MAPLE LEAFS CLINCH THE 2006 MIDLAND LEAGUE FOR BACK TO BACK TITLE SUCCESS
August 6 2006
The Maple Leafs became back to back Midland League Champions this weekend while simultaneously grabbing themselves promotion to Premier League South and another trip to the UK Final 4 Championships in September. With the 25-15 win over 2nd place Northampton the Leafs moved their record to 11-1 on the season and ensured victory with 1 game left in the bank thanks to a roaring offensive outburst in the business end of the game.
The 2006 league table virtually mirrors that of the 2005 season with the Leafs only suffering 1 defeat to take the title but everyone involved with the Maple Leafs will know they have had to work doubly hard this year to pull out results. There have been no free rides.
With the whole roster pulling their weight in the midst of a much improved standard of play the Leafs depth paid dividends on more than one occasion as they fought tooth and nail to win many close games in what has become a very competitive league.
The Maple Leafs would like to thank Birmingham Bulldogs Northampton Baseball Club MK Hurricanes and Solihull Storm for giving them the chance to compete along side them and we wish all every success in the future.
Well Done Leafs You've made us Proud!!




BATTERY MATES LEAD LEAFS TO FORM
July 30 2006
The Leafs 1 run victory over the MK Hurricanes in game 1 of the double-header definitely gave the Leafs the feeling they had finally turned the page on their recent woes. Starting pitcher David Hughes and battery mate James Moran were looking to build on that feeling in game 2. The two did exactly that as they continued to develop their good rapport by working the MK batters with good location and a variety of spin. With Hughes staying ahead of the batters consistently throwing strike 1 and spotting the ball well throughout for Moran who used the repertoire at his disposal perfectly to make it impossible for MK to mount any sort of meaningful attack from the outset. The Leafs limited the visitors to 3 runs and a bucket load of bad contact. 3rd basemen Nick Burt revelled in the infield service as he gobbled up each and every ball that came his way which added up to an outstanding day for him and his errorless infield platoon.
While the Leafs defence held down MK Hurricanes their bats were heating up nicely as they tallied 17 runs thanks to a career day at the plate from Michael Rodger and more good performances from Ryan Wood and Fernando Fukanaga at the bottom of the order. With a 17-3 victory the Leafs moved into the Midland league driving seat and finally are beginning play to their true ability.


EXTRA INNINGS DRAMA HELPS TURN THE PAGE FOR SEARCHING MAPLE LEAFS
July 30 2006
The Leafs played through 3 innings of extra play in a tight battle with MK Hurricanes on Sunday finally winning 16-15 off a clutch line drive up the middle from David Hughes in the bottom of the 10th inning. Michael Rodger lead the way defensively through the first 7 innings of relief keeping the home team in touch despite battling with his control and facing a 6 run deficit after the 1st inning. The Leafs turned up their performance and played their best when it really mattered through the tail end of normal play and into extra’s with Rodger finding his groove under pressure pitching flawlessly with his defence doing the same. Offensively the Leafs day was lead once again by Andre Janicolas who launched a grand slam homer to the opposite field while Adam Levy found his swing with multiple doubles being the result. Mo Shaffique continued his good season at the plate with more good contact and Ryan Nykolsyzyn had a great day in his Leafs debut. All in all a progressive performance that saw the Leafs finally showing signs of shaking off their recent funk.


WINNING UGLY BECOMING A HABIT AS LEAFS ESCAPE 9 ERROR DEFENSIVE HORROR SHOW
July 23 2006
In what can only be described as their worst ever performance the Maple Leafs limped away with a 1 run victory over the Birmingham Bulldogs at the weekend after committing a historic 9 errors in a game they will want to forget in a hurry. The statistics for the day told the whole story for the Leafswith an error compilation that equaled the number of hits they compiled offensively the Leafs were 2nd in every catogrey to the Bulldogs except the result. Hitting in Key situations was the only saving grace for the home team as they found it hard to mount any sustained offensive attacks on the Bulldogs as they had done in games past due to the virtualy error free and most probably career performing defense of the Bulldogs on the day. The final score 12-11.
The Leafs will play host to the MK Hurricanes this week in a double-header testimonial to Matt Spina that will have to see them play to their true potenial if they are to come away the winning team.


LEAFS BENCH ARE STARS OF SHOW IN MK
July 16 2006
The Leafs earned themselves their biggest win of the season this Sunday past after travelling to Milton Keynes minus five of their starting lineup and none of their starting pitchers. The Leafs depth was put to the test for the 1st time this season and to their credit every player stepped up to the challenge playing clutch baseball at all the right moments behind starting pitcher David Hughes who suitably frustrated MK hitters with his offspeed repitoire for 6 innings before handing the ball to Captain Mike Rodger who saved the game with a blazing fastball. In a game the Leafs never trailed thanks to do or die hitting by the likes of leftfielder Mo Shaffique and superb defense at 2nd base by Fernando Fukanaga. the final score after 9 innings of play was 12-11.


LEAFS LAUNCH POWER ATTACK ON NORTHAMPTON
July 3 2006
As the temperatures soared into the 30's on Sunday afternoon the Leafs opened up their best offensive display of the season so far. Balls were sprayed to the outfield power alley with regularity. Andre Janicolas Launched his 3rd homer in 3 games while the rest of the order served up several home run hits that were brought down only feet short of the fence thanks to some rather heavy gusting winds.


LEAFS OVERPOWER BULLDOGS 25-7 AND TAKE DIVISION LEAD
June 26 2006
The Leafs powered their way through the Birmingham Bulldogs defense this Sunday past notching up a 25-7 win that was lead by Andre Janicolas who hit his 2nd homer in as many games. The Leafs who are still searching for top form moved to the top of the Midland League with this victory.


