April provided something of a stop-start beginning to the British baseball season.
Indeed, there are a number of teams still waiting to play their first league game of 2014.
The late Easter Bank Holiday weekend created an early off-weekend for most of the league, with the exception being a successful opener to the new GB All-Star series at Farnham Park.
Then last weekend came around and the weather decided to force many of us indoors, with rain either ruining Sunday or ruining the prospect of playing on the fields a day or two before.
Last weekend
Some games did manage to escape the weather last weekend. In the National Baseball League, the Essex Arrows swept a double-header over the Southern Nationals to leap to the top of the standings with a 5-1 record as the previous leaders, the Southampton Mustangs, had their double-header against the South London Pirates rained off. The three-time champion Nationals are rooted to the bottom with no wins from their first four games, although few would think to count them out from mounting another challenge for NBL honours so early in the season.
In Triple-A, the Cambridge Royals are off to a perfect 4-0 to start the year after following up an Opening Day sweep against the Nottingham Rebels with another two wins against the reigning champion MK Bucks. In the North and South, double-headers were split by the Hull Scorpions and Cartmel Valley Lions, and the London Metros and Essex Redbacks respectively.
The Sheffield Bladerunners have sprinted out to a 2-0 record with two wins against the Oldham North Stars in the AA-North, whilst there were two wins for the Daws Hill Spitfires in the AA-South over the Bracknell Inferno. Newcomers the Brentwood Bucks earned their first ever win at the second attempt with a 36-20 triumph over the Richmond Dukes in the A-South. Newcomers are also playing well in the A-Midlands as the Cambridge Monarchs picked up two more victories, this time at the expense of the Leicester 2 Sox, to match their AAA Royals team with a 4-0 start to the season.
Tweets of the Week
Action shot from the Essex Redbacks v London Metros match-up
Round-up of our @britishbaseball games with @LondonMetros on Sunday by @SamRounce15 http://t.co/Hdz5vfsa6O pic.twitter.com/C8yf4jAmXf
— Redbacks Baseball (@essexredbacks) April 29, 2014
The Herts Hawks’ Andrew Slater in action
Andrew Slater was dealing in his complete game win vs South London Pirates on Sunday pic.twitter.com/p8rwc6zpOA
— Herts Hawks (@HertsHawks) April 29, 2014
Hove Tuesday’s Triple-A opener was postponed last Sunday, but the team is staying sharp and it’s great to see the Pavilion Field facility being used once again.
Sun down at Pavilion field. A great practice this evening with @will_lintern looking forward to practice tomorrow pic.twitter.com/hhaLL0qqQ9
— Brighton Baseball (@BtnBaseballClub) April 30, 2014
And it’s not just on the south coast where teams are putting in the practice. They’re a hardy bunch in Yorkshire!
Fair play and hats off to those who survived training tonight. Weather could only be described as 'biblical'.
— Sheffield Baseball (@BladerunnersBC) April 30, 2014
This weekend
Hopefully the weather will be kinder this Sunday and allow more teams to ‘play ball’. Check out the BBF website and team Twitter and Facebook pages for the fixtures and news of any late schedule changes.
