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HerbD · 11-18-2019, 02:06 PM

The Heartland Baseball League is entering it's 44th Heartland Series.

VS

Heartland Series GAME 1
Kenosha catcher Pete Wright set the tone of this game early as he smashed a 448 solo homer off of Springfield ace Mark Gunther with two outs in the top
of the first inning giving the Jackfish the 1-0 lead. Kenosha's own ace, Dillon Anderson, would do the rest. Anderson pitched a complete game, two hit shutout.
Springfield entered the series boasting the best pitching(526 RA) and the best offense(802 RS) in the entire HBL but Kenosha didn't care about the stats. The Jackfish
scored eight total runs on four homers while Anderson faced the minimum allowing two singles, each of which were erased by double plays. On the other side Gunther
allowed six earned runs in just four plus innings.

SP Dillon Anderson

Heartland Series GAME 2
After losing game one and homefield advantage in the series the Storm and all of the HBL viewed game two as a must win for the South League champions.
Kenosha's slick fielding rookie 2B Dale Morgan had his own thoughts as he lined a shot to left field with two on in the top of the second that barely cleared the fence
giving the Jackfish an early 3-0 lead. The lead would grow to 5-0 with solo homers from veterans Pete Wright in the 5th and Edward Peck in the sixth. For the second
game the Storm starter would get battered(this time rookie Bill Joyce) and the Jackfish starter would dominate(Edward Kelly). The 36 year old Kelly would give up an RBI double
to Jim Lee in the bottom of the sixth and another run in the bottom of the eighth as the Storm closed the gap late to 5-2. Three time North Reliever of the Year Alistair Aytoun would enter
the game in the bottom of the ninth to attempt to close out the victory for Kenosha but the Storm had other thoughts. Matt Patton lead off the inning with a double followed by
a Thomas Colbert single that put the tying run at the plate with no outs. A Michael Bruce sac fly would push the game to 5-3 with one out and Colbert still sitting on first.
A Frank York single followed by a Justin Sanders walk loaded the bases with one out and the entire stadium was on their feet smelling a Springfield walk off win.
Storm CF Adam Phillips hit what looked to be a sure double play but the speedster beat the throw as Colbert scored and the teams were now separated by just a single run.
With the stands shaking rookie SS Rod Gibson took his spot in the box and without taking the bat off his shoulders he was at a count of two balls and one strike. He
was fooled on the next pitch and as he attempted to check his swing he made soft contact with the ball which headed slowly towards the second baseman.
Aytoun swept in to pick up the ball and toss it to first base for the final out of the game. Kenosha heads back home for game three of the series with a dominating 2-0 lead.

Edward Kelly

Heartland Series GAME 3
After blowing a chance to even the series in game two the Storm knew that they had to win game three. Trailing 3-2 in the top of the ninth things looked bleak as
the Jackfish called upon their closer Alistair Aytoun to once again finish out the game. Aytoun was not good in game two barely pitching out of a bases loaded jam.
He would enter the game with one out and a runner on first after 8.1 strong innings from starter Alan Ball. Adam Phillips would greet the Kenosha closer with
a line drive double to left that would have scored almost anyone on the team other than the lumbering Quinn Carter that was in front of him. With runners on second and third Rod Gibson
hit a shallow single to left that Phillips misread. Carter scored the tying run but Phillips only managed to get to third rather than scoring the go ahead run. Aytoun would
get South League batting champ Ken Simpson to strike out swinging and end the threat with a long Jim Lee fly out to center field. The bullpens would battle it out for the next four extra innings
as the game would head to the thirteenth still tied at three runs each. Justin Sanders lead off the thirteenth inning with a single followed by a Frank York strike out.
With one out and the pitcher's spot up in the lineup the Storm had but one man left on the bench. Ken Thomas took his 195 career batting average and his zero regular season homers
to the plate and smashed the first pitch he saw from Scot Turner placing it 423 feet away in the right field seats giving the Storm a most improbable 5-3 lead. Springfield would
end the inning quietly but the damage had been done. Bill Wiley, who had pitched three scoreless innings in relief for the Storm, was relieved by Patrick Jackson. Jackson
managed to get two harmless groundouts sandwiched around a Pete Wright strikeout to end the game after four hours and forty seven minutes.

