The Herts Red Roosters won the 2012 Hunlock Series by the smallest possible margin in what proved to be the closest race in the history of the Series with just 1 game separating all four teams.

RED WINGS OUTHUSTLED

The day started with an exhibition game of softball as part of Herts Baseball Club’s efforts to build the first softball programme in the region. The game saw the Herts Hustlers overcome the Herts Red Wings. The game featured an equal number of male and female players from beginners to seasoned professionals. With around 20 players taking part and a growing mailing list of interested players the club will be looking at the next steps in the project and how to take the project to the next stage of establishing formal teams and eventually a league. For more details about getting into softball with Herts contact the club.

FREE AGENTS

Minutes before the first Hunlock Series games of the day, the teams confirmed their free agent picks. Last-placed White Lightning were waiting until the last second for confirmation on the availability of Matt Spaulding, however in his absence they used their turn wisely picking 23-year old former Minnesota Twins prospect, Xavier Gonzalez.  Blue Dogs selected new recruit, Serge Plata, who now lives in Hertford having arrived from Texas. Red Roosters picked the final available free agent, John Jansson.

LIGHTNING’S COMEBACK

White Lightning began the day with a record of no wins and five losses. They couldn’t reverse the 14-8 deficit in the suspended game versus the Red Roosters from last week, as Rooster’s closing pitcher and manager Ken Pike shut the door in the final inning. This didn’t deter the Lightning. The team was almost back to full strength. Dave Tretheway, Ryan Bird and free agent, Xavier Gonzalez, in addition to the teams existing squad, turned them into a formidable force perfectly-built for the “9th inning game” format of the final day of the competition.

They quickly picked up 3 wins against the Blue Dogs. This included a home run by Dave Tretheway which lfew over the rightfield  wall of the old diamond. They followed this with 2 wins against the Roosters. It seemed like the unlikeliest of comebacks could become possible. A key moment came in the third game against the Roosters when Lightning had a runner on first and second base with no outs. A pop-up in the infield was correctly called as an infield fly by umpire Gabor Erdos, but the runners decided to take a risk and tried to advance. Both runners were caught in rundowns and tagged out to end the inning with a very rare triple play. Ken Pike was driven home in the bottom of the inning for a walk-off win to halt White Lightning’s ascendancy. That was a temporary hiccup as the men in white went on unbeaten in their next three games against Black Widows. However, crucially, the Black Widows who were missing their older players and could count only on their U17 players, showed the composure of MLB veterans playing good defence to record two 0-0 ties out of these three games. This was an almighty tussle which proved to be costly for both teams as they essentially knocked each other out of contention.

THE DECIDER

It was now between the Blue Dogs and the Red Roosters who fittingly met in the final matchup of the Series on the new diamond. They each took a win in the first two games, so it came down to the final game. The Roosters had the advantage as they went into the game with a ½ game lead in the standings, so a tie was going to be sufficient to win the Series. With the winning run on third base for the Blue Dogs, Red Roosters’ second baseman, John Jansson, got the final out to clinch the title for the Roosters. They won it by ½ a game ahead of the Blue Dogs and Black Widows, with the White Lightning in fourth just 1 game back.

Click to view Hunlock Series full scoreboard and final standings.

Roosters Manager Ken Pike paid a tribute to his players and to all the teams involved with a special mention for the injured, Joseph Osborne-Brade, who was in everyone’s thoughts today.

The winter period has now begun for Herts Baseball Club. A critical period for planning, recruiting and building for next season and beyond. Coaches, players, volunteers and front office staff in terested to be part of Herts Baseball in 2013 can contact the club at any time.

With 3 or perhaps 4 new free agents available to pick from before Sunday’s final Hunlock Series games, the decisions to be made by the managers could be critical.

There was a late twist in relation to the picking of these free agents. Over the last few weeks the original order from the draft has been maintained with each team taking their turn every week to select new free agents becoming available. For this final week, the picking order was changed to resemble the picking order adopted by MLB giving teams which have finished last to pick first. White Lightning which is at the bottom of the standings has been given the first pick. Third-placed Blue Dogs will have the second pick, second-placed Black Widows will pick third and the leading Roosters will pick last.

At the time of writing this report there were 3 new free agents available to pick from, with possibility of a fourth free agent becoming available.

Catcher, Xavier Gonzalez, is hoping to challenge for a place with the Herts Falcons in the NBL next season and this Sunday he will have the opportunity to make his debut and impress the coaches who are already planning for 2013. Gonzalez is 23 years old and has played for the Spain National Team at junior and senior level, but the highest point of his career so far came when he was 17 years old and was offered a contract by the Minnesota Twins, which we understand was as part of the Twins’ farm system.

John Jansson, father of Herts U17 player, Tom Jansson-Wright and a member of the coaching staff of the Herts U14 team has also become available as a free agent. Will he be picked by the Black Widows to make it a father-and-son combination?

Serge Plata has moved to Hertfordshire and has just made contact with the club looking to be part of the Herts organisation in 2013. He is a Mexican-American in his 30s who has played at the high school level back in the USA. He is a shortstop.

