Red Sox Win Hornets 8U Club Title Over Reds, 8-1

The Green Hornets Rookie 8 Red Sox secured the league championship on June 4 with an 8-1 victory over the Reds at Cypress Creek Park.

The Red Sox team of Trent Bray, Connor Cormier, Landon Drymala, Cooper Hanafourde, Owen Henry, Aiden Jones, Owen Keefe, Nathaniel Lourie, Nathan Lowman, Timothy Nguyen, Lucas Palechek, David Pilon, Jesse Rowe and Tyler Smulow paired outstanding defense with timely hitting to produce the league-championship win, and highlights were plenty.

Rowe sparked the Sox offensively in the third inning with a line drive that was robbed by a Reds outfielder, but Rowe’s teammates drew inspiration from his solid contact and proceeded to score runs on hits by Pilon, Jones, Keefe, Henry and Lourie. The defense complemented the run production as catcher Drymala was solid behind the plate, Hanafourde made a great stretch for an out at first and Lowman made a phenomenal diving grab in the outfield to end a Reds rally.

In the final inning, Nguyen grabbed a fly ball for the first out, Bray caught a screaming line drive for the second, and Smulow fielded a ground ball and fired it to first baseman Palechek to secure the championship.

“They won as a team, lost as a team, and in the end, they were champions,” said Red Sox head coach Dan Smulow, who coached the team with assistants Rob Lourie and Kemp Hanafourde.