Ed Hietanen

Heartland Series GAME 4
Still riding high off the late night win in Game 3 the Springfield Storm came out swinging in Game 4 with five of their first six hitters greeted Kenosha starter
Roberto Lopez with base hits including RBI doubles from Ken Simpson and Matt Patton that game the visitors an early 3-0 lead. A Pete Wright RBI triple in the bottom
of the first off of Norman Skinner would put the Jackfish on the board and push the score to 3-1. Lopez would settle down and pitch scoreless baseball for the next
six innings while Skinner would give up just one more run on a Trey Rice solo homer in the bottom of the fourth inning. The score would remain 3-2 until the bottom of the eighth
where the Jackfish would score four runs off of an ineffective Bill Wiley, who had just pitched three innings of relief the night before. The big hit of the inning was rookie Dale Morgan's two RBI double.
With a 6-3 lead Kenosha called upon Alfred Owens to close the game. Owens gave up a leadoff single to Frank York then proceeded to strikeout the side giving the Jackfish
a 3-1 Heartland Series lead.

Trey Rice

Heartland Series GAME 5
You could fill it in the air! Standing room only at The Pond in downtown Kenosha where everyone came to see the Jackfish win their third Heartland Series title.
Their ace and game one hero Dillon Anderson was on the mound again so things were looking good for the Jackfish fans. The fans were on their feet from the start off the game and
you could here the crowd from miles away when Jim Lee struck out on three pitches to start the game. Despite the energy in the park the Storm managed to get to Anderson early
when Matt Patton followed a Ken Simpson triple with an RBI double to put the visitors up 1-0. The lead would be short lived as Kenosha catcher Pete Wright would slugged a two run homer in the bottom of the first, his third homer of the series.
A Jack Butler solo homer in the bottom of the fourth off Springfield starter Mark Gunther pushed the Jackfish lead to 3-1. A Ken Simpson sac fly closed the score to 3-2 in the top of the fifth
but Kenosha would answer in the bottom of the inning when Matt Lawson reached on a single, moved to second on an Anderson sac bunt, stole third and then scored on
a Gunther balk to push the score to 4-2. The Jackfish would score again in the bottom of the sixth in a more traditional way, and Edward Peck solo homer making it a 5-2 lead.
Springfield would again answer the call scoring another run in the top of the seventh as Jim Lee knocked in Thomas Colbert with an RBI single making it a two run game at 5-3.
Rookie John Craig would take over for Gunther to start the bottom of the seventh and he looked sharp getting two outs in just five pitches but the veteran Wright would
not let him off the hook so easily drawing an eight pitch walk after starting the at-bat 0-2. Nick Robinson would follow with a walk of his own and Wright would score on a single from
Peck to again give the home team a three run lead. Jack Butler loaded the bases after being hit by a pitch but Craig settled down and struck out fellow rookie Dale Morgan
to end the threat. Anderson would return to the mound for the eighth and would get out of the inning easily despite allowing a Matt Patton double. In the bottom of the eighth
Craig would allow a leadoff single to Lawson before giving up the ball in favor of Patrick Jackson. Jackson started off well getting two outs on a sac bunt and a strikeout but it
all went south from there. A Trey Rice triple scored Lawson putting the Fish up 7-3. Wright would follow with an RBI single, his third RBI of the game, to push the score to 8-3.
Jackson would get out of the inning but not before the Jackfish had a devastating five run lead. With that lead Anderson's day was done. Kenosha sent rookie Gary Morissy
to the mound for his first post season appearance to close out the Heartland Series. Springfield saw an opening and came out swinging against the rookie.
Back to back doubles by Michael Thompson and Thomas Colbert got one run back and made the score 8-4. An Adam Phillips single put runners on first and third with no outs.
Jim Lee hit a long fly ball to center that had the fans holding their breath until the ball fell safely into the glove of Trey Rice for a sac fly and another Storm run. The score was now 8-5
and the heart of the Springfield order coming up. Steven King would send a sharp ground ball toward the hole at second which Jackfish 1B Butler would scoop up and
throw to a covering Morissy for the second out. Now with a man on second and two outs the rookie would face the South League batting champ in Ken Simpson.
Simpson would take the first two pitches for strikes before laying off of one in the dirt making it a 1-2 count with the Heartland Series on the line. The rookie induced a weak fly ball to short center field and before Rice could even close his glove around the ball they were already celebrating in the infield.

