The Herts U14 and U11 teams travelled to Richmond on Saturday for a large youth baseball event. Jennie Lynch very kindly kept a play-by-play record of the U14 doubleheader with the Forest Glade Redbacks. Here is the report.
(GAME 1) Herts Cardinals (U14) vs Forest Glade Redbacks (U14)
Herts Cardinals lineup
Pitcher: Keanu Wood
Catcher: Ben Jones
First Base: Adam White
Second Base: Alex Trautman
Third Base: Ozan Martin
Short Stop: Christian Lynch
Right Field: Brodie Caress
Centre Field: Redbacks Loan Player
Left Field: James Roberts
Herts batted first but it was three up and three down for Keanu, James and Adam as they struggled against a strong pitcher. Redbacks were then up and Keanu pitched a mix of strikes and balls. The Redbacks got a total of five runs in the first inning two on hits and one on a wild pitch. Ozan tagged a player at third for one out. 5-0
Second inning saw Ben up first and he got a hit and got to first, then stole second and third and came home during the pitches for Ozan who earned a walk. Christian Lynch also earned a walk. Alex Trautman struck out as did the Redbacks loan player. Brodie Caress then hit a double to bring Ozan home. Keanu struck out. 5-2. The Redbacks earned another 5 runs in the second to make it 10-2
Third inning. James, Adam and Ben all struck out. Redbacks batted and Herts got two batters out with a nice tag and then play between Keanu and Adam to get the second batter out at first. Three runs were earned by the Redbacks until their loan player to Herts made a beautiful, instinctive catch in centre-field to end the innings. 13-2
Fourth innings. Ozan got a hit but was out at first. Christian struck out. Alex earned a walk. The Redbacks loan player also got a walk. Brodie struck out. Redbacks batting and Ozan made a nice play at third for the first out. Keanu then got a good strike out but had reached 90 pitches so Alex Trautman stepped up to end the inning and Keanu went to short stop with Christian now at second base. Alex pitched well for a first outing the Redbacks earned five runs and the game was called 18-2.
(GAME 2) Herts Cardinals (U14) vs Forest Glade Redbacks (U14)
Herts Cardinals lineup
Pitcher- Ben Jones
Catcher- James Roberts
First Base- Adam White
Second Base- Christian Lynch
Third Base- Ozan Martin
Short Stop- Alex Trautman
Right Field- Brodie Caress
Centre Field- Keanu Wood (for first inning and then Josh Jones joined from the U11s and Keanu moved to left field)
Left Field- Loan Player
Redbacks up first this time. Ben settling in but still 5 runs scored. For Herts, Christian first up and earned a walk, James then hit a fly ball but was caught out. Adam struck out. Ben earned a walk as did Ozan but with the bases loaded Alex struck out to end the inning. 5-0
Second Inning- Ben got two strike outs but unfortunately the Redbacks then struck a two run home run. This unsettled Herts and the Redbacks earned another three to end their batting. Herts were up and Keanu struck out. Josh then earned a walk and Brodie got a hit to get to first. Christian earned another walk to load the bases again. James struck out and then Adam got a hit but unfortunately Brodie was out at third to end the inning. 10-0
Third Inning- Ben again got two strike outs on the Redbacks second and third batters and with two down Herts got the final batter out at home limiting the Redbacks to 2 runs. Herts were up again and Ben got a hit to get to first and then Ozan followed with the same. Alex struck out and Keanu came up to bat when a wild pitch gave Ben the opportunity to earn Herts first run of the game. Keanu then got a hit to get to first. Josh struck out on a full count and then Brodie got a hit but was out at first to end the inning. 12-1
Fourth inning- the first batter got a good hit out to leftfield but Ozan made a nice stop at third. Ben struck the next batter out. One runner then came home to make it 13-1 and Ben had reached his pitching limit so Christian came out to finish the inning. Ben went to left field and Keanu to second base. Christian’s second pitch was hit by the Redbacks batter but caught out at third by Ozan. Christian worked hard and got several strikes. The Redbacks end the inning 17-1. Herts up for the last time and Christian struck out. James then hit a double and Adam earned a walk. Ben hit to first and James came home to make it 17-2. Ozan got a hit and although he was out at first he earned an RBI bringing Adam home to make it 17-3. Alex earned a walk and then Keanu struck out to end the game. Final score 17-3
Overall impressions- big scores against Herts but little game play this season and the use of three/four under 11s as well as the injured Brodie Caress meant that they were at a real disadvantage from the off. All the players tried hard and were supportive of their young team mates. It was definitely a learning experience. Ben pitched well and did not let much get away from him. James had not played catcher before but got into it and learned a lot from the experience. I suspect the under 11 players enjoyed it the most as it was a very new thing for them. Alex and Christian both did great when they got their chance to pitch and showed little nerves. Ozan was steady and reliable at third and really quite impressive. All players had mixed luck at the plate against some strong pitching from the opposition- the amount of walks was probably a result of the U11 players being a lot shorter and mixing up the strike zone a bit.