The Red Roosters emerged victorious on Sunday after two gruelling nine-inning ballgames against their fellow, rival Herts teammates.
By finishing in second place heading into Sunday's final matches, the Roosters were forced to play a morning semi final against the Blue Dogs before they could advance to the championship game against the Black Widows.
The Widows watched with glee as the Red and Blue teams faced off in the morning set. The game stayed close through three innings, with the Roosters leading 2-1. Roosters pitcher Mike Vasquez shut down the Blue Dogs offence through four innings of work, allowing 1 unearned run on just 1 hit and striking out 6. But in the fourth and fifth innings the crooked numbers started appearing on the scoreboard. Vasquez was also a force at the plate going 3-for-4 with 4 RBI. Jason Greenberg was 2-for-5 with a double and a triple and 2 RBI, and Dan Kerry was 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. All of Kerry's hits in the games were doubles.
The Blue Dogs had more success against Pete Kikel later in the game, scoring 6 runs on 4 hits in the eight-inning. Dogs' manager Andy Cornish was 3-for-5 with 2 RBI, Jon Lewys was 2-for-3 with 3 stolen bases, and Riley Fisher knocked a 2-RBI triple.
But the Blue squad couldn't hold the lead, and the Roosters came right back with 5 runs in the bottom of the inning. Dan Kerry earned the save for the Roosters with 2 strikeouts in the top-of-the-ninth.
The Widows-Roosters game was less about offence than poor defence. Sixteen errors were committed in the game, and it wasn't until the middle innings that the Roosters opened the floodgates, going up by a score of 16-7 after seven innings of play. An additional 7 runs in the eighth gave them a mercy-rule victory to take home the proverbial trophy from the 2009 Kyle Hunlock Series Championship.
Pitcher Aspi Dimitrov was 3-for-5 with 2 RBI and 4 runs scored in the final. Vasquez added to his RBI total by knocking in 4 more runs, and John Oliver was 3-for-6 with 2 RBI.
For the Blue Dogs, only Carlos Casal and Lin Yuchih had multiple hits. Casal was 2-5 with 4 RBI, and made several great tags at third base, including a terrific relay from centre fielder Marc Martinez to Luis Goncalves to Casal, gunning out greedy baserunner Greenberg attempting to stretch a double into a triple.
The 2009 Series was a very successful event for Herts Baseball Club. Like the regular season before it, all the games were played in unexpectedly glorious English sunshine. The turnout was impressive, with 55 players taking part in the games and many more fans at Grovehill to support their friends and family. Rumours have it the Club is planning some special enhancements to the tournament format for the 2010 series, when the Hunlock Series celebrates its 5th anniversary.
SEMI FINAL : BLUE DOGS vs. RED ROOSTERS
| Blue Dogs at Red Roosters | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Blue Dogs | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 0 |
| Red Roosters | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 13 | 14 | 4 |
| Red Roosters 13, Blue Dogs 10 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Roosters | Blue Dogs | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| Aspi Dimitrov 3b-p-ss | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Iwan Evans lf | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Hunter Devine lf | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | (t5) Paul Auchterlounie lf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Mike Vasquez p-cf | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | Nick Russell cf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jason Greenberg c-3b | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | Riley Fisher p-ss | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| David Baird ss-rf | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Andy Cornish 1b | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Dan Kerry cf-ss-p | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | Nick Goetz ss-p-3b | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| John Oliver 1b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Kal Dimitrov c | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Paul Curtis 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Jonathon Lewys 3b-p | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Ilya Dimitrov rf | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Phil Crooks 2b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (t5) Peter Kikel 3b-c-p | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | (t5) Perrie Sherman 2b | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Ken Pike rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| (t5) Jake Aman Shah rf-2b | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||
| TEAM TOTALS | 36 | 13 | 14 | 11 | TEAM TOTALS | 32 | 10 | 7 | 7 |
| E: Aspi Dimitrov, John Oliver. LOB: Red Roosters 5, Blue Dogs 9. 2B: Dan Kerry(3), Mike Vasquez(2), John Oliver, Aspi Dimitrov, Jason Greenberg, Paul Curtis. 3B: Jason Greenberg, David Baird, Riley Fisher. SB: Dan Kerry(2), Mike Vasquez(2), Hunter Devine(2), Aspi Dimitrov, Ilya Dimitrov, Jonathon Lewys(3), Iwan Evans, Kal Dimitrov. CS: Aspi Dimitrov, Nick Russell. |
| Red Roosters | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Mike Vasquez | 4.00 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 6 |
| Aspi Dimitrov | 3.00 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Peter Kikel W | 1.00 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Dan Kerry | 1.00 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Blue Dogs | ||||||
| Riley Fisher | 5.00 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| Nick Goetz | 2.00 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Jonathon Lewys L | 1.00 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
HBP: by Mike Vasquez (Ken Pike). . . . , by Peter Kikel (Kal Dimitrov), by Peter
Kikel (Jake Aman Shah). . WP: Peter Kikel. PB: Jason Greenberg, Kal Dimitrov(6). T:
3:00. A: 56.
FINAL : RED ROOSTERS vs. BLACK WIDOWS
| Red Roosters at Black Widows | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | R | H | E |
| Red Roosters | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 23 | 19 | 9 |
| Black Widows | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 7 |
| Red Roosters 23, Black Widows 9 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Roosters | Black Widows | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| Aspi Dimitrov cf-p-3b | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | Atsuhiko Ariga lf | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Hunter Devine lf-cf | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | (t5) Amit Odedra ss-lf | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Vasquez p-cf-rf | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | Luis Goncalves ss | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Jason Greenberg c | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Marc Martinez cf | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| David Baird 2b | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | (t6) Greg Bochan 2b-cf-p | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Peter Kikel 3b-p | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | Marty Cullen p-1b | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Dan Kerry ss | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Chris Barnes c | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| John Oliver 1b | 6 | 2 | 3 | 2 | Carlos Casal 3b | 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Paul Curtis rf | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Humberto Goncalves 1b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (b6) Ilya Dimitrov lf | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | (t7) Steve Nippress rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lin Yuchih 2b-p | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||||
| Marcus Capper rf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| (t5) Andrew Slater 3b-rf-cf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Mark Hoffman p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Tom Green 3b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Matt Johnston cf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| TEAM TOTALS | 44 | 23 | 19 | 18 | TEAM TOTALS | 37 | 9 | 8 | 6 |
| E: Peter Kikel, Dan Kerry, Jason Greenberg, Hunter Devine, Atsuhiko Ariga, Luis Goncalves, Marty Cullen, Chris Barnes, Carlos Casal, Humberto Goncalves, Amit Odedra. LOB: Black Widows 8, Red Roosters 10. 2B: Dan Kerry(2), Jason Greenberg, Mike Vasquez, Lin Yuchih. HR: Dan Kerry, Mike Vasquez, Luis Goncalves, Carlos Casal. SB: Dan Kerry, Peter Kikel, David Baird, Ilya Dimitrov, Marcus Capper. |
| Red Roosters | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Mike Vasquez W | 4.00 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Aspi Dimitrov | 3.00 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Peter Kikel | 1.00 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Black Widows | ||||||
| Marty Cullen L | 8.00 | 18 | 23 | 15 | 9 | 3 |
| Mark Hoffman | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lin Yuchih | 0.00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Greg Bochan | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
HBP: by Marty Cullen (Peter Kikel), by Marty Cullen (Mike Vasquez). . . , by Marty
Cullen (Dan Kerry). WP: Marty Cullen. PB: Chris Barnes. T: 3:00. A: 61.