Newton Aycliffe Spartans lost an epic play-off game against Bolton Robots of Doom last weekend at Shildon, by a score of 12-9. Having secured the AA Northern Division title a few weeks earlier, Spartans were favourites to progress to National Baseball Championship weekend.
With the disadvantage of not having played Bolton during the regular season, due to fixture postponements, there was a sense of uncertainty about what was to come.
The visitors were first to put runs on the board, taking a 3-0 lead by the 4rd inning. However the Spartans found their offensive groove thanks to some impressive hitting from Mike Holton and Steve Rixon and by the 7th inning had clawed back the deficit to take a 4-3 lead.
The lead was extended into the 8th inning with the Spartans adding 5 more runs thanks to home runs from Damian Valdez and Steve Rixon.
With a healthy 9-3 lead and the end of the game looming, the Spartans were undone by an amazing rally by Bolton. With starting pitcher Bryan Dunkel taken out of the game, having pitched superbly for 8 strong innings, Bolton knocked in 6 runs in the final inning to tie the game and force extra innings.
Bolton added 3 further runs in the 10th inning meaning the Spartans had to equal or better this. The Spartans found this to be one step too far and it was the Lancashire side who progress to the finals, this weekend in Slough.
Head coach Mike Holton was in a reflective, yet positive mood after the game “Obviously we were gutted to lose the game, especially when we were so close to winning, but you have to take defeats on the chin. It has been an outstanding year and I could not be prouder of the way the team have come of age. This time last year we were bottom of the league and if someone had told us we would be League Champions, we would not have believed them.”
Spartans will now start planning for the 2015 season with a short break, then start the winter training schedule.Many of the squad have been with the club since the club’s formation in 2011, most having not had any exposure to playing the game previously. The club is looking to run a short 4-6 week beginner class, to give anyone who would like to try baseball. They hope from this they can add to the squad for the rest of the winter training and hopefully be able to play for the team next year. The ultimate goal is to have teams in both the AAA and AA Northern Leagues. Anyone interested is invited to email mikeholton@hotmail.com www.newtonaycliffespartans.co.uk