LEAFS HANG-ON FOR WIN AFTER THROWING 12 RUN LEAD AWAY IN BOTTOM OF THE 7TH
June 11 2006
Sunday's game against Northampton was an important fixture for the Maple Leafs. If they were going to stay in the race with Northampton they were fully aware they had to break through sooner in the season rather than later. Today was the day but the script could of been oh so easily different as the Leafs held off a self inflicted Northampton rally winning 17-15 in 9 innings.
The Maple Leafs jumped out to a quick lead and all seemed well as they sent there pitcher to the mound in the bottom of the 1st Unfortunately Roger Plantier struggled through two innings of work with the help of 2 double plays and little help from a stiff shoulder that refused to loosen. He was relieved by Alf Swart who pitched 5 innings of good baseball. The Leafs continued to tack on runs through the middle innings and had earned themselves a 12 run cushion as they reached the top of the 7th. The Maple Leafs bench was activated at this point and 4 starters were replaced. Then came the bottom of the 7th, 3 outs and the game was over. No problem you would think when taking the previous 5 innings into consideration. It simply was not going to be that way this time around though and the Leafs suffered there second pitching breakdown of the day. The lead was suddenly under threat and Swart was relieved by Mo Shaffique who found himself in a bases loaded no out situation. Shaffique bore down and was 1 out away from escape before a crushing grand slam was dealt off a low and away pitch. Unfazed and still holding the smallest of leads Shaffique and the Leafs escaped the inning with the score-line at 16-14. The Leafs then squeezed out a solitary run in the top of the ninth before the defense was put to work again. Nail biting stuff but the Leafs came through relinquishing just 1 run in the bottom of the 9th to take the game 17-15.
Not the prettiest of games by any stretch of the imagination but the Leafs left Milton Keynes with a win nonetheless
It’s better to win ugly than lose pretty.


LEAFS LOSE SINGLE DIGIT BATTLE 9-4
May 14 2006
The Maple Leafs traveled to MK on Sunday to face Northampton Baseball Club and their much spoken about South African import pitcher Jarrod Pretorious. Unsurprisingly the game was tight throughout but with the Leafs failing to score with multiple base runners left stranded in the top of the 1st, and then going on to relinquish 3 runs in the bottom of the inning due to the characteristic slow defensive start by the Leafs the game was pretty much an uphill task from the get-go.
Pretorious made relatively short work of the Leafs order 1 through 9 1st time around saving the above mentioned base-runners and a bomb from Sebastian O Dell that was hit off the fence on a 1-2 curveball. In total Pretorious collected 14 strikeouts on the day. The second time through the order and the remainder of the game was a different story however, the Leafs began to make contact with Pretorious with David Hughes and Andre Janicolas sending fastballs off the fence both narrowly missing home runs while James Moran, Alf Swart and Michael Rodger contributed more base hits before another deep fly-out from Jim Moran was caught 10 feet short the fence.
All in all the Leafs were beaten by a better team on the day and even if the untimely errors that were made in the 5th inning that contributed to Northampton’s 5 run tally were scratched out they still would have been on the losing end.
However despite the loss the Maple Leafs left MK with a positive attitude knowing they connected well off an excellent pitcher and have left their opposition knowing that future games will not be a forgone conclusion. Defensively the Leafs have relinquished 19 runs in their 1st 3 games compared to last years 33. Leafs lose in 9 innings 9-4


LEAFS STAY ON TOP OF LOCAL RIVALRY
April 30 2006
The Leafs got their season off on the right foot this past Sunday with yet another heated encounter with the Birmingham Bulldogs. With pride on the line and not just league points the fixture followed suit of games past by dealing out more frayed tempers and another Maple Leafs victory.
Proceedings got underway with The 1st pitch of the day being thrown by Roy Summerfield proprietor of Midland Legal Services the primary sponsors of the Maple Leafs throughout the 2006 campaign. The Leafs then took the field and wasted no time in stomping their authority on the game and their cross town rivals with some sound pitching and defense that took the Leafs through 6 innings of play errorless.
Their offense was not to be over shadowed by their defense either as the home team powered their way through the Bulldogs defense tagging them for multiple runs in every inning barring the 3rd. Leading by 18-1 in the top of the 7th the Leafs made a pitching change. Alf Swart had been dominant through 6 innings and could easily have completed another 3 if required but the Leafs manager decided to use their substantial lead to work their Relief pitchers. The Leafs failed to do this in the 2005 season and paid the price in the final 4 for riding starters Swart and Plantier in the later innings of blowout regular season games. Mike Rodger took the hill and pitched competently to end the game 18-4 with the Leafs saving 4 errors for him to make his outing look a little cloudier than it actually was.

The Leafs earned the 18-4 victory on a 7th inning mercy rule and have now won 4 of 4 meetings with the Bulldogs.
Leafs now look forward to playing their friends the Solihull Storm on May 7th.



LEAFS REFLECT ON 2005 BEFORE LOOKING AHEAD TO LIFE IN THE BBF PREMIER LEAGUE

September 18
The Maple leafs reached the end of their 2005 campaign with a smile on their faces despite losing out in the final 4. And why not? The team had achieved every objective they had set themsleves, and more. Their first priority in 2005 was to prove themselves the number 1 team in the Birmingham Area, and they did that emphatically sweeping aside the local opposition. Secondly they aimed to win the Midland League, which they did with a stylish 11-1 record. Those acommplishments saw the Leafs roll into the
playoffsand then onto the prestigous Divsion 1 final 4 tournament, before gaining promotion to the Southern Premier League.