2009 Batting Leaders

AVG
C. Ferreira - .542
SouthCentral Titans

Hits
T. Reed - 28
Hornets

Doubles
T. Onesty - 9
BGES Fuze
T. Bennard - 9
Fairview Pirates

Triples
C. Ferreira - 3
SouthCentral Titans

Homeruns
C. Ferreira - 3
SouthCentral Titans

Runs
C. Ferreira - 30
SouthCentral Titans

RBI
T. Clapper - 26
Hornets

Walks
T. Reed - 20
Hornets

Stolen Bases
T. Harrison - 17
Hornets

On Base %
C. Ferreira - .625
SouthCentral Titans

Slugging %
C. Ferreira - .958
SouthCentral TItans

2009 Pitching Leaders

Wins
J. Simmons - 9
Elmendorf Eagles

Saves
G. Breager - 4
Fairview Pirates

Innings Pitched
J. Simmons - 78
Elmendorf Eagles

Strikeouts
J. Simmons - 105
Elmendorf Eagles

ERA
J. Farkas - 0.63
Hornets

WHIP
B. Hand - 0.44
SouthCentral Titans

K/9
C. Ferreira - 15.8
SouthCentral Titans

Hit Batters
C. Bahn - 11
MatSu Marauders

The 2009 AABL Championship Tournament
Click the image below to see the brackets/schedule

What A Game         The Hornets celebrate their first AABL Championship

          If you weren’t there, this ain’t gonna do it. Those who were witness to the local game of the year, if not of all-time, will understand there is perhaps no way to summarize it. Like any of the contests that make an indelible imprint on memory, the ‘09 AABL Championship game was a work of art that embodied the Aristotelian concept of Organic Unity - nothing could be added to it or taken from it without altering the whole work. Keeping that need to preserve the entire masterpiece in mind, here it is, the final game of the 2009 season, presented at great length because it deserves to be.

            A leadoff walk to Anton McCloud consumed the first moments of what would be a 220-minute engagement. The SouthCentral Titans started Doug Olsen off the bump, opting along with the Hornets, not to reveal or correct the probable starters posted online. The surprise starter then induced a ground ball that swapped out McCloud for Trevor Harrison on a fielder’s choice. Taylor Reed followed with a sinking liner to right that was speared by Kyler Dunford with a brilliant tumbling catch. Dunford quickly regained his feet and fired a strike to first, doubling off the runner to end the inning. Hornet starter Jordan Farkas needed just eight pitches, including five to leadoff man David Doerr; to retire the Titans in order in the home half of the 1st.

            Ty Clapper led off the 2nd with a base hit, and with one out Jesse McCarty doubled to put two runners in scoring position with one out for Scott Campbell who plated the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly. Olsen pitched around further damage, but in the bottom of the second Farkas was able to escape an even more perilous situation unscathed: Taylor Nerland singled with one out, and then Royce Woodruff and Ben Hand followed with two out singles of their own. With the bases juiced and two dead, Reed - the Gold Glove shortstop, made an excellent play to his left on a ball well struck by Willie Paul to end the Titans threat.

            Jeremy Wylie wore one to give the Hornets a leadoff runner in the 3rd, and McCloud indicated just how seriously the game was being played by sac bunting Wylie to second with his team leading in the early innings. Harrison drew a base on balls before Reed was clipped by a 0-1 offering from Olsen to load the bases with just one out. Olsen retired Clapper, the RBI leader with 26, but found a pair of 20 RBI men behind him. Chris Ragis went oppo with a single to plate Wylie easily; however Dunford’s throw from right field to the plate was on line and Paul got the better of this collision with Harrison, his second in as many days, for the second out. No stranger to the big AB, McCarty stroked a single to left, scoring Reed and staking the Hornets to an imposing 3-0 lead.  David Breck drew a walk with one out, but Farkas punched out two and popped out a third to hold serve in the 3rd. 

            The Hornets had seized the early momentum, so when Angel Gonzalez singled to lead off the 4th and Wylie sacrificed him to second, it looked as if they were poised to take total control. Gonzalez stole third base, and following a walk McCloud stole second to give the Hornets two men in scoring position with one out. Ben Hand had taken over pitching duties to start the frame and was dousing the zone with what looked to be his hottest heat of the season. With the Hornets on the verge of blowing it open, Hand dealt a pair of pop-outs to keep it within reach.  After Nerland worked a walk to lead of the Titans 4th, Dunford sacrificed him over, then Ben delivered again - an RBI single to put the Titans on the board, 3-1.

            Hand retired the side in order in the 5th, but Farkas returned the favor in the bottom of the inning for the evening’s only frame without a runner. Campbell started off the 6th with a double down the line, but was stranded when Hand fanned the next two batters and got a fly to left for the third out. Madden, Nerland, and Dunford fired it up for the Titans in their turn at the dish, banging out three consecutive singles for the green and white to load the bases with nobody out. Woodruff pushed Madden in on a fielder’s choice to draw the Titans to within a run, but again Farkas was able to minimize the damage by inducing an inning-ending double play.

