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Eugene Church · 03-08-2011, 10:35 PM

The Islandian Times
Monday, September 20, 2021

2021 Tycobbian South Final Recap

Suns Shine In TU South, Win Flag Again
5 other teams put pressure on the defending TU South titleholder for awhile, but the Arroyo Grande Suns pulled away with a strong second half to win comfortably by 7 games over runner-up Southport, 8 games better than Turon and 10 ahead of San Alejo. The Suns have won the pennant the last two years. The TU South is the strongest division in the IPA as 6 teams wound up .545 or better... Fifth place Ginza was 85-69, 12 games off the pace and sixth place Colchester was 84-70, just 13 games behind in the race.

At mid-season manager Cyclone Cobb needed better pitching and he got it... veterans starters Ernie Matthews (22-10 3.71) and Earl O'Reilly (16-13 3.61) rallied from poor first-half performances and Arroyo Grande closed with a rush and left the rest of the league in the wake... ace Sixto Zamora (24-14 2.74) led the pitching staff with a strong season... closer Jason Patrick (4-4) put up good numbers with 31 saves and a 2.54 ERA... the Suns staff was 8th overall with a 3.63 ERA, which is unbelievably good in the small confines of Capet Stadium... homers come easy here... Cobb has a blockbuster line-up with C Gary Troxell (.300/39 HR/113 RBI/84 R), SS Andy Pearson (.346/27 HR/110 RBI/109 R), RF Buddy Bechtel (.323/31 HR/83 RBI/113 R) and LF Eduardo Villanueva (.296/25 HR/102 RBI/95 R)... Cobb is expecting much better things in the Pro Cup this year... last season they were one of the favorites, but got bumped off in the first round in an upset by Luxora... experts say the Suns have what it takes to win it all this year, but it will be a tough task with Ozarka in the Tycobbian Union and four fine teams from the Ruthlandian Union... Sligo, Sugar Valley, Ancona and Grand City all have talented teams.

A bad August funk cost the Southport Sun Sox the pennant... Charley Oscar's crew slipped to 12-16 that month, while Arroyo Grande went 20-8 and settled the issue... still it was the Sun Sox's best season ever with a second-place finish and a 90-64 mark... they were 3rd in pitching with a strong 3.37 team ERA, led by last year's Rookie of the Year Al Laclair (26-10 2.37), Tippy Ridgeway (17-14 4.00), Keith Callahan (12-8 4.28) and Bob Montgomery (13-16 3.25)... closer Rob Ricks (4-7) racked up 31 saves and compiled a superlative 2.08 ERA... in the offensive department Southport was better-than-average with a .260 mark (13th)and 726 runs (14th)... power-wise the Sun Sox socked 162 homers (7th-tied), paced by 2B Skippy Jones (.277/35 HR/89 RBI/84 R).

Manager Whitey Richburn still has a solid ball club in Turon, but the Typhoons are getting long in the tooth with aging, but still talented players... Turon had a 3.51 team ERA (5th), sparked by one of the IPA's best hurlers Nicky Engstrom (22-12 2.62) and 21-year-old Bobby Byrd (15-6 2.60), who missed 10 weeks of the season... Bryan Wilkerson (12-4 2.13) more than filled in for the injured Byrd... Wilkerson should be a great addition to the rotation next year... longtime stalwarts 40-year-old Ted Farentino (18-11 4.26) and 39-year-old Shane Farmer (8-21 4.57) are showing signs of age... the Typhoons can still tag the ball... they hit .261 (10th), scored 751 runs (10th-tied) and walloped 144 homers (16th)... Richburn's regulars are still quite productive... most of them are 35 or older... superstar 1B Clyde Kingsford (.304/47 HR/140 RBI/115 R) shows no signs of slowing down...RF Dominick DiCaprio (.293/26 HR/112 RBI/92 R) and CF Mac McCurnan (.286/23 HR/95 RBI/81 R) still get the job done... and 42-year-old SS/2B Alan Hansen (.308/3 HR/41 RBI/114 R) still gets on base and scores runs with a .308 BA and 128 walks... Hansen still plays good defense, too.

After many, many years of frustration the San Alejo Montaneros enjoyed a great season... it's been 14 years since the Monties finished in the first division of the TU South... and for the last 8 seasons they have languished in last place... however this year, rookie skipper Alberto Herrera improved the pitching and got some bats in the line-up... Voila! San Alejo jumped to fourth place... Herrera has solid pitching and hitting with a 3.65 team ERA (9th), 162 home runs (7th-tied) and 787 runs (6th)... San Alejo also has an excellent bullpen with a 2.87 ERA (6th)... closer Florencio Cortez (4-3) had a terrific season with 27 saves and a super 1.61 ERA... heading up the starters was Trini Corona (18-13 2.90) with help from Jaime Miranda (19-10 3.96) and Cesar Valdes (10-5 3.53)... at the plate LF Warren Love (.298/41 HR/112 RBI/110 R) and RF Lou Browning (.303/32 HR/90 RBI/106 R) were the most prolific... C Paul Bailey added some sock in the line-up with 19 homers and 96 RBIs, while batting at a .276 clip... the future looks good in San Alejo... Herrera can't wait until next year.

