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Eugene Church · 01-21-2011, 07:11 PM

The Islandian Times
Monday, September 21, 2020

2020 Ruthlandian North Final Recap

Ancona Back On Top In RU North
After a year absence the Ancona Red Elephants have returned atop the Ruthlandian North, replacing the Taranto Tars, who fell down sixth this year. Ancona fought Valmara, Ranford and Far Mountain most of the year, finally beating the Vipers by 4 games, the resurging Bulls by 6 games and the Redhawks by 9.

Ancona manager Manny Mickens got improved pitching and solid batting, led on the hill by ace Clete Dukas (22-10 2.69), rookie standout Spiros Zodiates (17-12 3.82) and closer Lynwood Marshall (4-3 2.61 30 saves) and at the plate by 3B Todd Nasso (.317/33/112/125), LF Kenny Willard (.287/26/110/106), CF Ken Rutledge (.320/14/94/81), RF Louis DiMucci (.306/20/66/105) and 1B Alekos Kotas (.289/28/85/106)... the Red Elephants went to the Pro Cup finals two years ago... they are ready to compete again.

The Valmara Vipers jumped from sixth to second with better pitching... Jet Kazmarek has a quality rotation with Kolya Romanov (20-7 3.26), Vanya Vasylenko (15-12 3.12), Clem Carmouche (16-16 3.01) and Tad Janicki (16-8 4.15)... Kazmarek could use stronger bats... LF Miron Burczyk (.264/29/95/101), 2B Ron Freiberg (.264/27/94/98) and CF Bobby Novikov (.276/27/68/101) all hit with good power, but not enough for average.

Rick Fargnoli brought the Ranford Bulls into the first division for the first time in 11 years as they moved up from fifth to third... the Bulls had solid pitching (4th) and good power (5th) in their line-up... Ranford also could use more contact hitters (21st)... the mound corps was paced by starters Craig DeWitt (24-10 3.67), Archie Young (14-14 3.26), Scotty Simmons (13-14 3.29) and closer Neil Walton (4-6 1.86 32 saves)... 3B Vic Scalzi (.297/35/115/103) and CF Tyee Maska (.238/32/100/78) were the only two reliable run producers.

Alex Groveland in Far Mountain is still missing the strong pitching that helped the fourth-place Redhawks dominate the IPA from 2009 to 2016 with 7 pennants and 3 straight Pro Cups... Woody Crawford (22-12 3.16), Bryan Frazier (19-13 3.62) and Bobby Snow (19-13 3.45) give Groveland a capable set of starters, but not enough to dominate... Redhawk batters are also not as good as the "glory years"... 39-year-old SS Don Nichols (.312/21/107/114) still gets the job done very well, but needs more help... other contributors are RF Tony Tanaka (.278/19/80/125) and rookie C John Armstrong (.315/18/107/70).

The rest of the teams in the RU North are in the mediocre class... The LaGrange Sports got out of the cellar and improved to fifth place, but trailed by 19 games... closer Julian Buisson (5-6 2.93/29 saves) is Otto Kronvath's best arm... his starters Phil Bijeaux (17-14 3.90), Andre DeRouen (16-15 3.63) and Gabe Thomas (13-15 4.00) are only average at best... 42-year-old LF Quincy Peterson (.302/21/73/96) still handles the bat well, but has little else in the batting order to back him up.

Taranto's Tommaso Lazzorda rises and falls with his pitching... this year it was down, along with a drop in offense, so the defending RU North champ took a bad plunge down to sixth place, 20 games off the pace... Lazzorda's long-time ace Anthony Zinacola (22-14 3.78) seems to be getting better with age... Zinacola had his finest season at age 42... the remaining hurlers ranged from mediocre to bad... Tar scoring was off by a run a game... superstar RF Augie Marshall (.291/21/73/64) missed one-third of the season with a back injury... several others 3B Aron Aiello (.251/13/82) and SS Ed Miles (.270/18/81) had sub-par seasons... only CF Phil Buckner (.299/13/56/125) and LF Arnie Kennedy (.311/29/116/102) hit well... C Denny Radke hit .316, but fell off from 101 RBIs to just 55... and it's time for Wayne Pounders to retire... the 41-year-old 3B lost his spot in the line-up and hit only .223 with 6 homers in a back-up role... ditto for 40-year-old 1B Pietro Skrmetta, who lost his spot to poorly-performing rookie Bubby Harris (.238/18/62)... Lazzorda has a lot of rebuilding to do in Taranto.

For the fifth year in a row the Glasco Athletics played poorly... so manager Ike Plunkett got the axe and was replaced by former pitching star Charles Darby, an 18-year IPA veteran with a career 241-226 record... Darby starred for the A's from 2001 to 2006 and led them to their only pennant and some of the best years they have had... he finished up his career winning 20 games twice with the Sugar Valley Rattlers... Glasco still wound up 23 games back and in seventh place... Davy McAdams (19-10 3.53) is Darby's only quality pitcher... and SS Lee Sullivan (.301/17/76/95) is his only quality bat.

After a year of prosperity, a 4th-place finish in 2019, the Kilkenny Cats returned to form and finished last this year under first-year skipper Kevin MacPhail, a playing manager... the Cats were 24 games out of first... MacPhail does have some quality players in pitchers Sidney McFarland (18-15 3.30), Rodger Wright (18-15 3.94), closer Jack Hatcher (1-4 2.47 27 saves), RF Jay Roche (.301/20/89/110) and SS Johnny Madigan (.307/5/44/109)... LF MacPhail (.297/2/67/66) at age 37 played decently.

