Yeovil Whirlwinds @ Bristol Buccaneers

Last Sunday the Yeovil Whirlwinds travelled to Keynsham to face the Bristol Buccaneers in the final round of the 2025 South Wales & West Baseball League season. The Buccs had already been crowned division champions and easily won both previous games between the two sides. The challenge facing Yeovil was therefore great but it was slow starts in both games would ultimately prove the downfall of the South Somerset side in two tightly contested games.

In game 1, a single by Left Fielder Tom Poole drove in Yeovil’s solitary first inning run. In contrast, Bristol’s tactic of waiting for walks then aggressive stealing proved effective, ultimately scoring 5 runs in their first inning without recording a hit.

More second inning runners on base for Yeovil would see them end the inning with 4 runs scored, three of them thanks to a triple by Third Baseman Aidan Johnson. A better defensive inning would restrict the Buccs to only two runs helping reduce Yeovil’s deficit to two runs.

Inning three for the Whirlwinds produced three more runs, a single by Second Baseman David Cheetham driving in two of them, to edge Yeovil in front, 8 runs to 7. However more walks saw Bristol score a further 5 runs in their third inning and, with the Whirlwinds failing to score in their fourth inning, the game ended with a 12 to 8 scoreline in favour of the Buccs without them needing to bat again.

Game 2 stared with three quick Yeovil outs meaning the Whirlwinds went scoreless through their first inning. However, unlike game 1, a Jonny Foster double play ensured the Buccs would only open up a two run lead at the bottom of inning one.

Yeovil Pitcher Ed Blades singled through the left in-field in inning two, scoring two runs to tie up the contest but the Buccs would reopen their lead, this time to 5 runs, helped in no small part by a three run home run.

Further blows were traded in inning 3, Yeovil outscoring their opponents 5 runs to 4 to reduce the deficit to 4 runs. A further 4 runs scored in inning 4 by the Whirlwinds tied the game meaning Yeovil needed to stop Bristol scoring in their last at bat to force extra innings.

The first batter hit back to the pitcher for out number one before the Buccs got a runner to third base, the potential winning run. A deep fly ball threatened to get the runner home but a great pressure catch by Left Fielder Rob Martin and strong throw home left Bristol with one more out. Sadly for Yeovil, a fielding dive was not enough to stop the next hit and the winning run was scored for Bristol.

A final record of 10 wins and 13 loses is a vast improvement on the solitary win from 2024 and the Whirlwinds will look to build on this success next year. If interested, please reach out to the club via their social media channels.

By Chris Spurway