The Red Sox got off to the best possible start of the season with a convincing win against the Herts Yankees. The Giants are also in commanding position sweeping the Herts Dodgers on Opening Day of the Herts Little League season.

The Herts Little League team rosters were announced earlier in the week but the Yankees found themselves with a  seriously depleted squad on Saturday with several of their big guns out of action.  Jonny Compton-Weight who just returned after representing Great Britain in the Czech Republic and who is expected to play a key role for the team was unable to take part after suffering with the flu. Callum Vangundy, Jack Harding, Robert Binns and Vincent Moulton were also missing from the Yankees lineup.

The Red Sox took advantage of this by taking a 5-0 lead in the first inning. Lewis Green who has been making tremendous progress as a pitcher over the last 2 years came in to pitch in the second inning for the Yankees and pitched a perfect inning without allowing any hits or walks.  One run did come in during that inning after the Yankees defence committed two errors but this does not take away from the fantastic pitching performance by Green.  The Yankees seemed to be buzzing all of a sudden and were back in the game with a towering 3-run home run to right-centerfield, by Liam Green. That made the score 6-4.  Zack Longboy who was the winning pitcher for the Sox in last year’s final started on the mound and gave his team the platform they needed pitching three innings very effectively allowing 4 hits and 2 walks. By the time he was relived by Brodie Caress the Red Sox had a commanding 11-4 lead thanks to hits by Jose Morillo, Longboy and Kyle Lloyd-Jones who hit a towering 2-run home run. Caress came in and pitched 3 quality innings.  The only minor hiccup came in the top of the sixth when Lewis Green hit his first home run of his career driving in three runs. By that time it was too little too late for the Yankees.  They will need their big guns back for game 2 next Saturday if they are to stand a chance against the dangerous Red Sox.

The clash in the Minors Division between the Dodgers and the Giants was a much more even affair.  Both teams were matching each other inning after inning. It came down to the bottom of final inning.  The Giants were trailing by three runs.  Singles by Rose van Dort and Josh Jones were followed by doubles by slugger Matt Cowler and Beau Mack-Rehnsi.  The knockout punch was delivered by Ryan Reynolds to give the Giants a wild 16-15 win. 

In game two both teams improved their defensive game.  The Dodgers seemed eager to tie the series and they held a 4-2 lead until the closing innings, but the Giants rallied again in the final inning winning 9-4. 

The series continue next Saturday, 14 May, once again starting at 11am.  Will the Dodgers and the Yankees be able to make a comeback or will their opponents continue their domination.

Herts Yankees at Herts Red Sox
Score By Innings	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
Herts Yankees	0	0	4	0	0	3	7	7	4
Herts Red Sox	5	1	5	5	5	0	21	12	6

Herts Red Sox 21, Herts Yankees 7
Herts Red Sox					Herts Yankees
	ab	r	h	bi		ab	r	h	bi
Charlie Mayhew 1b-cf	2	3	1	1	Matteo Manzi cf-1b-3b-p	5	1	3	1
Brodie Caress 2b-p	2	2	1	0	Charlie Owens 2b-rf	2	0	0	0
Jose Morillo ss	3	3	2	2	Gavin Peterson c-3b	4	0	0	0
Kyle Lloyd-Jones 3b	4	3	2	2	Cameron Ross 1b-p-cf	3	1	0	0
Jake Caress lf-c	3	3	2	2	Liam Green p-cf-1b-c	4	1	1	3
Kieran Manning c-lf	3	2	1	3	Kieran Burns rf-3b	1	0	1	0
Zack Longboy p-rf	3	1	2	3	(t5) Cameron Choudhuri 3b-lf	1	1	0	0
Drew Mayhew cf-2b	2	2	0	0	Tom Adams cf-ss-lf	3	1	1	0
Tristan Le Coz rf-1b	1	1	0	0	Lewis Green 3b-p-2b-rf	4	1	1	3
Cameron Choudhuri b	2	0	1	1	Rhys Burns lf-ss	1	1	0	0
Tomas Sharpe b	0	1	0	0	(b4) Alan Ross lf-ss	0	0	0	0
TEAM TOTALS	25	21	12	14	TEAM TOTALS	28	7	7	7

E: Brodie Caress(2), Jose Morillo(2), Kyle Lloyd-Jones(2), Matteo Manzi(2), Cameron Ross, Tom Adams. DP: Herts Red Sox 1. LOB: Herts Red Sox 8, Herts Yankees 9. 2B: Jake Caress, Kieran Manning, Cameron Choudhuri. HR: Kyle Lloyd-Jones, Liam Green, Lewis Green. SB: Jose Morillo. CS: Lewis Green, Tom Adams.