            The tension was thick throughout the game, and there was never any shortage of guffawing at the close calls, but with a razor-thin margin separating two potential champions even the fans started to get a little chippy by the 7th. The players got right to work providing spectators something besides the opposing bleachers to holler at; Harrison and Reed both reached to start the inning and were driven in by Clapper and Ragis respectively to push the lead back to three with just three ups left for SouthCentral. Paul led off the home 7th with a base hit and was moved to second on a sac by Doerr. Breck drove in Paul with a hit of his own, another would-be double cut off in the gap by McCloud who was taking away and shortening hits all night. Breck stole second and moved to third on a Charlton Ferreira single, then Ferreira swiped second during a Madden strikeout to put the tying run on second with two down. Nerland, already 3-3, worked the count full for the third time and then electrified the audience by ripping a two run double that tied the game at 5-5. The Hornets brought in Jason Hart to extinguish the flames, and with just six outs left for both sides, we had a brand new ballgame. 

            On in relief, rookie Zach Beltz retired the first two Hornets he faced in the 8th but similar to his predecessors ran into trouble at the top of the lineup. McCloud doubled to reach for the fourth time in five trips and then the one-man wrecking crew Trevor Harrison, who was at the center of nearly every big moment in the Tournament, knocked in McCloud with a single that gave the Hornets the lead once again. Another hit by Hand threatened the lead in the bottom of the 8th, but even on short rest after short rest, Hart was dealing and able to navigate the frame without harm. With zero hour upon them the Titans went to the MVP Ferreira (who had started less than 24 hours before) in the 9th. After C4 punched out a pair and retired the side, the stage was set for the most memorable finish in the history of the league. 

            Clapper made a solid unassisted play on a seed off the bat of Breck to secure the first out, and with the Hornets just two outs from the Promised Land, the buzz was beginning to build. Madden followed a base hit from Ferreira with a long fly that was tracked down by McCloud near the wall, and with the Titans down to their final out Nerland took a walk to put the winning run on the base paths for the biggest at-bat of the season. It was SouthCentral field general Kyler Dunford who would carry the weight of a season on his shoulders to the plate. While both contingents of fans buried their heads in their hands or paced nervously, Dunford calmly strolled to the dish and took Hart’s first offering up the first base line for a double. Cha Cha scored easily to tie the game, but as the speedy Nerland rounded third fate intervened for the Hornets.

            To get the best possible angle on the play, the Titans third base coach had moved well down the line and slipped on the still damp playing surface. With excited fans and Titans players jumping enthusiastically in his backdrop, Nerland could not see his base coach waving him home and pulled up at third on a play that at very least would have been very close at the plate. Nevertheless, having held the winning run just 90 feet away the Hornets went to Jesse McCarty (who went the distance less than 24 hours previous) with two outs in the bottom of the 9th to keep their dream alive. Royce Woodruff stood in for the Titans, and hit McCarty’s 2-1 pitch into right field - a flare that had ‘hit’ written all over it. Luckily for the Hornets, Trevor Harrison was moving too fast to read. At the last possible moment the right fielder dove hard and somehow managed to slide his glove between the ground and the ball. Alaska baseball’s incarnation of ‘The Catch’ had resuscitated the Hornets championship hopes, and as the ultimate gamer trotted back to the dugout fans and teammates alike applauded him wildly.

            With a hard nine in the books resulting in a 5-5 deadlock it was clear to everyone involved that both of these clubs had what it took to be the champs. But there was only one Championship Trophy and even less love between the teams so they played on. By this advanced stage any animosity between the fans had been replaced by a respect and even awe of the show both teams were putting on. And while it was nervously agreed that neither team deserved to lose, there was an unspoken dread that baseball has no provision to avoid such heartbreak. While somebody was just moments away from being crowned, that coronation would come at the cost of a team that had come too close to be forgotten.

            The first extra-inning ‘if’ game in league history started it’s first extra frame with a walk to Gonzalez and, per the pattern established early, a sacrifice bunt by Wylie to move him into scoring position. After McCloud was retired for just the second time in six trips, Harrison reached for the fourth time in six trips to bring up Reed with two out in the 10th. The Hornets manager batted in every run for his club in the previous game, and having taken his team so close to the title so many times, he would not turned away at this point. Reed laced one into center field; a run-scoring single that put the Hornets again just three outs from glory. This time, they would have the last word.

            McCarty blew through the Titans in order in the last of the 10th, threw his arms skyward and converged at the middle infield with Reed and Wylie, the architects of what could now be called the Hornets dynasty.  They had won the regular season in ‘08, and the last three State Tournaments, but had twice come within a single win of the AABL Championship only to be stopped by the Cubs. Having blown out their ursine rivals Wednesday to get the title shot, the Hornets now stood alone at the top of the heap. “Having lost it twice before makes this taste even better!” exclaimed Ty Clapper while drinking champagne from the AABL Championship Trophy. While jubilant Hornets players and fans moved the celebration into the parking lot, Championship Tournament MVP Taylor Reed found a quiet moment in the vacated dugout, reflecting on the journey. Clearly impressed by the fight of the opposing team and the resilience of his own, Reed simply nodded his head in satisfaction and reiterated what had become the mantra among those lucky enough to witness it: “What a game.”