2021 Heartland Series MVP

Pete Wright(KEN) 8-23, .348 BA, 3 HR, 6 RBI

11-18-2019, 02:06 PM	#38
HerbD All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Indiana Posts: 978	2021 Heartland Series The Heartland Baseball League is entering it's 44th Heartland Series. VS Heartland Series GAME 1 Kenosha catcher Pete Wright set the tone of this game early as he smashed a 448 solo homer off of Springfield ace Mark Gunther with two outs in the top of the first inning giving the Jackfish the 1-0 lead. Kenosha's own ace, Dillon Anderson, would do the rest. Anderson pitched a complete game, two hit shutout. Springfield entered the series boasting the best pitching(526 RA) and the best offense(802 RS) in the entire HBL but Kenosha didn't care about the stats. The Jackfish scored eight total runs on four homers while Anderson faced the minimum allowing two singles, each of which were erased by double plays. On the other side Gunther allowed six earned runs in just four plus innings. SP Dillon Anderson Heartland Series GAME 2 After losing game one and homefield advantage in the series the Storm and all of the HBL viewed game two as a must win for the South League champions. Kenosha's slick fielding rookie 2B Dale Morgan had his own thoughts as he lined a shot to left field with two on in the top of the second that barely cleared the fence giving the Jackfish an early 3-0 lead. The lead would grow to 5-0 with solo homers from veterans Pete Wright in the 5th and Edward Peck in the sixth. For the second game the Storm starter would get battered(this time rookie Bill Joyce) and the Jackfish starter would dominate(Edward Kelly). The 36 year old Kelly would give up an RBI double to Jim Lee in the bottom of the sixth and another run in the bottom of the eighth as the Storm closed the gap late to 5-2. Three time North Reliever of the Year Alistair Aytoun would enter the game in the bottom of the ninth to attempt to close out the victory for Kenosha but the Storm had other thoughts. Matt Patton lead off the inning with a double followed by a Thomas Colbert single that put the tying run at the plate with no outs. A Michael Bruce sac fly would push the game to 5-3 with one out and Colbert still sitting on first. A Frank York single followed by a Justin Sanders walk loaded the bases with one out and the entire stadium was on their feet smelling a Springfield walk off win. Storm CF Adam Phillips hit what looked to be a sure double play but the speedster beat the throw as Colbert scored and the teams were now separated by just a single run. With the stands shaking rookie SS Rod Gibson took his spot in the box and without taking the bat off his shoulders he was at a count of two balls and one strike. He was fooled on the next pitch and as he attempted to check his swing he made soft contact with the ball which headed slowly towards the second baseman. Aytoun swept in to pick up the ball and toss it to first base for the final out of the game. Kenosha heads back home for game three of the series with a dominating 2-0 lead. Edward Kelly Heartland Series GAME 3 After blowing a chance to even the series in game two the Storm knew that they had to win game three. Trailing 3-2 in the top of the ninth things looked bleak as the Jackfish called upon their closer Alistair Aytoun to once again finish out the game. Aytoun was not good in game two barely pitching out of a bases loaded jam. He would enter the game with one out and a runner on first after 8.1 strong innings from starter Alan Ball. Adam Phillips would greet the Kenosha closer with a line drive double to left that would have scored almost anyone on the team other than the lumbering Quinn Carter that was in front of him. With runners on second and third Rod Gibson hit a shallow single to left that Phillips misread. Carter scored the tying run but Phillips only managed to get to third rather than scoring the go ahead run. Aytoun would get South League batting champ Ken Simpson to strike out swinging and end the threat with a long Jim Lee fly out to center field. The bullpens would battle it out for the next four extra innings as the game would head to the thirteenth still tied at three runs each. Justin Sanders lead off the thirteenth inning with a single followed by a Frank York strike out. With one out and the pitcher's spot up in the lineup the Storm had but one man left on the bench. Ken Thomas took his 195 career batting average and his zero regular season homers to the plate and smashed the first pitch he saw from Scot Turner placing it 423 feet away in the right field seats giving the Storm a most improbable 5-3 lead. Springfield would end the inning quietly but the damage had been done. Bill Wiley, who had pitched three scoreless innings in relief for the Storm, was relieved by Patrick Jackson. Jackson managed to get two harmless groundouts sandwiched around a Pete Wright strikeout to end the game after four hours and forty seven minutes. Ed Hietanen Heartland Series GAME 4 Still riding high off the late night