2011 News Archive
Season ends on lows
The Arrows finished their 2011 season in very unacceptable circumstances, with 3 regular season games unplayed all against Croydon Pirates because of the rain effected double header on Aug 7th, The Arrows needing 2 wins to progress to the NBL play-offs, headed for Roundshaw with all intentions of playing a triple header to complete the all games, game1 was played as the make up game and saw an Arrows 11-7 win, Game2 which was basically the 1st game of the fixtured double header turned out to be a 9-7 loss, with the Arrows now having a 9-16 season record and Croydon's standing at 9-15, the 3rd game would be a straight shoot out for the Pool "A" play-off, winner taking the place, then for some reason all parties except the Arrows decided there was no time to play and proceedings finished and Croydon taking a forfeit win under unknown circumstances and taking the play-off place. So with the 2011 season being brought to an abrupt end it now leaves Manager Phil Chesterton, reflecting on what could have been, but also looking forward to 2012 and another progressive season after doubling the win column from 2010.
The Archers the following weekend took the diamond against Guildford Mavaricks in the 2011 "AA" divisons play-offs, with the preceeding weekends fixture unplayable, due to a waterlogged Townmead, both teams had not faced each other in the regular season, also with the BBF being forced to bring forward the NBC's forward the Archers lost both main pitchers, Manager Darren Ludlow and speedster Billy Marchant to prviously booked holidays. With season long injured Jeff Sumers making the start, the game was a see-saw affair over the 1st 3 innings, but in the bottom of the 4th leading, leading 5-4, a combination of Jeff reinjuring himself and the weather deciding to play it's part, the Arrows had to turn to Jed Oliver, 1 of last seasons youngsters that had moved up to the Arrows was asked to take the mound (after being out for the 1st half with a broken jaw and not pitching at all all season), weather conditions progressivly got worse and also with a 30-40 in rain delay, the Mavs were able to put up 10 runs and with the Archers unable to trouble the scorers in the top of the 5th, the Mavs plated run 15 to bring the game to an end on the 10 run slaughter rule
Arrows and Archers pick up wins
Since the last update, both adult teams have had results, this past Sun Aug 15th Mildenhall Bulldogs were the expected visitors, but unfortunately with their team being mainly US servicemen, they have lost a lot of players and have had to forfiet the rest of their season, meaning that The Arrows picked up 2 7-0 wins moving the onto a record of 8&13, The week preceeding that The Archers hosted the Croydon 3rd team, after a slow start they got themselves in gear and ended the game 20-10 in 8 innings on the slaughter rule, with Jeff summers plating Paul Richardson with a sac-fly to left field
Historic weekend with all 3 teams recording at least 1 win
This past weekend saw a new 1st for the club, Saturday saw the Atoms play The Essex Redbacks counterparts in a double header friendly fixture, the 1st game was won 4-3 by the Redbacks, but undeterbed the Atoms set about the 2nd game with the same vigour and recorded their 1st ever win, recording a score of 9-8.
Moving on 2 Sunday The Arrows faced off against near neighbours the Herts Falcons, the 1st game was won 9-4 in a regulation 7 inning game, Matt Gilbert picking up the win, game 2 was a slightly different story, on a very warm Sunday afternoon, no one would realy want to be out in the field for longer than needed, but this game just didn't want to finish, with 9 ore innings in the book The Arrows finally plated the winning walk off run to record a final score of 9-8.
Meanwhile down in Kent, The Archers, with a depleated team of 8 players took on the Kent Mariners, the home team deciding to not enforce the automatic out in the 9 position allowed for a very exciting game with all 8 Archers turning it on with the bat and putting in excellent defence completed a 18-6 win.
July starts badly for Arrows and Archers
Both the Arrows and the Archers got July off to a bad start, the Arrows played the 2nd part of their special NBL event weekend and again played the Lakenheath Diamondbacks this time at Richmond's Flood Field, in a 9 inning game they came up just short, losing 10-7, The Archers hosted the newly formed Latin Boys in a double header at Townmead, with a team of latin american guys that have probably grown up with the game, the Archers held their own, but with some timely hitting the Latin Boys eased to an 8-1 win, game 2 again was a close affair, but the Boys just kept tagging on runs and managed to stop the game in 5 innings with the score at 10-1. Both teams are now just slightly over half way in the relative seasons, The Arrows stand with a record of 3 wins and 11 losses, The Archers are currently 5 wins and 7 losses. The Arrows have a blank weekend and return to action on 17th July, when they host the Croydon Pirates, This Sunday sees the Archers hosting local rivals Brentwood Stags in a single 9 inning game starting at 14:30.
