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as5680 · 11-23-2021, 05:04 PM

TOURNAMENT REVIEW: 1874 COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

The tenth season of organised baseball in Great Britain got underway with the eighth edition of the County Championship, taking the same format as last year with six teams involved. Last year’s finalists Surrey and Middlesex received byes to the semi-final round, but unlike last year there was a free draw for the two quarter-final matchups, with Lancashire and Yorkshire no longer being obliged to play their games away from home. It had been suggested that the two losing semi-finalists from a year ago, Essex and Yorkshire, should have home advantage guaranteed for their games but this was not accepted when put to a vote, as teams felt that simply reaching the semi-final was not worthy of being rewarded with a guaranteed home game in the way that reaching the final was.

In the event, Lancashire and Yorkshire were drawn to face one another for the first time, with Lancashire holding home advantage. The other game was to see Essex host Kent. Another draw determined that the winners of the game between the two northern counties would travel to Middlesex in the semi-final, while champions Surrey would host the winners of the game between Essex and Kent. The tournament got underway on the earliest date yet to see competitive baseball in this country, Saturday 14 February.

The first quarter-final saw Kent, who have never won the championship, travel to Essex and make a superb start to the game. Two successive hits to open up the second inning gave them an early scoring chance, and then with runners at first and third and only one out, Dartford’s Frederick Barron hit a ball along the ground just far enough for the City of London Club man George Morrison to come home from third without Essex having a hope of stopping him. From that point on, the pitchers began to dominate and it seemed for a while that 1-0 might be the final outcome, but Metropolitan League championship winning pitcher Stephen Young of The Regent’s Park faltered for Essex again in the sixth. He game up three successive hits to begin that inning, the third of them to the City Club man Morrison again, which brought home Angel’s Peter Sawyer to extend Kent’s advantage to 2-0.

Essex needed to find a run quickly and did so in their half of the sixth, aided by an error from Kent first baseman Sawyer. His failure to field a simple ball allowed Greenwich’s Timothy Berry to score the run which reduced the deficit to 2-1. In the eighth, they were presented with a clear chance to level the score when having men at first and third and only one out, but Maidstone’s Isaac Huntley, pitching for Kent, was able to entice Hackney’s John Fraser to hit a ball on the ground which enabled Kent to record the two outs they needed to end the inning. That was the last chance for Essex as they could get no runners on base in the ninth, leaving them with a 2-1 defeat and an early departure from this year’s championship.

The other quarter-final match brought a first meeting for neighbours Lancashire and Yorkshire, with home side Lancashire matching Kent in taking a second inning lead. With one out, a two base hit from Rochdale’s Bernard Greenwood started the threat and then with two on base and two out, Emmanuel Wanless of Toxteth produced the hit which brought Greenwood home. Great Float’s Jesse Davidson was in fine form pitching for Lancashire and it took until the fourth for Yorkshire to get any runner on base, but when they did they wasted a fine chance to level the score when they were unable to get a run home despite having runners at first and third with nobody out.

They were made to pay for that failure in the sixth, as Lancashire again found a crucial hit with two men out. This time there were runners at first and second when Great Float’s Samuel Plaistowe came to bat, and his hit was deep enough to allow William Elmar of Miles Platting to come home from second. Yorkshire started both the seventh and ninth innings with hits, but neither time were able to advance a man past second base as pitcher Davidson completed a four-hit shutout to give Lancashire a 2-0 victory, their first ever success in the championship.

The first semi-final saw Kent travel to reigning champions Surrey, looking to reach a fourth successive final. Again it was a battle of pitching, with Maidstone’s Isaac Huntley strong for Kent and Daniel Armstrong of the Old Westminsters even better for Surrey. The champions missed a good chance in the fourth when they had three runners on with two out, but pitcher Armstrong could not help his own cause as he failed to find the crucial hit. It was a similar scenario in the sixth, when Armstrong came to bat again with men at first and third and two out, and again was unable to find the hit.

Kent were struggling to find any hits against Armstrong, reaching the ninth with just four to their name. A two-base hit from Peter Sawyer of Angel with just one out gave them hope of a run, but they could move him on no further. In Surrey’s half of the ninth, Kent pitcher Huntley finally faltered. With one out, he gave up two successive hits which left Surrey with runners at second and third. Another Angel man, Noah Sanders, came to bat and hit the ball on the ground in the infield, but was by a fraction of a second able to reach first base safely before the ball got there. That allowed William Lewis, a newcomer from Surrey County League club Kingston, to come home and score the only run of the game, taking Surrey through to another final by a score of 1-0.

