Hurricanes Win Irish Baseball Spring Blitz - March 31st 2001

The Hurricanes won the 2001 Irish Baseball spring Blitz held in Corcaigh Park on Saturday March 31st. The Cane's won an extremely exciting final 7-6 against the powerful Panthers/Spartans mixed squad, featuring several Irish Internationals.

The Panthers/Spartans mix team went 2-1 in the league games losing narrowly to the Blacksox 3-2 in a game that decided the other finalists other than the Hurricanes. John Dillon, Darren O'Connor and Ken McCarthy all featured heavily for the mixed squad over the course of the day, one of the defensive highlights of the day being Kenny Macs throwing out of Ken Murphy at home in the final.

The Blacksox were unlucky not to make it into the final, they lost out by run difference to the Panthers/Spartans. The expansion Blue Devils had a tough day result wise but had a great turn out, some nice plays and some great overall play from South African catcher Mark McDonald. He made a couple of fabulous defensive plays and his play promises great things for the expansion side.

The Hurricanes started of snappily defeating the Blacksox 7-0 behind timely hitting, good defence and solid pitching. They dropped a tight game to the Panthers 2-1 and then drove their way into the final 6-1 over the Expansion side. Gordon Ireland featured heavily offensively for the Canes. His own personal highlight an enormous double to deep center in the final. Ken Murphy was a revelation at catcher, throwing a runner out and providing a solid base for Canes pitching all day long. Offensively he and Cormac Eklof formed a 1-2 top of the order that scored at will in front of the big bats of Tom Kelley, Gordy and Chris Foy.

The final was a very exciting affair, featuring several lead changes and excellent play on both sides, particularly taking into consideration the length of the day. The Canes came out swinging and went 3-0 up, losing the lead with some shabby defence as the Panthers came back to tie 3-3. The Canes went ahead again 5-3 only to be overtaken in the Panthers part of the third and final inning 6-5, again with two balls falling into the outfield.

Amazingly the Canes mounted a 1 out rally with Gordy smashing a double to center. Gordy reached third and then home on passed balls/wild pitches to tie the game. Chris Foy walked and stole second and was driven home by Garrett Pearse who smashed a 1-0 offering from Russ Manning up the center to win the game.

The game was played with great spirit by both teams, a good reflection on the day overall, which went extremely well. The attendance was superb and even the weather played its part. John Dillon's excellent play all day long meant he was voted both MVP and Best Hitter. John also won 'best hit' of the day. The Hurricanes infield won 'biggest Muppet play of the day' for a botched infield fly ball, and somehow main culprit Cormac Eklof rigged enough votes to win best pitcher of the day.

Spring Blitz Results:
Panthers/Spartans 3 Blue Devils 1
Hurricanes 7 Blacksox 0
Hurricanes 1 Panthers/Spartans 2
Blacksox 6 Blue Devils 0
Blue Devils 1 Hurricanes 6
Blacksox 3 Panthers 2
Final Hurricanes 7 Panthers 6