win in Game 3 the Springfield Storm came out swinging in Game 4 with five of their first six hitters greeted Kenosha starter Roberto Lopez with base hits including RBI doubles from Ken Simpson and Matt Patton that game the visitors an early 3-0 lead. A Pete Wright RBI triple in the bottom of the first off of Norman Skinner would put the Jackfish on the board and push the score to 3-1. Lopez would settle down and pitch scoreless baseball for the next six innings while Skinner would give up just one more run on a Trey Rice solo homer in the bottom of the fourth inning. The score would remain 3-2 until the bottom of the eighth where the Jackfish would score four runs off of an ineffective Bill Wiley, who had just pitched three innings of relief the night before. The big hit of the inning was rookie Dale Morgan's two RBI double. With a 6-3 lead Kenosha called upon Alfred Owens to close the game. Owens gave up a leadoff single to Frank York then proceeded to strikeout the side giving the Jackfish a 3-1 Heartland Series lead. Trey Rice Heartland Series GAME 5 You could fill it in the air! Standing room only at The Pond in downtown Kenosha where everyone came to see the Jackfish win their third Heartland Series title. Their ace and game one hero Dillon Anderson was on the mound again so things were looking good for the Jackfish fans. The fans were on their feet from the start off the game and you could here the crowd from miles away when Jim Lee struck out on three pitches to start the game. Despite the energy in the park the Storm managed to get to Anderson early when Matt Patton followed a Ken Simpson triple with an RBI double to put the visitors up 1-0. The lead would be short lived as Kenosha catcher Pete Wright would slugged a two run homer in the bottom of the first, his third homer of the series. A Jack Butler solo homer in the bottom of the fourth off Springfield starter Mark Gunther pushed the Jackfish lead to 3-1. A Ken Simpson sac fly closed the score to 3-2 in the top of the fifth but Kenosha would answer in the bottom of the inning when Matt Lawson reached on a single, moved to second on an Anderson sac bunt, stole third and then scored on a Gunther balk to push the score to 4-2. The Jackfish would score again in the bottom of the sixth in a more traditional way, and Edward Peck solo homer making it a 5-2 lead. Springfield would again answer the call scoring another run in the top of the seventh as Jim Lee knocked in Thomas Colbert with an RBI single making it a two run game at 5-3. Rookie John Craig would take over for Gunther to start the bottom of the seventh and he looked sharp getting two outs in just five pitches but the veteran Wright would not let him off the hook so easily drawing an eight pitch walk after starting the at-bat 0-2. Nick Robinson would follow with a walk of his own and Wright would score on a single from Peck to again give the home team a three run lead. Jack Butler loaded the bases after being hit by a pitch but Craig settled down and struck out fellow rookie Dale Morgan to end the threat. Anderson would return to the mound for the eighth and would get out of the inning easily despite allowing a Matt Patton double. In the bottom of the eighth Craig would allow a leadoff single to Lawson before giving up the ball in favor of Patrick Jackson. Jackson started off well getting two outs on a sac bunt and a strikeout but it all went south from there. A Trey Rice triple scored Lawson putting the Fish up 7-3. Wright would follow with an RBI single, his third RBI of the game, to push the score to 8-3. Jackson would get out of the inning but not before the Jackfish had a devastating five run lead. With that lead Anderson's day was done. Kenosha sent rookie Gary Morissy to the mound for his first post season appearance to close out the Heartland Series. Springfield saw an opening and came out swinging against the rookie. Back to back doubles by Michael Thompson and Thomas Colbert got one run back and made the score 8-4. An Adam Phillips single put runners on first and third with no outs. Jim Lee hit a long fly ball to center that had the fans holding their breath until the ball fell safely into the glove of Trey Rice for a sac fly and another Storm run. The score was now 8-5 and the heart of the Springfield order coming up. Steven King would send a sharp ground ball toward the hole at second which Jackfish 1B Butler would scoop up and throw to a covering Morissy for the second out. Now with a man on second and two outs the rookie would face the South League batting champ in Ken Simpson. Simpson would take the first two pitches for strikes before laying off of one in the dirt making it a 1-2 count with the Heartland Series on the line. The rookie induced a weak fly ball to short center field and before Rice could even close his glove around the ball they were already celebrating in the infield. 2021 Heartland Series MVP Pete Wright(KEN) 8-23, .348 BA, 3 HR, 6 RBI __________________ Last edited by HerbD; 11-18-2019 at 02:19 PM.