Middlesex, defeated in last year’s final by Surrey, were looking to reach the final for the seventh year in succession, having missed out only in the tournament’s inaugural year of 1867. Facing a Lancashire team who wanted to become the first northern county to reach the final, they too found themselves in a battle of strong pitching as Edmonton’s Jim Aldridge and Jesse Davidson of Great Float dominated early on. In the fourth inning however, it was Lancashire pitcher Davidson who faltered first. With two out, nobody on base and seemingly no threat, Dennis Dunning – a newcomer this year with Clapham – found a base hit to keep the inning alive. The City of London Club’s Simeon Farrell then produced a two-base hit which allowed Dunning to come all the way home and put Middlesex in front 1-0.

With Middlesex batting in the sixth, a base hit with one out from John Pinhay of the Royal Artillery Barracks was followed by Pinhay successfully advancing himself all the way to third. The City Club’s Arthur Greenacre was able to bring him home from there to make the score 2-0, and Lancashire were in trouble given the pitching form of Aldridge. They responded in the seventh, as Liverpool’s Samuel Moynihan produced a hit to begin the inning before Rochdale’s Bernard Greenwood brought him home from second base with one out, reducing the margin to 2-1. Lancashire handed back that run in the Middlesex half of the seventh however, as an error by third baseman Joseph Stanbridge of Miles Platting set up a chance for pitcher Aldridge to add to the Middlesex lead with two men on base and two out. Aldridge found the hit to extend his team’s advantage to 3-1, and in the eighth that became 4-1 when Simeon Farrell was able to drive home his City Club teammate Arthur Greenacre from third. That was the final score, setting up a fourth successive final between Middlesex and Surrey, which champions Surrey would host having call the coin toss correctly.

The 1874 County Championship final may go on record as the finest game played in the eight-year history of the tournament. Certainly it was the most dramatic, although that did not appear likely to be the case for two-thirds of the game as Old Westminsters pitcher Daniel Armstrong dominated for Surrey. Middlesex managed three hits across the first six innings and only one advanced a runner past second base, while Surrey had moved ahead in the first following a three-base hit from Ralph Parker of The Regent’s Park, who was then driven home by Angel man Noah Sanders. In the third, Parker and Sanders again found successive hits with two out to give a chance to another Regents man, Jim White. His hit brought home Parker to extend the lead to 2-0, and that remained the scoreline heading into the seventh inning.

Suddenly, everything changed as the City Club’s Simeon Farrell began the seventh with a three-base hit, before scoring on a ball hit by the Regents’ Charlie Williams which was caught deep in the outfield. An error from infielder Thomas Wakely of Hackney gave Middlesex another base runner in the form of another City Club man, Edward Grant, and when Kensington’s John Goodwin came to bat with two out he found a two-base hit to score Grant and level the game at 2-2. Surrey were shocked, but their mood would worsen in the eighth as the Royal Artillery Barracks’ John Pinhay opened the inning with a two-base hit and then having advanced to third, came home on another ball caught deep in the outfield from the bat of Clapham’s Dennis Dunning. Middlesex led 3-2 and Surrey went to the ninth facing defeat in a game which had looked to be theirs.

That defeat appeared inevitable when Middlesex pitcher Jim Aldridge came to bat in the ninth with men at second and third and just one out. He too hit the ball deep into the outfield, and following the catch it was Grant again who came home to put Middlesex further ahead at 4-2. When Surrey’s half of the inning began with Sanders being removed by Aldridge with no trouble, Middlesex could have been forgiven for starting to celebrate but that would have proved premature. Three successive hits, the last by Wakely to atone for his earlier error, brought Jim White in to score and give Surrey hope at 4-3 They were down to their final chance with two out when a newcomer from the Surrey County League, Matthew Copestake of Richmond, came to bat requiring a hit to tie the game. He found just that, with Arthur Holmes of the Regents coming in to tie the game at 4-4.

That left runners at first and second for another County League newcomer, Roland Minter of Kingston. Pitcher Aldridge seemed shattered by what had happened and he gave up the fifth hit of the inning, with Joe Lane of Metropolitan League newcomers Commercial Dock making it all the way home from second base to give Surrey the win by a score of 5-4. They join Middlesex as three-time winners and level up the two teams’ run of four successive final meetings at two wins each. Their success was recognised as Ralph Parker was named the tournament’s Best Player and Daniel Armstrong the Best Pitcher. It was rumoured after the final that the counties are not happy with the six-team format we have seen in the last two years, with two teams receiving a bye to the semi-finals. There have been no official announcements, but it has been suggested that with the Birmingham and District League now running in the Midlands, teams from Staffordshire and Warwickshire may be invited to make up an expanded eight-team championship next year.

