Bristol Bobcats swept London Mayhem in their BBF national women’s baseball league double header at the weekend.
Strong pitching from Denise Grant, Dani Searson and Caitlin Frank drove the Bobcats to a 13-10 victory in the first game in London.
The Bristol pitchers struck out six opposition batters and gave up just six hits.
Searson backed up her pitching performance with two hits and four runs driven in. Coral Pike, Linnea Kaye and Oona Ylinen were also successful with the bat in hand.
The Bobcats were devastating with their running game, stealing 15 bases to help secure the win.
The second game was more one sided with the Bobcats running out 20-6 winners which put them in with a chance of advancing to the end of season championship game.
“It was great to get the wins with two disciplined performances,” said Becky Cottrell, the Bobcats player/manager. “It was good to see our pitchers doing such a fantastic job and keeping the dangerous London batters in check.”
The Bristol Bats are busy preparing to take on Bracknell Inferno in the semi-finals of the BBF A national championship which are being played at Somerdale Pavilion in Keynsham this Saturday.
The Bats, who beat Cardiff Merlins to claim the SWWBL Championship last month, are looking forward to taking on one of the best single A teams in the country.
“We know its going to be tough but we will be putting everything into the game and doing our best to reach the national final the following Sunday,” said Neptali Ortega-Gutiérrez, the Bats player/manager. “We have been training hard and working to eliminate some of the weaker parts of our game in time for Saturday.”
The Bats will play the Inferno at 11.00am and this will be followed at by the second semi-final which will see Herts Hawks take on the Formosa Islanders at 3.00pm.
“As well as being delighted the Bats have made the semi-finals, we are proud to be hosting BBF playoff games for the third successive year,” said Bristol Baseball Chairman, Richard Evans. “We hope that people will come and watch what promises to be a great day of baseball.”
The Bobcats will also be playing at Somerdale Pavilion on Saturday when they take on last years women’s champions, The Belles, in their final regular season game which starts at 12 noon.
Spectators are welcome and there is no entry charge.