After several weeks of summer holidays the Herts Baseball Little League teams returned to Grovehill Ballpark for the deciding games in the Majors and Minors Championships.
GIANTS CLINCH TITLE IN DRAMATIC EXTRA INNINGS
In the Minors the Herts Giants went into the final game one game ahead of the Herts Dodgers, so there was no room for error for the Dodgers. They needed to win to force an additional one-game Championship decider.
They looked down and out going into the fifth and final inning trailing 19-11, but they came out fired up and started a memorable comeback. 11 Dodgers came home to score to give them a 3-run lead (22-19). In the bottom of the inning the pressure was now on the Giants and they scored three to tie the score at 22-22 and take the game into extra innings. In the top of the sixth Dodgers regained the lead with another two runs. Would that be enough?
With players like Matt Cowler who hit another home run for the Giants earlier in the game the Dodgers needed their defence to perform at their best. It seemed as though they will manage to complete one of the greatest come-backs in the history of the Herts Little League as they quickly got two outs in the bottom of the sixth. The Giants had other ideas. Beau Mack-Rehnsi delivered the final blow with a single to left-centerfield which drove in James Roberts to win the game 25-24.
A great Championship-deciding game which will be talked about for a long time.
RED SOX NATION RETAINS CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE
In the Majors, the Herts Yankees had a mountain to climb in this best-of-7 series. They were trailing 2-0. Everyone was hoping that this match-up will go all the way to game 7 but the Red Sox went into the games with a very focused and professional approach and did not give an inch to their opponents. Justin Henderson dominated on the mound pitching a no-hitter in game 3.
It was now a do-or-die situation for the Yankees, and the relentless Red Sox pressure continued. Kyle Lloyd-Jones hit a 3-run home run off Liam Green which went deep over the right field wall and almost cleared the permanent outfield wall which applies to adult league games. By the time the Yankees got their offensive game going they were trailing 12-2.
In the third inning Liam Green responded with a 2-run home run to left-centerfield which also came just a few feet short of clearing the full adult league regulation outfield wall distance. Green produced an absolutely identical 2-run home run in the fifth. Richard Ganster then stepped up to launch another bomb for a back-to-back home run. All of this impressive power hitting got the fans off their seats, but at the end proved to be too little and too late for the Yankees.
The final score was 18-7 completing a convincing 4-0 overall win in the Series and a Herts Majors Championship for a second consecutive year for Arnold Longboy’s team who is starting to build a Red Sox Nation of his own.