11-23-2021, 05:04 PM	#148
as5680 All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Didcot, England Posts: 1,426	TOURNAMENT REVIEW: 1874 COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP The tenth season of organised baseball in Great Britain got underway with the eighth edition of the County Championship, taking the same format as last year with six teams involved. Last year’s finalists Surrey and Middlesex received byes to the semi-final round, but unlike last year there was a free draw for the two quarter-final matchups, with Lancashire and Yorkshire no longer being obliged to play their games away from home. It had been suggested that the two losing semi-finalists from a year ago, Essex and Yorkshire, should have home advantage guaranteed for their games but this was not accepted when put to a vote, as teams felt that simply reaching the semi-final was not worthy of being rewarded with a guaranteed home game in the way that reaching the final was. In the event, Lancashire and Yorkshire were drawn to face one another for the first time, with Lancashire holding home advantage. The other game was to see Essex host Kent. Another draw determined that the winners of the game between the two northern counties would travel to Middlesex in the semi-final, while champions Surrey would host the winners of the game between Essex and Kent. The tournament got underway on the earliest date yet to see competitive baseball in this country, Saturday 14 February. The first quarter-final saw Kent, who have never won the championship, travel to Essex and make a superb start to the game. Two successive hits to open up the second inning gave them an early scoring chance, and then with runners at first and third and only one out, Dartford’s Frederick Barron hit a ball along the ground just far enough for the City of London Club man George Morrison to come home from third without Essex having a hope of stopping him. From that point on, the pitchers began to dominate and it seemed for a while that 1-0 might be the final outcome, but Metropolitan League championship winning pitcher Stephen Young of The Regent’s Park faltered for Essex again in the sixth. He game up three successive hits to begin that inning, the third of them to the City Club man Morrison again, which brought home Angel’s Peter Sawyer to extend Kent’s advantage to 2-0. Essex needed to find a run quickly and did so in their half of the sixth, aided by an error from Kent first baseman Sawyer. His failure to field a simple ball allowed Greenwich’s Timothy Berry to score the run which reduced the deficit to 2-1. In the eighth, they were presented with a clear chance to level the score when having men at first and third and only one out, but Maidstone’s Isaac Huntley, pitching for Kent, was able to entice Hackney’s John Fraser to hit a ball on the ground which enabled Kent to record the two outs they needed to end the inning. That was the last chance for Essex as they could get no runners on base in the ninth, leaving them with a 2-1 defeat and an early departure from this year’s championship. The other quarter-final match brought a first meeting for neighbours Lancashire and Yorkshire, with home side Lancashire matching Kent in taking a second inning lead. With one out, a two base hit from Rochdale’s Bernard Greenwood started the threat and then with two on base and two out, Emmanuel Wanless of Toxteth produced the hit which brought Greenwood home. Great Float’s Jesse Davidson was in fine form pitching for Lancashire and it took until the fourth for Yorkshire to get any runner on base, but when they did they wasted a fine chance to level the score when they were unable to get a run home despite having runners at first and third with nobody out. They were made to pay for that failure in the sixth, as Lancashire again found a crucial hit with two men out. This time there were runners at first and second when Great Float’s Samuel Plaistowe came to bat, and his hit was deep enough to allow William Elmar of Miles Platting to come home from second. Yorkshire started both the seventh and ninth innings with hits, but neither time were able to advance a man past second base as pitcher Davidson completed a four-hit shutout to give Lancashire a 2-0 victory, their first ever success in the championship. The first semi-final saw Kent travel to reigning champions Surrey, looking to reach a fourth successive final. Again it was a battle of pitching, with Maidstone’s Isaac Huntley strong for Kent and Daniel Armstrong of the Old Westminsters even better for Surrey. The champions missed a good chance in the fourth when they had three runners on with two out, but pitcher Armstrong could not help his own cause as he failed to find the crucial hit. It was a similar scenario in the sixth, when Armstrong came to bat again with men at first and third and two out, and again was unable to find the hit. Kent were struggling to find any hits against Armstrong, reaching the ninth with just four to their name. A two-base hit from Peter Sawyer of Angel with just one out gave them hope of a run, but they could move him on no further. In Surrey’s half of the ninth, Kent pitcher Huntley finally faltered. With one out, he gave up two successive hits which left Surrey with runners at second and third. Another Angel man, Noah Sanders, came to bat and hit the ball on the ground in the infield, but was by a fraction of a second able to reach first base safely before the ball got there. That allowed William Lewis, a newcomer from Surrey County League club Kingston, to come home and score