After mounting monumental comebacks, only to come up short in the first two games of 2009, the Herts Hawks finally broke into the win column with a gritty performance reminiscent of the young Tampa Bay Rays.
The Hawks Manager, Marty Cullen, still missing some notable veteran talent, made some strategic call ups from the single A Herts Raptors. Rookies Nick Read and Matt Johnston did not disappoint. “They played out of their socks!” said Cullen after the game. “It won’t be long before these guys are playing at the highest level in our club”. They weren’t the only rookies that helped the Hawks break out in
As pleased as he was with the overall performance, Skipper Marty Cullen was quick to remind us of an old standard. “Pitching wins games, period. You can score 20 runs, but if you can’t hold them, you can’t win” That pitching came from an unlikely yet ever reliable source. Anita Hoffman gave birth to their first child in the early hours of Saturday. Some 30 hours later, with what can only be described as a ‘newfound swagger’, Mark ‘the Daddy’ Hoffman strode to the mound and delivered the most inspired performance of his career. Hurling a complete game, the Hoff surrendered only 3 earned runs on a measly 5 hits over 9 innings. He struck out a career high 12 batters. Most of whom were on last year’s AAA Windsor squad. When asked about the ‘H Train’s’ performance, Catcher Paul Auchterlounie said “I’ve never seen Mark better. This father stuff really agrees with him.”
The Hawks now look to take this momentum into a 3 game series with undefeated division rival Kent Mariners. Could this prove to be the turning point for the 1-2 Hawks? They’ve tasted Bear blood. It’s time to head out to sea.
| Herts Hawks at Windsor Bears | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Herts Hawks | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 11 | 1 |
| Windsor Bears | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 1 |
| Herts Hawks 8, Windsor Bears 7 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herts Hawks | Windsor Bears | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| Amit Odedra cf | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Player 1 p-cf | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Hunter Devine 2b | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Player 2 c | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Marty Cullen ss | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | Player 3 1b-3b | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| David Baird 1b | 4 | 0 | 3 | 2 | Player 4 2b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Mark Hoffman p | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Player 5 3b-p | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Paul Auchterlounie c | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Player 6 ss | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Nick Read lf | 4 | 0 | 2 | 3 | Player 7 lf | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Chris Wylie 3b | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Player 8 cf-1b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Matt Johnston rf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Player 9 rf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| TEAM TOTALS | 35 | 8 | 11 | 8 | TEAM TOTALS | 31 | 7 | 5 | 3 |
| E: Marty Cullen, Player 5. LOB: Windsor Bears 9, Herts Hawks 9. 2B: Marty Cullen. SB: Paul Auchterlounie(4), Chris Wylie(3), Nick Read(2), Marty Cullen, Hunter Devine, Matt Johnston, Amit Odedra, Player 5(6), Player 6(4), Player 4(3), Player 1(3), Player 3(2), Player 7. |
| Herts Hawks | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Mark Hoffman W | 9.00 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 11 | 12 |
| Windsor Bears | ||||||
| Player 5 | 6.00 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Player 1 L | 3.00 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| HBP: by Player 1 (Matt Johnston), by Mark Hoffman (Player 6). . . . . . . . PB: Paul Auchterlounie(2), Player 2. T: 3:00. A: 38. |