The Ginza Ninjas played well despite losing its superstud C Crash Davis for most of the season due to ruptured discs in his back... Davis played in only 39 games, most of them late in the year, batting .287 with 4 homers and 21 RBIs... but manager Huroko Uchiyama got good mileage out of 1B Johnny O'Rorke (.318/30 HR/78 RBI/89 R), SS Ralph Hart (.268/27 HR/96 RBI/85 R), CF Augie Vitanza (.262/33 HR/91 RBI/101 R), RF Jack Vorland (.272/22 HR/88 RBI/83 R) and late bloomer 2B Hiroshi Minoru, who at age 37 hit .311 with 12 homers, 57 RBIs and scored 85 runs... rookie 3B Yuko Mihashi (.271) showed good potential with 10 homers in 236 at-bats... Ginza signed a rookie left-hander Yutaka Yoshida at mid-season and he quickly developed into the ace of the mound corps with a 9-3 record and a 2.23 ERA... long-time ace Joji Azuma is still around and doing quite well with a 23-11 mark and a 3.49 ERA... Julian Gilcrist, the number-three man in the rotation, posted an 18-12 record with a 3.98 ERA... closer Kakuzo Harimoto was only 1-6, but saved 23 games and registered a fine 2.32 ERA.

The Colchester Elites had a fine year under Uncle Robbie Wilbertson... they wound up 14 games over .500, but still ended up in sixth place in the tough TU South... good pitching was the source of success... the Elites were 4th in the league with a 3.47 team ERA... heading up the staff was Brian Britt (18-13 2.66), Jess Carpenter (19-16 3.20) and Tommy Tuckman (14-8 3.79)... closer Don Richard saved 30 games, but was 3-7 with a 3.48 ERA... Colchester was a little less-than-average with the bats, hitting .253 (22nd), scoring 694 runs (18th-tied), but with decent power... the Elites went deep 142 times (17th)... 41-year-old LF Douglas Tilford topped the team with a .322 BA, while collecting 16 home runs, 82 RBIs and scoring 93 times... 1B James McCall led in roundtrippers with 23, along with 75 RBIs and 86 runs... CF Johnny Washington led the club in scoring with 96, but batted only .230 with 20 homers and 56 RBIs.

Poor hitting (.237 BA-31st)) and so-so pitching (3.96-17th) is a good formula for a low finish in the IPA... the Cape Coral Hurricanes suffered a third consecutive seventh-place finish, 29 games behind the leader... the IPA's all-time wins leader Cody Burg is still Huggy Miller's top pitcher... this year Burg was 19-15 with a 3.84 ERA... Burg is closing in on 400 victories at age 39 with a career 369-264 record in his 21 seasons with a superb 2.79 ERA... closer Mike Rinaldi (4-6) had a strong year with a 2.16 ERA and 25 saves... RF Norman Rayfield (.287/17 HR/86 RBI/78 R) had the best batting average, but CF Derek Ryckman led with 19 home runs, 91 RBIs and 79 runs, while batting only .253 for average.

For the ninth successive season the Summerland Sunsets were a second-division club, ending up in the cellar, 34 games out of first... Will Hackett's best arms were 17-year vet Steve Aaron (18-16 2.97) and Sparky DeWey (17-16 3.58)... 20-year vet Denny Coulon (15-17 3.72) is still a capable pitcher at age 41... lifetime Coulon is 328-306 with a sparkling 2.90 ERA... the Sunsets are not very much in the batter's box... 2B Stefan De Graaf led the team with a .316 average, but only had 8 homers, 69 RBIs and 74 runs... RF Brady Gilbert also added a .274 average, 9 home runs, 75 RBIs and 76 runs to the offensive numbers... 1B John Reynaud topped the team with 77 RBIs and hit .253 with 10 dingers.

