FOUR ONE-RUN WINS
The final day of the Herts Baseball Little League did not disappoint producing 4 games which were all decided by 1 run and set up an exciting postseason lineup.
Although the Herts Yankees had already booked their place in the Championship Game, all of the other three teams were in with a chance to clinch second spot and earn the right to face the 2008 Champions in the Final next week.
The Blue Jays were in pole position at the start of the day standing one game ahead of the Red Sox, so the matchup between the two was a must win game for the Sox. It turned out to be a classic with the Herts Red Sox winning 2-1. This meant that both teams were tied in second position going into the final game of the regular season.
On the other diamond, the Cubs found themselves two games back on the second-placed Blue Jays so they needed two wins out of two and hope that the other results go their way. Despite a courageous effort against the Yankees, their hearts were broken in the final inning when the Yankees came from behind to get the walk-off win.
NEEDING A WALK OFF GRAND SLAM
And so it came down to the final games of the regular season. Blue Jays versus Cubs and Red Sox against the Yankees. With the Blue Jays having a superior run difference they only had to match what the Red Sox do in the other game to clinch second place. Both games were on a knife’s edge.
The Cubs were out of the race but they almost ruined the day for the Blue Jays, who won it 2-1 but the game could have gone either way. This put pressure on the Red Sox who were being pegged back by the Yankees. With news of the Blue Jays’ win filtering through and the Blue Jays players taking their sit on the Yankees side of the field to support them, the Sox needed to win the game by 3 or more runs. This looked impossible as they were the home team and were trailing so the only way for them to win by 3 runs was to load the bases and then hit a walk-off Grand Slam homerun. They certainly gave it a go but came just short with the game finishing 9-8 to the Yankees with the bases left loaded.
POSTSEASON LINEUP
This sets an exciting final day of the 2009 season. First the Red Sox and Cubs will face off in the Bronze Medal game, first pitch at 11:30am. Followed by the Blue Jays and Yankees to decide the 2009 Herts Little League Champions. Will it be the Herts Yankees (12-4) for a second year in a row, or will the Blue Jays (8-8) cause a major upset by bringing down the team which has dominated the league all year long.
View Final Standings of the 2009 Regular Season