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The National Baseball Championships, British baseball\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s premiere event, takes place this weekend at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead.<\/p>\nThe National Baseball Championships, British baseball\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s premiere event, takes place this weekend at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead.<\/p>\n
It is both a cause for joy and a cause for sorrow.\u00c2\u00a0 Everything has been building to this point and four teams will come away from the tournament jubilant at their triumphant ends to the season.\u00c2\u00a0 The rest will be left with the disappointment of getting so close and just falling short, while we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll all bemoan the fact that another season has come to an end.<\/p>\n
National Baseball League<\/strong><\/p>\n The London Mets and Bracknell Blazers will be joined by Richmond Flames and Southampton Mustangs at the NBC after they made it through the NBL playoffs on Saturday at the former\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Connare Field.<\/p>\n The third-placed Flames made sure they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t slip up at the last by earning a 10-2 win over Croydon Pirates.\u00c2\u00a0 The Pirates went 0-24 in 2009 so making it to the playoff stage this year was a notable comeback by an organization that was a fixture in the British final between 2004 and 2007.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n The Pirates’ return to respectability\u00c2\u00a0was trumped by Southampton Mustangs who have made it to the NBC at their first attempt in the top tier thanks to a 11-7 win over Mildenhall Bulldogs.\u00c2\u00a0 The Bulldogs were seen as a real threat to the Mustangs, but Southampton made sure that their fourth-placed finish in the league would not be un-done by a playoff loss.\u00c2\u00a0 Further reaction can be found in Simon Fitzjohn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s report<\/a>.<\/p>\n The results mean that the NBC will be contested by the top four teams from the regular season and while the Mets and Blazers would be favourites to repeat their final from last year, the Flames and Mustangs should not be discounted from causing an upset.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/p>\n AAA<\/strong><\/p>\n As in the NBL, the AAA National Baseball Championship takes the form of a four-team double-elimination event.\u00c2\u00a0 There was one space left on Saturday and it was the Herts Eagles who grabbed it after beating Bracknell Inferno 14-3<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Darrin Ward pitched all seven innings for the Eagles, giving up just five hits and three runs in the process, while Inferno\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pitching staff struggled to find the strikezone, handing out sixteen walks.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n The Eagles were due to join Liverpool Trojans, Menwith Hill Patriots and Oxford Kings in the AAA NBC; however, unfortunately the Patriots are now unable to attend due to the team’s obligations at the RAF Menwith Hill airbase.\u00c2\u00a0 The BBF will announce confirmation of the team to replace the Patriots in due course.<\/p>\n The presence of\u00c2\u00a0the top team from the North and the top two from the South will ensure it’s a fascinating tournament in any case, providing us with a rare glimpse of how the two leagues stack up against each other.<\/p>\n AA<\/strong><\/p>\n The AA NBC will be a single nine-inning game on Sunday this year, pitting the Leicester Blue Sox against Richmond Knights.<\/p>\n The Blue Sox and the Birmingham Maple Leafs,\u00c2\u00a0fierce Midlands rivals, could once again only be separated by a single run at the former\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Western Field<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Leicester opened up a 7-4 lead in the early going only for the Maple Leafs, true to form, to battle back to even the score at 8-8 in the top of the sixth.\u00c2\u00a0 The Blue Sox showed they would not be rattled and hit back straight away with two runs in the bottom of the inning and Birmingham could only manage one further run in reply, resulting in a final score of 10-9 in the home team\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s favour.\u00c2\u00a0 The Blue Sox\u00c2\u00a0celebrated the final out with glee<\/a> and are now just one win away from following a 2009 A Championship with an AA title the following year.<\/p>\n If they are going to do it, the Blue Sox will have to blunt a buzz-saw in the Richmond Knights.\u00c2\u00a0 After losing their opening game of the season, the Knights won seventeen straight to take the AA South.\u00c2\u00a0 They made it eighteen on the spin with their win over Windsor Bears in the first playoff round and increased their run to nineteen wins with a comfortable 11-4 victory over Poole Piranhas<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Starting pitcher Daniel Lally struck out ten Piranhas over nine innings, while Nick Osborne led the offence with a 4-for-4 day, including a home run.<\/p>\n A<\/strong><\/p>\n Like the AA final, the A NBC is a single nine-inning game on Sunday that pits a Midlands team, MK Bucks, against a team from the south, Guildford Mavericks. The Bucks booked their NBC spot by shutting out the Humber Pilots 7-0.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile the Mavericks brought an end to Chelmsford Clipper\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impressive debut season with a 25-7 playoff victory<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 A nine-run second inning for Guildford, in which they batted around, put the Clippers into a hole and the Mavericks were ruthless in building on that early advantage, while also keeping Chelmsford\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s offence in check with strong pitching and defence.\u00c2\u00a0 They led 25-2 heading into the top of the seventh inning, leaving the Clippers needing to plate fourteen runs to avoid a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcmercy kill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 defeat.\u00c2\u00a0 Chelmsford refused to do down with a whimper and were able to score five times, but the Mavericks\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 catcher Rob Wheeler caught Adam Commons trying to steal third base to end the game.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n The Clippers were magnanimous in defeat, stating that<\/a> \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No one will begrudge the Mavericks the chance to represent the Southern Conference in the finals as they were superb for their win and showed that they have depth in numbers as well as talent\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n