We also understand that Herts Falcons left-handed pitcher, Matt Spaulding, may be available as a free agent in time for Sunday. White Lightning are waiting for a confirmation of his availability status before deciding which free agent to select with their first pick.

We are into the final week of the 2012 baseball season and it is all set to be a spectacular event which will decide the 2012 Hunlock Series Champions.

One of the new features of this year’s Hunlock Series is the introduction of the “9th Inning Game”. All 18 games scheduled for this final day of the Series will be played over 1 inning only. This will recreate the tension and drama of the ninth inning. Can the teams manufacture the all important go-ahead run? Can they deliver the walk-off hits? Can the pitchers and defence execute with the game on the line?

Aspi Dimitrov, Hunlock Series Commissioner, said: “Great Britain National Team player, Adam Roberts, suggested this format and our club has been considering how best to add it to the schedule for a few years now. It is finally here. The excitement and the pressure of the ninth inning comes once a day for MLB managers. Let’s see how the Hunlock Series managers and players will handle 9 ninth innings in one day.”

Dimitrov added: “There is a slight risk that adding these 1-inning games can devalue the earlier games in the Series, but we will have to wait and see how this experiment will play out and how the managers and players will approach it.”

One thing is certain. The Roosters have battled hard to go into the final weekend ahead of the chasing pack and they would not swap their place with anyone, so that alone is sufficient proof that the earlier games are seen as vital in this competition.

These “9th inning games” will be played just like the ninth inning of any MLB game. There are however a few special rules which will apply this Sunday, mainly dealing with the transition from one game to the next and aiming to ensure that managers are not taking unfair advantage. Here are the special rules which will apply to the “9th Inning games”:

• During the “9th Inning-games” each game will last one inning only.

• The game ends when 3 outs are recorded in the bottom of the inning or the home team takes the lead, whichever occurs first.

• If 3 outs are recorded in the bottom of the inning and the game is tied, each team is awarded half a win.

• The batting order of each team remains unchanged for the duration of the day unless a substitution is made.

• A substituted player cannot re-enter the same game, however that player can re-enter a subsequent game.

• The batting order at the end of the previous game will be the official batting lineup for the start of the next game, where the batter who was next to bat, when the game was completed, will be the first batter to bat in the next game.
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Click to view the Games Schedule for Sunday’s deciding games and latest Hunlock Series Standings.

At the start of Sunday’s games all the pressure was on White Lightning who started the day with 0-3 record. They produced an outstanding performance against the Black Widows building a 7-1 lead. The team was still missing some of its big guns including last week’s home run hero, Reagan Wood, but they were reinforced by the presence of Andy Cornish and Lee Manning, both with NBL experience. Manning was doing well on the mound with a 6-run lead. The Widows had other ideas though and they stormed into action. Every batter they sent up to the plate seemed determined to stay alive and they did with some impressive hitting and hustle. The Black Widows turned the game on its head and won it 8-7 in dramatic fashion with a walk-off.

The Widows’ second game was just as dramatic. They tied the game against the Red Roosters with a last-ditch run to take it into extra innings. However, the comeback could not be completed as the Roosters drove in two runs in the top of the inning and held on for a 7-5 win.

This was the second win of the day for the Roosters. The first win came against the Blue Dogs. This was a colossal clash between two teams who have arguably the most experienced squads and are packed with powerful hitters. Nic Goetz and Kevin Niedringhaus were the starting pitchers for Blue and Red, respectively. Both pitchers have pitched in the NBL and it proved to be a classic pitchers’ duel. Niedringhaus lost last week’s pitching duel against Darrin Ward, but this time he came out on top leading the Roosters to a 3-2 win.

The Blue Dogs bounced back with a convincing 11-1 win against White Lightning, but suffered another setback when they lost 4-1 to the Black Widows.

In the final game of the day the Lightning were still looking for their first win of the Series. They were up against the Red Roosters who were sitting comfortably on top of the standings. White Lightning may be missing their big names, but those who have been available are growing in stature and are making a name for themselves. They had just suffered a shattering blow losing to the Black Widows and the Blue Dogs and started the game against the Roosters allowing 4 runs in the opening inning. But they came back again to take a 5-4 lead against all odds. They have shown character and have not let their heads drop in the face of adversity and they have won many fans along the way.

Red Roosters suffered a massive blow in the late innings of the game. Centerfielder Joseph Osborne-Brade used his speed to beat out a groundball and reach first base safely but as he reached first and run through the base he appeared to fall awkwardly and ended up lying on the ground in a lot of pain 10 or 20 feet down the first base foul line. As reported earlier, he was taken to Watford General Hospital for a scan and this has confirmed a fracture of the thigh bone. Herts Baseball Club is hopeful that Osborne-Brade will be back in time for the start of the 2013 season and members have been sending their messages for a speedy recovery.

The game between the Red Roosters and White Lightning was suspended and it will be completed as part of the games schedule on Sunday, 14 October.

Cick to view up-to-date Scoreboard and latest Hunlock Series Standings.