[JasonC23]

...the Huntley Red Raiders!

In a Game 7 for the ages, Huntley held the Doha Oilers scoreless in their own home park, winning Game 7 on the road 2-0 and claiming their third Perfect League championship! Ed Walsh, unsurprisingly named series MVP, pitched 7 shutout innings, giving up 5 hits and 1 walk while striking out 2. Lee Smith and Walter Johnson kept the shutout going through the 8th, and when Game 6 goat Eric Gagne once again struggled in the 9th, allowing a double to Hank Aaron and a single to Josh Gibson to give Doha runners on first and third with nobody out, Vida Blue saved the game and the series by striking out Honus Wagner and inducing a ground ball from Willie Mays that the Red Raiders turned into a game- and series-winning 6-4-3 double play!

Huntley scored the first run of the game in a most unusual way. In the top of the 5th, with runners on first and second and 1 out, Carl Yastrzemski took off for third. The throw from Josh Gibson was wild, and Yaz scampered home to give the Red Raiders a 1-0 lead. Yaz would strike again in the top of the 9th in a more traditional way, taking Tom Seaver deep for a leadoff solo home run. Thanks to Vida Blue's heroics, the 2-0 lead held up.

"Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you make your own luck," Huntley manager JasonC23 was quoted as saying in the jubilant clubhouse. "We got lucky a few times, but mostly we did the right things by being prepared for each game and playing the game the way it's meant to be played."