Nationals too hot for Arrows
The Arrows hosted the newly formed National this past Sunday but were unable to match up to them losing game1 22-2 and game2 14-3, game 1 although finishing in 5 innings on the slaughter rule was not as 1 sided as the score sounded, with the score at 4-2 going into the top of the final inning, but the National batted round the order twice plating 18 more runs and with the Arrows unable to mount any offence the game finished, The arrows took a while to get ver that bad innings and it spanned into game 2, with The Nationals plating 6 unanswered runs in the 1st inning and they steadily built up their score with very little responce, Tha Arrows now have a weekend off and must regroup ready to get themselves back on track in their next game
Arrows come up empty from visit to Richmond / Archers progress to 3-0
The Arrows came home empty handed from their trip to 2010 Champions Richmond flames, losing game 1 14-12 after holding a 12-4 lead and then losing game 2 8-5, leaving them with a season record of 2 wins and 6 defeats, in a quote after the game Disconsolate Arrows Coach Phil Chesterton said: “It was very, very disappointing. We had to change pitchers when we had a healthy lead and it all went wrong in Game 1. We were absolutely cruising, but we made too many errors and it slipped away.
“It is very hard to talk about it," Chesterton added, "and we need to bounce back.”
The Archers travelled to Essex neighbours The Redbacks II for the return fixture from opening day, and returned home with a comfortable 32-6 win, with “G-unit” Jeff Summers taking the win in his 1st appearance starting on the mound
Arrows Split with Bracknell / Archers win again
The Arrows hosted the Bracknell Blazers and split their double header, winning game 1 11-9, but again could not continue the winning ways in game 2 losing it 12-9, they now move on to a 2-4 record for the season. Meanwhile the Archers travelled to South London where they faced off against the Croydon Pirates third string, starting off with just 9 players Pitcher/Manager Darren Ludlow took the hill to pitch the full 9 innings and with 3rd baseman Shane Wodzynski having to head off to hospital after picking up a badly cut finger in the bottom of the 8th inning, the Team finished up the last inning and a half with 8 players, this did not seem to faze them as they continued to put runs on the board and get the final 3 outs to complete a 23-11 victory, moving them on to 2-0 for the season
Arrows struggle on south coast / Archers start with win
The Arrows made the long trip to the south coast to meet the Southampton Mustangs in a double header, but were unable to find their winning way, ending up losing both games, game 1 score was 5-0 taking Pitcher Matt Gilbert to a season record of 1-1 and game 2 ended 8-2 with the Arrows losing starting pitcher Rich Chesterton in the 2nd inning.
The Archers kicked off their 2011 season with a home opener against local rivals Essex Redbacks II, on a warm but very windy day and with a very new looking starting line up, seeing only 3 players stating in their 2010 positions and 3 others playing in their first ever game, they set about the Redbacks starting pitcher with every player have a stellar day at the plate, ending up with a 28 to16 win, Starting Pitcher Darren Ludlow taking the win
Arrows split with Richmond on Opening Day
The Arrows got their 2011 season off to a great start, winning game 1 of their doubleheader at home to the 2010 National Champions, the Richmond Flames, wining 6-2 with Pitcher Matt Gilbert picking up the win, unfortunately they could not continue the early form, losing game 2 11-2, Pitcher Rich Chesterton taking the loss
2011 Arrows season starts Sunday
This coming Sundays sees the Arrows kick off their 2nd season in British Baseball's top division, with a home double header against last seasons champions, the Richmond Flames, the games are Townmead with the 1st pitch of the 1st game @ 12:00, the National Division will have a new look this season after it was expanded for 2011, there are now 10 Teams and the division has now been split into 2 pools, the arrows will be looking to improve on their 4 wins from last season and have been working really hard in pre-season to be ready to get the season rolling, why not come down and cheer the guys on
Arrows in hunt for replacement catcher
With the season not yet started, the Arrows have found themselves without a catcher following a freak training accident that saw Jed Oliver break his jaw during a training session, this now leaves the Arrows without a recognised catcher for the upcoming season and they are left with an emergency search for a replacement, anyone interested in helping out please contact Dave Shaer (dpshaer@hotmail.com) or Team Manager Phil Chesterton (see contact page)
Also all at the club wish Jed a speedy recovery
2011 season starts here
The 2011 season starts this Sunday January 16th when both senior teams return to Spring Training
This year the indoor training returns to Sawyers Hall College in Brentwood, starting at 11:30, please try to be there by 11:15 for a prompt start, it will run for 9 weeks until March 13th post code for venue for satnavs is CM15 9DA
All new players welcome for further details please contact the managers of the adult teams via the contacts page.
© Essex Arrows Baseball Club 1984 - 2011