the only run of the game, taking Surrey through to another final by a score of 1-0. Middlesex, defeated in last year’s final by Surrey, were looking to reach the final for the seventh year in succession, having missed out only in the tournament’s inaugural year of 1867. Facing a Lancashire team who wanted to become the first northern county to reach the final, they too found themselves in a battle of strong pitching as Edmonton’s Jim Aldridge and Jesse Davidson of Great Float dominated early on. In the fourth inning however, it was Lancashire pitcher Davidson who faltered first. With two out, nobody on base and seemingly no threat, Dennis Dunning – a newcomer this year with Clapham – found a base hit to keep the inning alive. The City of London Club’s Simeon Farrell then produced a two-base hit which allowed Dunning to come all the way home and put Middlesex in front 1-0. With Middlesex batting in the sixth, a base hit with one out from John Pinhay of the Royal Artillery Barracks was followed by Pinhay successfully advancing himself all the way to third. The City Club’s Arthur Greenacre was able to bring him home from there to make the score 2-0, and Lancashire were in trouble given the pitching form of Aldridge. They responded in the seventh, as Liverpool’s Samuel Moynihan produced a hit to begin the inning before Rochdale’s Bernard Greenwood brought him home from second base with one out, reducing the margin to 2-1. Lancashire handed back that run in the Middlesex half of the seventh however, as an error by third baseman Joseph Stanbridge of Miles Platting set up a chance for pitcher Aldridge to add to the Middlesex lead with two men on base and two out. Aldridge found the hit to extend his team’s advantage to 3-1, and in the eighth that became 4-1 when Simeon Farrell was able to drive home his City Club teammate Arthur Greenacre from third. That was the final score, setting up a fourth successive final between Middlesex and Surrey, which champions Surrey would host having call the coin toss correctly. The 1874 County Championship final may go on record as the finest game played in the eight-year history of the tournament. Certainly it was the most dramatic, although that did not appear likely to be the case for two-thirds of the game as Old Westminsters pitcher Daniel Armstrong dominated for Surrey. Middlesex managed three hits across the first six innings and only one advanced a runner past second base, while Surrey had moved ahead in the first following a three-base hit from Ralph Parker of The Regent’s Park, who was then driven home by Angel man Noah Sanders. In the third, Parker and Sanders again found successive hits with two out to give a chance to another Regents man, Jim White. His hit brought home Parker to extend the lead to 2-0, and that remained the scoreline heading into the seventh inning. Suddenly, everything changed as the City Club’s Simeon Farrell began the seventh with a three-base hit, before scoring on a ball hit by the Regents’ Charlie Williams which was caught deep in the outfield. An error from infielder Thomas Wakely of Hackney gave Middlesex another base runner in the form of another City Club man, Edward Grant, and when Kensington’s John Goodwin came to bat with two out he found a two-base hit to score Grant and level the game at 2-2. Surrey were shocked, but their mood would worsen in the eighth as the Royal Artillery Barracks’ John Pinhay opened the inning with a two-base hit and then having advanced to third, came home on another ball caught deep in the outfield from the bat of Clapham’s Dennis Dunning. Middlesex led 3-2 and Surrey went to the ninth facing defeat in a game which had looked to be theirs. That defeat appeared inevitable when Middlesex pitcher Jim Aldridge came to bat in the ninth with men at second and third and just one out. He too hit the ball deep into the outfield, and following the catch it was Grant again who came home to put Middlesex further ahead at 4-2. When Surrey’s half of the inning began with Sanders being removed by Aldridge with no trouble, Middlesex could have been forgiven for starting to celebrate but that would have proved premature. Three successive hits, the last by Wakely to atone for his earlier error, brought Jim White in to score and give Surrey hope at 4-3 They were down to their final chance with two out when a newcomer from the Surrey County League, Matthew Copestake of Richmond, came to bat requiring a hit to tie the game. He found just that, with Arthur Holmes of the Regents coming in to tie the game at 4-4. That left runners at first and second for another County League newcomer, Roland Minter of Kingston. Pitcher Aldridge seemed shattered by what had happened and he gave up the fifth hit of the inning, with Joe Lane of Metropolitan League newcomers Commercial Dock making it all the way home from second base to give Surrey the win by a score of 5-4. They join Middlesex as three-time winners and level up the two teams’ run of four successive final meetings at two wins each. Their success was recognised as Ralph Parker was named the tournament’s Best Player and Daniel Armstrong the Best Pitcher. It was rumoured after the final that the counties are not happy with the six-team format we have seen in the last two years, with two teams receiving a bye to the semi-finals. There have been no official announcements, but it has been suggested that with the Birmingham and District League now running in the Midlands, teams from Staffordshire and Warwickshire may be invited to make up an expanded eight-team championship next year.