

AA South – Dragons early form continues, Mavericks post ominous win

Although last week saw two teams drop out of the division, relegating it to the second largest in the UK after Single-A South now, the four games that still took place would have put some fear into the already chasing pack.

The Richmond Dragons didn’t let their foot off the gas in their regional derby against South London Pirates III, earning a convincing win to go 3-0 this season. Hove Tuesday almost succumbed to a perfect game in their debut at the division, but recovered and eventually won the second fixture as they split with the Herts Hawks.

However, the warning shot to the league was the unrelenting force of the Guildford Mavericks. Unbeaten in league play in 2012, they comfortably pushed past the Kent Mariners 29-2 in their opening game, meaning the Mariners have started 0-3 with a minus-54 run difference.

Single-A South – A good week for batting statistics

All single games in Single-A South, the first week saw intra-pool play as the three subdivisions squared off against one another. In Pool A, the two teams from the Midlands faced off against two teams from Herts, with the Milton Keynes Coyotes beating the Herts Eagles and the Leicester 2Sox finishing second to the Herts Raptors.

Pool B threw up a real squeaker as the Essex Archers left it until the ninth inning to beat newcomers, the Haverhill Blackjacks. The Old Timers showed experience and class in a comfortable win over the Essex Redbacks II.

The tightest action of the weekend was found in Pool C, though. If the London Marauders’ late but ultimately unsuccessful comeback against the Guildford Mavericks II wasn’t enough (they were three runs short), the Richmond Dukes thought they had all the momentum in the final frame as they plated three runs to draw within one of the Tonbridge Bobcats. However, the Bobcats found the final ounce of strength and have already matched their win total from last year after just one weekend!

Note – the average runs in each game in Single-A last week was 43. None of the games finished 22-21.