Herts Red Sox	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Zack Longboy W	3.00	5	4	4	2	1
Brodie Caress	3.00	2	3	3	3	2
Herts Yankees
Lewis Green	1.00	0	1	0	0	0
Cameron Ross	0.67	4	4	4	4	0
Liam Green L	0.33	1	5	0	2	2
Matteo Manzi	0.00	7	11	9	3	1

HBP: by Zack Longboy (Kieran Burns). , by Matteo Manzi (Tristan Le Coz). . . . WP: Zack Longboy(3), Matteo Manzi(8), Liam Green(3), Lewis Green. PB: Gavin Peterson(5). T: 2:30. A: 78.

Herts Dodgers at Herts Giants
Score By Innings	1	2	3	4	5	R	H	E
Herts Dodgers	5	0	3	2	5	15	23	3
Herts Giants	5	4	2	1	4	16	23	2

 

Herts Giants 16, Herts Dodgers 15
Herts Giants					Herts Dodgers
	ab	r	h	bi		ab	r	h	bi
Jamie Brener 3b	4	4	2	0	Alexander Deacon c-p	4	2	2	1
Joshua Jones ss-1b	4	3	4	1	Ben Jones 3b-c	4	3	3	0
Matt Cowler 1b-2b	4	2	2	3	Nicholas Durer cf	4	2	2	0
Beau Mack-Rehnsi cf	4	4	4	3	Theo Longboy p-3b	4	4	4	2
Ryan Reynolds rf	4	1	4	5	Zoe Wakelam 2b	4	2	3	5
James Roberts 2b-ss	3	1	2	2	Oliver Durer ss	3	1	3	2
Alex Trautman p	2	0	0	0	Ozan Martin 1b	3	0	3	3
Christian Lynch lf-c	3	0	1	0	Jonathan Wakelam rf	3	0	0	0
Lewis Auchterlounie c-lf	3	1	2	0	Rylie Peterson lf	3	1	3	2
Talia Martin rf-sf	3	0	1	1	Andrew Powell rf-sf	3	0	0	0
Rose van Dort rf-ph	3	0	1	0
TEAM TOTALS	37	16	23	15	TEAM TOTALS	35	15	23	15

 

E: Jamie Brener, Joshua Jones, Theo Longboy(2), Oliver Durer. LOB: Herts Dodgers 8, Herts Giants 9. 2B: Beau Mack-Rehnsi(3), Matt Cowler(2), Jamie Brener, Rylie Peterson.

 

Herts Giants	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Alex Trautman	4.00	23	15	14	0	8
Herts Dodgers
Alexander Deacon	2.33	10	7	7	0	5
Theo Longboy	1.67	13	9	8	0	1

  

GAME 2

Herts Giants at HOME Opponent
Score By Innings	1	2	3	4	5	R	H	E
Herts Giants	1	1	0	4	3	9	16	0
HOME Opponent	1	3	0	0	0	4	10	2

Herts Giants 9, HOME Opponent 4
Herts Giants					HOME Opponent
	ab	r	h	bi		ab	r	h	bi
Beau Mack-Rehnsi 3b	4	3	3	1	H Player 1 p	3	2	2	1
James Roberts 1b	4	1	2	2	H Player 2 2b	3	0	0	0
Joshua Jones c	4	0	1	1	H Player 3 1b	3	0	3	1
Matt Cowler cf	4	1	4	2	H Player 4 lf	3	0	2	2
Christian Lynch lf	4	0	1	1	H Player 5 c	3	0	0	0
Jamie Brener ss	3	0	0	0	H Player 6 ss	3	0	0	0
Ryan Reynolds 2b	3	2	2	0	H Player 7 3b	3	0	1	0
Lewis Auchterlounie p	3	1	2	0	H Player 8 cf	2	1	1	0
Alex Trautman rf	3	1	1	0	H Player 9 rf	2	1	1	0
TEAM TOTALS	32	9	16	7	TEAM TOTALS	25	4	10	4

E: H Player 1, H Player 2. LOB: HOME Opponent 6, Herts Giants 8. 2B: Matt Cowler(3), Beau Mack-Rehnsi.

Herts Giants	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Lewis Auchterlounie	5.00	10	4	4	0	11
HOME Opponent
H Player 1	5.00	16	9	6	0	5

T: 1:20. A: 78.