by Andy Cornish and Greg Bochan
With the Hawks already through to the playoffs, this was all down to where they were going to finish in the table and determine their next round opposition. The first game went as planned but the second was much tighter and needed something a playoff deserved.
Game 1 started in style; with a runner on base, Andy Cornish belted his third home run of the season deep over the left field fence. From there, the bats kept going with 13 runs crossing the plate in the second inning. On the other side Andy Slater kept throwing strikes, and ended the day with a solid 7 strikeouts over 5 innings. The game ended 22-9 going 5 innings. John Kjorstad ended the game batting 4-5, with 5RBIs, and Cornish 3-5 with 5RBIs.
In the second game Kent came out firing and the Hawks were giving them help along the way in the form of a multiple misplays and even an error on the number of outs. With runners on first and second, a ground ball went to Devine at short. He fielded cleanly, tossed to Ben Marques at second, who fired to John Kjorstad at first, a smooth double play. John flipped the ball towards the mound and the infield trotted off. Quickly, the outfield got message to the infield that it was only 2 outs, but by then the runner from third had crossed the plate.
Hawks are getting a reputation for losing count. This latest blunder goes along with the club’s 2012“knob out” trophy which they were awarded last year for thinking they won the game an inning early.
Alas, Hunter Devine wasn’t finished with this story. With an inside the park home run, putting Devine second in the HR category for the team, the Hawks tied the game going into the final inning. Kent were able to get one back. And they could have plated additional runs were it not for the final out at home. With Cornish mis-playing a pitch, he was able to retrieve the ball and get back to the plate in time to block the runner coming in from third.
Hawks now needed one run to tie and two to win. Paul Auchterlounie was able to get around the bases and score the tying run with one down. It was now Hunter’s turn to once again do some damage. With Bobby Gould at third and Greg Bochan at second, Devine crushed a pitch through the middle to score Bobby and end the second game. Devine finished 3-4 with 4RBIs and his second walk off hit of the year. Ben Marques went 2-2 but went off injured – Aspi’s special massage lotion has been sent to ensure that he is ready for the playoff games. Greg Bochan finished with 7 innings pitched, 5 earned runs, 7 strike outs, and a hard fought 13-12 win.
A dramatic win to end the season, something that was a bit too close for comfort, but a good season all round, ending 5th in the table with a 9-7 record. The Hawks can look forward to going straight into their post season with a game on Sunday against the Sidewinders, a team that beat the Hawks 5-4 only three weeks ago.
Andy Cornish, Hawks co-manager, commented ‘Jeez, what a game! We didn’t help ourselves in that second game. Maybe we were already eating our burgers, but we managed to get through. Everyone played their part, and we need to just build on that and enjoy the next few games. We have exceeded my expectations for this season, but now my expectations have changed and every week, I want to win. Every other team had better watch out, Here come the Hawks baby!’