With the British Baseball season in full flow, Newton Aycliffe Spartans took the weekend off from their regular season to take part in a three team mini-tournament in Harrogate on 16th June.
Spartans faced the 2012 AAA National champions, Liverpool Trojans, in their first game and it is testament to how far the Spartans have come as a team that they ran team from Merseyside close with Liverpool winning in the final inning of the game.
The game turned out to be real pitcher’s dual with Spartans’ American pitcher, Bryan Dunkel. keeping the Trojans bats guessing with some sublime pitching. Trojans went into an early 1-0 lead but were pegged back in the 2nd inning when Jarek Majka scored .
Trojans hit back and took a 2-1 lead before the Spartans tied up the game to head into the last inning. The game looked destined to finish a tie in the 5th inning but Liverpool sent home one of their runners to narrowly edge out the Spartans by a score of 3-2.
In the second game against the host Harrogate Tigers, Mike Holton took over the pitching duties and despite trailing 4-0 at the end of the 1st inning the Spartans kept themselves in the game with a confidence mix of hitting and base-running. The game was as close as the game between the same two sides earlier in the month, won by Harrogate Tigers thanks to a Grand-Slam, with the home side opening up a 7-5 lead in the 4th inning. Spartans roared back to take the game, 11-7.
Assistant Coach Mike Holton was delighted and commented “We went into these games with a short roster and every player played their part. It was a huge team effort and as we enter the second half of our season, we shall use these results and more importantly, the performances, as a springboard to get into the end of season playoffs.
It was nice to receive positive comments from the Trojans and the Tigers about how far we have come as a baseball team in such a short period of time”
If you fancy trying Baseball, new players, female or male, experienced or inexperienced are invited to come along and try one of the fastest growing team sports in the UK. Details of training sessions are on the Spartans website www.newtonaycliffespartans.co.uk
