Hornets take pennant; Bucs still have work to do

As these things should, the positioning for the 2015 Baseball Ireland playoffs came down to the last few innings.

With the destinies of the Belfast Buccaneers and the Cavan Comets out of their hands, the Belfast Northstars and the Belfast Hornets headed south to Ashbourne where the Giants were waiting to throw as many spanners in the works as possible.

First up were Darwin Sanchez and his Belfast Northstars who were looking over their shoulders at the Comets. Unfortunately for the visitors, the Stars were subject to one bad inning that staked the Giants and veteran starter Sean Mitchell to a 7-2 lead.

Regardless, the Stars showed great heart in clawing the lead back to 7-6 but the innings simply ran out for the maroon and gold as their 2015 season came to a close on a sunny afternoon in Ashbourne.

The Hornets would look to get a touch of revenge for their Belfast bretheren, Mark Smith taking the ball to the hill himself and leading by example. Ashbourne had little answer for the battery of Smith and John Want as they carved through the young Giants. On the other side of the ball, timely hitting, smart baserunning and a four run outburst in the third was enough to finish the game in the fifth inning and send the Hornets home with the B league North pennant.