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| National Baseball League Review: Bracknell Blazers crowned National Champions for the first time |
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Bracknell Blazers won three back-to-back games in one day to stage an unexpected comeback and win the National Baseball League Championship on Sunday, August 30. The national title at the highest level of British baseball was the Bracknell club's first in its 17-year history.
Having lost to the London Mets on Saturday morning the Blazers faced an elimination game early the next day. A resounding 12-1 victory over Herts Falcons began Bracknell's journey along the lengthiest route to the final in the weekend's National Baseball Championship (NBC) in Croydon. An 11-7 triumph over London, the defending champions of the previous two years, and a 16-4 defeat of the league's first-placed team, Richmond Flames, in the final concluded the story.
Prior to Sunday, Bracknell had been in the National Baseball League (NBL) the longest (since the league's founding in 2001) and made more appearances in the league's championship tournament than any of this year's NBC participants but had no honours to show for it. It was a long wait for a club which has made a point over the years of allowing young home-grown squad members to find a place in the team among established players, but the patient approach finally bore fruit.
I'm so happy for these guys, said Josh Chetwynd of the teammates he joined from London mid-way through the season. Some of them have been involved with the club for years and have been waiting a long time to enjoy a feeling like this.
It was a completely different story to last year when Bracknell struggled to a 5-19 record in the regular season and the closest the Trask brothers got to an appearance in the national final was as grounds crew. In 2009 the Blazers improved to a 14-10 record and Michael and Ryan Trask were at the top of a lineup which racked up a total of 39 runs over three games on Sunday.
Though Bracknell was not the strongest of the clubs during the regular season, it was a classic case of everything coming together at the right time on Sunday. The absence of a number of first-team players from London's squad - one of the regular season's strongest clubs decreased the likelihood of a repeat of last year's London-Richmond final. However, that shouldn't diminish Bracknell's achievement as they proved against a full-strength Richmond side in the final that with their own optimum combination of veterans and established young players they are a match for anyone at this level.
Strong hitters like Phil Matthews, Michael Stewart and former Great Britain players Josh Chetwynd and Adam Roberts have played in patches during the season but certainly made an impact with their bats at the weekend, driving the big innings which helped win Bracknell games. However, long-time regulars such as pitchers Henry Collins and Matt Maitland played crucial roles from the mound and position players like the Trasks and Jamie Ford, who have progressed from British youth system, were involved in every game of the weekend as well as many during the season.
It took more than individual performances. To come back from an error-strewn defeat on Saturday and win three do-or-die games in a row also required the whole team to focus - a lack of which manager Rob Rance had bemoaned during a mid-season losing streak and to make use of the momentum which built with each of those wins.
Photos courtesy of Project Cobb.
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Bracknell regulars like the championship game's winning pitcher, Henry Collins, have previously watched from the sidelines as other clubs take the honours. This year it was Bracknell's turn.
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NBL Game Reports
Game 1, Sat Aug 29
London Mets 10, Bracknell Blazers 4
Despite missing a number of regular players the Mets took an early lead and weathered a mid-game rally by the Blazers, putting the game beyond doubt with five runs in the bottom of the sixth. Callum Woods picked up the win on the mound. The Blazers didn't help themselves by making a total of five errors over the course of the game.
Two throwing errors from Bracknell in the first inning contributed to London taking an early 3-0 lead which was added to in the third with two more runs. Bracknell fought back in the fourth inning when Jamie Ford cracked a fine double to left field to drive in a pair of runs.
Missing their regular starters the Mets went with Woods on the mound in Game 1. He pitched strongly into the fifth, giving up only two hits and no earned runs to that point. However, with two quick outs to begin the inning his control waned and two hit batters and a single loaded the bases for Matt Bray to single in a run. Woods then walked in a fourth run for Bracknell but managed to get out of the inning with the lead intact.
Not to be out-done when it comes to two-out rallies, London's offense went to work in the sixth inning with two away. Woods singled in a run and Great Britain squad member Will Lintern doubled in two in a five-run inning. Predominantly a catcher, Lintern also took the mound in the sixth and seventh innings to shut down the Blazers, allowing just one hit and striking out two for the save.
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Game 2, Sat Aug 29
Richmond Flames 11, Herts Falcons 3
Having secured the National Baseball League pennant with a sweep of London on the final day of the regular season, Richmond came into the tournament tipped as favourites. In Game 2 they swept past the Falcons who this year capably made the step up from Triple-A level and posted a .500 record in their first season in the NBL.
Early on, Herts had a brief 3-2 lead but the Flames' formidable line-up which included the league's Most Valuable Batter and home run leader, Ryan Bird got into gear in the bottom of the second inning to wipe that away.
In total, Richmond hitters combined for 20 hits off Herts' pitchers Darrin Ward and Riley Fisher. The Richmond squad's versatility was demonstrated with catcher/manager Grant Delzoppo and starting pitcher Michael Osborn each contributing three RBIs. During the game Osborn went 4-for-4 with a walk, including a run-scoring triple. Added to his offensive feats in the pennant-winning double header on August 16 he was 10-for-12 over the three games.
