Leicester Blue Sox take title in showdown with Long Eaton
LEICESTER Blue Sox achieved an impressive double at the weekend, beating title rivals Long Eaton Storm to become BBF Single-A Central Division champions, while securing a high seeding in the upcoming national play-offs.
The day started with Leicester two wins behind Long Eaton in the standings but knowing that a sweep in this double-header, along with a combined runs difference of eight, would be enough to top the division.
Game one started with Rik Martina on the mound for the Sox.
Backed by some hard-hitting, Leicester jumped to a 5-2 lead in the first inning, featuring a two-run double from Dave Burke and a two-run single from Rob Seward.
Martina held the lead for his team, shutting down the Storm for the next two innings. The Sox then tacked on five more runs, including a two-run single from James Kew-Moss, to make it 10-2.
It was then the turn of Martina to contribute to the scoring in the fourth inning with a lead-off home-run.
Joel Upton weighed in with a two-run double and Leicester were sitting pretty with a 13-2, or so it seemed.
A meltdown inning then followed, with Long Eaton clawing back five runs, but Martina responded in the bottom half and Storm’s rally soon evaporated. Leicester added one more run before the game closed out 14-7.
Given the runs difference in this game, all Leicester needed to do in the second match-up was win by any scoreline to secure their first divisional title in nine years.
Armando Da Silva took the ball in game two and enjoyed a solid three innings, including setting down the top of Storm’s order in both the first and third innings.
Da Silva helped his cause with an RBI single in the bottom of the first inning. More runs were batted in the second inning from Rob Seward, Seb Stafford as well as Da Silva to take a 6-1 lead.
Long Eaton then battled back in the fourth inning, driving in three runs off four straight hits to reduce the scoreline to 6-4.
Leicester replied with two runs in the bottom half, including a mad dash home from Rik Martina at third base, after a sacrifice fly-out to shortstop.
Da Silva then found his groove again and kept Long Eaton quiet for the remainder of the game, helping Leicester to ride out 8-4 winners and take the title.
Leicester Blue Sox now progress to the national quarter-final play-offs and welcome the Essex Redbacks to Western Park on Sunday. First pitch is at midday, with the winners progressing to the BBF Single-A National Baseball Championships, to be played at Farnham Park, Slough, on the weekend of September 7-8.