The London Mets who are the reigning national champions in the British Under-17 league came to Grovehill Ballpark and continued their devastating run with two wins against the Herts All Stars.
Two weeks ago Herts shocked the league with a win at the Cobham Cougars and they threatened to upset the form book again on Saturday. They took a 5-4 lead against the Mets. Herts starter Marty Cullen Jr had another good outing against a difficult opponent. The team kept in touch with the champions right up to the final inning when they were trailing 9-6, but 7 runs in the top of the sixth inning opened an insurmountable lead for the Mets and they secured the win. Relief pitcher Taichi with the win. Herts recorded 5 hits in this game – Liam Green 2-3, Marty Cullen Jr 2-3 2B, Carlos Casal Jr 1-2 2B.
Click to view box scores and play-by-play from game 1
London started game 2 with pitcher Kazuma on the mound. He showed tremendous control with his fatsball and a nasty curveball which had many players bail out of the batters box only to hear the strike three call by the umpire. Kazuma struck out 11 and didn’t allow a hit all the way into the 4th inning, but with two outs Herts ended the no-hitter. 11-year-old Gavin Peterson received a call up from the Herts U14 team to appear as a pinch hitter against the japanese pitcher who was twice his size. He fought off several pitches and with two strikes drove a line drive over the leaping Mets second baseman for a single. Herts put together a late rally with 3 more hits by Jake Caress, Kyle Lloyd-Jones and Kieran Manning before the end of the game, but Kazuma shut the door for a complete game shutout.
Herts’ starting pitcher Liam Green also did well allowing only 5 hits but the Mets took advantage of another 5 batters reaching base on balls as well as 3 others who reached base after being hit by pitch to establish a commanding 7-0 lead. They scored another 4 in the final inning to complete a convincing win. The game included a home run over the right field wall by Jamie Dix.