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Game 3, Sat Aug 29
Richmond Flames 4, London Mets 1
Richmond booked their place in the final with a close victory over their regular-season rivals their third straight in games between the teams. The league's Most Valuable Pitcher, Cody Cain, proved his offensive worth with a solo home run in the bottom of the third inning which gave Richmond the go-ahead run after London had tied the game at 1-1.
Ryan Bird pitched a complete game for the win, restricting London to only two hits and striking out 12. As in Game 1, the limitations of London's available pitching showed as the game wore on. Rob Anthony walked three batters for Hadyn Davison to single in two insurance runs in the fifth inning.
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Game 4, Sun Aug 30
Bracknell Blazers 12, Herts Falcons 1
In the first of Sunday's knockout games, the two losing teams from Games 1 and 2 met with the stakes simple: winner stays on, loser goes home. Compared to their error-strewn performance in Game 1, Bracknell looked much more focused. They went with Brendan Cunliffe on the mound and the Canadian restricted the Falcons to three hits and one run for the win. Meanwhile, the Blazers' offense racked up 10 hits and twelve runs off Herts' starter Nic Goetz and reliever Dan Kerry in a mercy-rule victory denoted by Bracknell reaching a ten-run deficit after five innings.
Bracknell added to their one run from the first inning with four in the second including a two-run homer from Matt Maitland and two in the third to take a commanding 7-0 lead. Herts, the lowest-scoring of the four NBC teams during the regular season, were left with a mountain to climb.
In the bottom of the third inning Herts got five consecutive batters on base but only one was converted into a run. Jamie Munn was tagged out at the plate by an accurate throw from leftfielder Michael Trask and Lin Yuchihi was picked off at second base to end the inning. That represented Herts' best and last chance to avoid defeat as Cunliffe retired the next six batters in order and Michael Stewart's solo home run contributed to five more Bracknell runs to seal victory.
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Brendan Cunliffe got the win for Bracknell from the mound against Herts
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Game 5, Sun Aug 30
Bracknell Blazers 11, London Mets 7
A massive seven-run second inning stunned the Mets and proved enough to send the Blazers past the defending champions and into the 2009 final. During the inning Bracknell batted through the lineup, the highlight a grand slam home run by Phil Matthews although it's not something Mets' short-lived starter Jonathon Cramman will be keen to remember. The inning gave Bracknell an 8-0 lead.
Saturday's Game 1 starter Callum Woods and reliever Billy Atkinson-Warne, a Triple-A call-up, combined over the next four innings to do damage limitation for the Mets, restricting Bracknell to only three more runs. On the other hand Bracknell's Matt Maitland was putting on a commanding performance on the mound, striking out ten and allowing no earned runs over 5 2/3 innings.
As against Richmond on Saturday, London's lineup looked light and managed only two hits until the sixth inning when it found ways to manufacture runs to decent effect. Combining three walks and two hits off Maitland and veteran reliever Josh Chetwynd, and capitalising on fielding errors, London abruptly closed the gap to three runs with the score at 9-6.
Perhaps sensing his last chance to give players a taste of NBC action, Mets' Manager Rob Anthony had substituted several fringe players and Triple-A call-ups into the lineup by this point. Suddenly, these guys were involved and contributing to a much closer affair.
Unfortunately for London, the heart of Bracknell's lineup was due in the bottom of the sixth and Phil Matthews promptly batted in an insurance run and scored another on Jamie Ford's sacrifice fly. Mike Stewart came in to close during the top of the seventh, escaping from a bases-loaded jam with only one run sacrificed to end the game.
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Matt Maitland struck out ten of London's batters in the win
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National Baseball League Final
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Bracknell Blazers 16, Richmond Flames 4
Playing in their first national final at the top level, Bracknell Blazers capped an outstanding comeback on the second day of the tournament by defeating the favoured Flames to become National Champions. The lopsided scoreline is deceiving as the final was tied 3-3 going into the seventh inning (in a nine inning game). Another breakout inning by the Blazers blew the game open as they took a five-run lead and then added insult to injury with a seven-run eighth. Henry Collins pitched a complete game for the win.
Through the first six innings it was a tight contest with two battling pitchers on each side in Cody Cain and Henry Collins and the opposing offences trading shots. Grant Delzoppo's solo home run in the second inning to start the scoring for Richmond was matched in the sixth by Bracknell's Adam Roberts to tie the game 2-2.
Brad Crinion and Matt Spaulding combined relief pitching duties for Richmond from the seventh inning but could not keep Bracknell's hitters at bay. With the score at 3-3 in the top of the seventh, Roberts singled in the go-ahead run for Bracknell followed by Josh Chetwynd whipping a three-run double down the left field line. In his last game in British baseball before he moves to the U.S. Chetwynd went 5-for-5, his last at-bat an RBI single in the eighth which made the score 13-4. Phil Matthews then added to his Game 5 grand slam with a three-run homer in virtually the same spot beyond the right field fence.
Richmond had suffered a similarly stunning offensive outburst at the hands of the Blazers as London had in the previous game and had no answer in the top of the ninth. Seemingly throwing as fiercely at the end as he was at the start, Collins struck out the batter for the final out, sparking a race between his teammates to reach him first and start the celebrations.
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