01-21-2011, 07:11 PM	#2311
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 35,696 Blog Entries: 1	The Islandian Times Monday, September 21, 2020 2020 Ruthlandian North Final Recap Ancona Back On Top In RU North After a year absence the Ancona Red Elephants have returned atop the Ruthlandian North, replacing the Taranto Tars, who fell down sixth this year. Ancona fought Valmara, Ranford and Far Mountain most of the year, finally beating the Vipers by 4 games, the resurging Bulls by 6 games and the Redhawks by 9. Ancona manager Manny Mickens got improved pitching and solid batting, led on the hill by ace Clete Dukas (22-10 2.69), rookie standout Spiros Zodiates (17-12 3.82) and closer Lynwood Marshall (4-3 2.61 30 saves) and at the plate by 3B Todd Nasso (.317/33/112/125), LF Kenny Willard (.287/26/110/106), CF Ken Rutledge (.320/14/94/81), RF Louis DiMucci (.306/20/66/105) and 1B Alekos Kotas (.289/28/85/106)... the Red Elephants went to the Pro Cup finals two years ago... they are ready to compete again. The Valmara Vipers jumped from sixth to second with better pitching... Jet Kazmarek has a quality rotation with Kolya Romanov (20-7 3.26), Vanya Vasylenko (15-12 3.12), Clem Carmouche (16-16 3.01) and Tad Janicki (16-8 4.15)... Kazmarek could use stronger bats... LF Miron Burczyk (.264/29/95/101), 2B Ron Freiberg (.264/27/94/98) and CF Bobby Novikov (.276/27/68/101) all hit with good power, but not enough for average. Rick Fargnoli brought the Ranford Bulls into the first division for the first time in 11 years as they moved up from fifth to third... the Bulls had solid pitching (4th) and good power (5th) in their line-up... Ranford also could use more contact hitters (21st)... the mound corps was paced by starters Craig DeWitt (24-10 3.67), Archie Young (14-14 3.26), Scotty Simmons (13-14 3.29) and closer Neil Walton (4-6 1.86 32 saves)... 3B Vic Scalzi (.297/35/115/103) and CF Tyee Maska (.238/32/100/78) were the only two reliable run producers. Alex Groveland in Far Mountain is still missing the strong pitching that helped the fourth-place Redhawks dominate the IPA from 2009 to 2016 with 7 pennants and 3 straight Pro Cups... Woody Crawford (22-12 3.16), Bryan Frazier (19-13 3.62) and Bobby Snow (19-13 3.45) give Groveland a capable set of starters, but not enough to dominate... Redhawk batters are also not as good as the "glory years"... 39-year-old SS Don Nichols (.312/21/107/114) still gets the job done very well, but needs more help... other contributors are RF Tony Tanaka (.278/19/80/125) and rookie C John Armstrong (.315/18/107/70). The rest of the teams in the RU North are in the mediocre class... The LaGrange Sports got out of the cellar and improved to fifth place, but trailed by 19 games... closer Julian Buisson (5-6 2.93/29 saves) is Otto Kronvath's best arm... his starters Phil Bijeaux (17-14 3.90), Andre DeRouen (16-15 3.63) and Gabe Thomas (13-15 4.00) are only average at best... 42-year-old LF Quincy Peterson (.302/21/73/96) still handles the bat well, but has little else in the batting order to back him up. Taranto's Tommaso Lazzorda rises and falls with his pitching... this year it was down, along with a drop in offense, so the defending RU North champ took a bad plunge down to sixth place, 20 games off the pace... Lazzorda's long-time ace Anthony Zinacola (22-14 3.78) seems to be getting better with age... Zinacola had his finest season at age 42... the remaining hurlers ranged from mediocre to bad... Tar scoring was off by a run a game... superstar RF Augie Marshall (.291/21/73/64) missed one-third of the season with a back injury... several others 3B Aron Aiello (.251/13/82) and SS Ed Miles (.270/18/81) had sub-par seasons... only CF Phil Buckner (.299/13/56/125) and LF Arnie Kennedy (.311/29/116/102) hit well... C Denny Radke hit .316, but fell off from 101 RBIs to just 55... and it's time for Wayne Pounders to retire... the 41-year-old 3B lost his spot in the line-up and hit only .223 with 6 homers in a back-up role... ditto for 40-year-old 1B Pietro Skrmetta, who lost his spot to poorly-performing rookie Bubby Harris (.238/18/62)... Lazzorda has a lot of rebuilding to do in Taranto. For the fifth year in a row the Glasco Athletics played poorly... so manager Ike Plunkett got the axe and was replaced by former pitching star Charles Darby, an 18-year IPA veteran with a career 241-226 record... Darby starred for the A's from 2001 to 2006 and led them to their only pennant and some of the best years they have had... he finished up his career winning 20 games twice with the Sugar Valley Rattlers... Glasco still wound up 23 games back and in seventh place... Davy McAdams (19-10 3.53) is Darby's only quality pitcher... and SS Lee Sullivan (.301/17/76/95) is his only quality bat. After a year of prosperity, a 4th-place finish in 2019, the Kilkenny Cats returned to form and finished last this year under first-year skipper Kevin MacPhail, a playing manager... the Cats were 24 games out of first... MacPhail does have some quality players in pitchers Sidney McFarland (18-15 3.30), Rodger Wright (18-15 3.94), closer Jack Hatcher (1-4 2.47 27 saves), RF Jay Roche (.301/20/89/110) and SS Johnny Madigan (.307/5/44/109)... LF MacPhail (.297/2/67/66) at age 37 played decently. Last edited by Eugene Church; 01-21-2011 at 07:17 PM.