London Mets secure gold at Summer Cup
The London Mets overcame the weather and the opposition to win the inaugural BBF Summer Cup Gold Group at Farnham Park at the weekend.
The Mets, who are current national champions, fought back against arch rivals Essex Baseball Club to win 3-2 in the final on Sunday.
Essex took a 2-1 lead into the third inning and looked to be on the way to winning the title before a fielding error allowed shortstop Jake Turtel to score and tie the scores.
A single by the Gold Group MVP, Dylan Baxter, drove in the go-ahead run before Mets pitcher Mitchell Vom Scheidt shut down the Essex bats to get the win.
It was a double celebration for the Mets as their Bronze Group team fought back from a 7-0 deficit against the South West & Wales League (SWWBL) team to win 8-7 with a walk off single by Kno Fridye.
The Bronze Group MVP went the the Mets’ Omar Luqman who pitched two innings of shut out baseball in the final to add to a fine all round performance over the weekend.
“It was fantastic to win the Gold and Bronze groups as well as picking up two MVP awards,” said Joe O’Connell, the London Mets Commissioner. “Despite the weather, it was a brilliant weekend of baseball and its important to thank the umpires, BBF officials and the team at Farnham Park who responded to the weather to reschedule the whole tournament.”
Long Eaton Storm broke the London Mets monopoly by winning the Silver Group title 6-3 against a stubborn Norwich Iceni team.
Long Eaton moved into a 6-0 lead by the fourth and penultimate inning with Keanu Stoltz hitting a double and driving in two runs.
Stoltz also struck out 10 Iceni batters before the Norwich side managed to claw back three runs in the top of the fifth.
Joe Patterson, Long Eaton’s second baseman, picked up the Silver Group MVP for his all round performances across the two days.
Although heavy rain wiped out games on Saturday afternoon, the 24 teams from across the British Isles completed 29 games which culminated in the three finals in Sunday evening sunshine.
“It was a remarkable achievement to get the tournament completed and I want to thank all the players and teams who made the trip to Farnham Park for this inaugural Summer Cup. It was great to see teams from Baseball Ireland and Baseball Scotland competing in the Gold Group as well as the representative teams from the East of England and South West and Wales,” said Tom Thornhill, BBF President. “The umpires, officials and Farnham Park staff, who deserve our thanks, played an important role in the weekend’s success.”
Over 350 players from 24 baseball teams took part in the BBF Summer Cup at the Farnham Park National Baseball and Softball Centre.
