BaseballMK travelled to Coventry to defend their 2006 Title in the Mini World Series at the weekend. Once again BaseballMK took on the Yankees name and became the MK Yankees for the duration of the competition.

Due to the tournament rules the MK Yankees had to concede 3 runs penalty in every game they played because for the first time ever they failed to have girls in their team.

Game 1 saw the MK Yankees take on the Dunlop Cubs and with three home runs from Chris Perry, Brendan Sheets and Perrie Sherman brought the final score to a convincing 17 – 4 win.

Game 2 was a friendly fixture against the Tonbridge Athletics. Tonbridge had joined forces with Milton Keynes in 2006 as part of the championship winning team. Tonbridge were accompanied by their long standing coach, Margaret Borley, Margaret had recently been awarded an MBE by the Queen for her contributions to youth sports.

Game 3 was a repeat of the 2006 World Series final against the Nottingham Orioles, whilst the Orioles looked good at the start the MK Yankees dominated the game finishing with a seven run lead.

Game 4 was the start of the Semi-finals and our opponents were the Horsham Rockies, the standard of the game had now risen and though the MK Yankees put in a maximum 5 runs in the 1st innings resulting in a 2 run lead the Rockies fought back and equalled the score in the 3rd. The 4th inning saw the Rockies take a 2 run lead, but the MK Yankees rallied in the final 5th innings and scored 3 runs. As the away team the Yankees only had to make the three outs with no runs scoring to claim the game, the final score was a 5 – 4 win to the Yankees.

Game 5 the Final saw Horsham’s strongest team, the Horsham Giants, come out to play and the standard of play was at its highest level. It was a hard fought game and MK Yankees made up their deficit to bring the game into par as both teams rallied into the 5th innings tied, at the end of the 5th innings the game was still tied and the Umpire declared a 6th inning. The Giants went out to bat but they were no opposition to the Yankees as the Yankees got a quick 1, 2, 3, with no runs scored, the MK Yankees took up their bats with the bottom of the batting order (the most inexperienced players), the 1st batter was struck out, the 2nd batter got on base, and the 3rd batter hit the ball into the outfield allowing the 2nd batter to steal home and win the game for the MK Yankees.

BaseballMK are the first team ever to win back to back Mini World Series Tournaments. Coach Sherman said that his team did themselves and the club proud as they held together during some trying times during the day and now looks forward to recruiting new players (especially girls) for the 2008 Mini World Series, which may be hosted by BaseballMK at their new field if everything is ready for 2008.