03-08-2011, 10:35 PM	#2395
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 35,944	*The Islandian Times* Monday, September 20, 2021 2021 Tycobbian South Final Recap Suns Shine In TU South, Win Flag Again 5 other teams put pressure on the defending TU South titleholder for awhile, but the Arroyo Grande Suns pulled away with a strong second half to win comfortably by 7 games over runner-up Southport, 8 games better than Turon and 10 ahead of San Alejo. The Suns have won the pennant the last two years. The TU South is the strongest division in the IPA as 6 teams wound up .545 or better... Fifth place Ginza was 85-69, 12 games off the pace and sixth place Colchester was 84-70, just 13 games behind in the race. At mid-season manager Cyclone Cobb needed better pitching and he got it... veterans starters Ernie Matthews (22-10 3.71) and Earl O'Reilly (16-13 3.61) rallied from poor first-half performances and Arroyo Grande closed with a rush and left the rest of the league in the wake... ace Sixto Zamora (24-14 2.74) led the pitching staff with a strong season... closer Jason Patrick (4-4) put up good numbers with 31 saves and a 2.54 ERA... the Suns staff was 8th overall with a 3.63 ERA, which is unbelievably good in the small confines of Capet Stadium... homers come easy here... Cobb has a blockbuster line-up with C Gary Troxell (.300/39 HR/113 RBI/84 R), SS Andy Pearson (.346/27 HR/110 RBI/109 R), RF Buddy Bechtel (.323/31 HR/83 RBI/113 R) and LF Eduardo Villanueva (.296/25 HR/102 RBI/95 R)... Cobb is expecting much better things in the Pro Cup this year... last season they were one of the favorites, but got bumped off in the first round in an upset by Luxora... experts say the Suns have what it takes to win it all this year, but it will be a tough task with Ozarka in the Tycobbian Union and four fine teams from the Ruthlandian Union... Sligo, Sugar Valley, Ancona and Grand City all have talented teams. A bad August funk cost the Southport Sun Sox the pennant... Charley Oscar's crew slipped to 12-16 that month, while Arroyo Grande went 20-8 and settled the issue... still it was the Sun Sox's best season ever with a second-place finish and a 90-64 mark... they were 3rd in pitching with a strong 3.37 team ERA, led by last year's Rookie of the Year Al Laclair (26-10 2.37), Tippy Ridgeway (17-14 4.00), Keith Callahan (12-8 4.28) and Bob Montgomery (13-16 3.25)... closer Rob Ricks (4-7) racked up 31 saves and compiled a superlative 2.08 ERA... in the offensive department Southport was better-than-average with a .260 mark (13th)and 726 runs (14th)... power-wise the Sun Sox socked 162 homers (7th-tied), paced by 2B Skippy Jones (.277/35 HR/89 RBI/84 R). Manager Whitey Richburn still has a solid ball club in Turon, but the Typhoons are getting long in the tooth with aging, but still talented players... Turon had a 3.51 team ERA (5th), sparked by one of the IPA's best hurlers Nicky Engstrom (22-12 2.62) and 21-year-old Bobby Byrd (15-6 2.60), who missed 10 weeks of the season... Bryan Wilkerson (12-4 2.13) more than filled in for the injured Byrd... Wilkerson should be a great addition to the rotation next year... longtime stalwarts 40-year-old Ted Farentino (18-11 4.26) and 39-year-old Shane Farmer (8-21 4.57) are showing signs of age... the Typhoons can still tag the ball... they hit .261 (10th), scored 751 runs (10th-tied) and walloped 144 homers (16th)... Richburn's regulars are still quite productive... most of them are 35 or older... superstar 1B Clyde Kingsford (.304/47 HR/140 RBI/115 R) shows no signs of slowing down...RF Dominick DiCaprio (.293/26 HR/112 RBI/92 R) and CF Mac McCurnan (.286/23 HR/95 RBI/81 R) still get the job done... and 42-year-old SS/2B Alan Hansen (.308/3 HR/41 RBI/114 R) still gets on base and scores runs with a .308 BA and 128 walks... Hansen still plays good defense, too. After many, many years of frustration the San Alejo Montaneros enjoyed a great season... it's been 14 years since the Monties finished in the first division of the TU South... and for the last 8 seasons they have languished in last place... however this year, rookie skipper Alberto Herrera improved the pitching and got some bats in the line-up... Voila! San Alejo jumped to fourth place... Herrera has solid pitching and hitting with a 3.65 team ERA (9th), 162 home runs (7th-tied) and 787 runs (6th)... San Alejo also has an excellent bullpen with a 2.87 ERA (6th)... closer Florencio Cortez (4-3) had a terrific season with 27 saves and a super 1.61 ERA... heading up the starters was Trini Corona (18-13 2.90) with help from Jaime Miranda (19-10 3.96) and Cesar Valdes (10-5 3.53)... at the plate LF Warren Love (.298/41 HR/112 RBI/110 R) and RF Lou Browning (.303/32 HR/90 RBI/106 R) were the most prolific... C Paul Bailey added some sock in the line-up with 19 homers and 96 RBIs, while batting at a .276 clip... the future looks good in San Alejo... Herrera can't wait until next year. The Ginza Ninjas played well despite losing its superstud C Crash Davis for most of the season due to ruptured discs in his back... Davis played in only 39 games, most of them late in the year, batting .287 with 4 homers and 21 RBIs... but manager Huroko Uchiyama got good mileage out of 1B Johnny O'Rorke (.318/30 HR/78 RBI/89 R), SS Ralph Hart (.268/27 HR/96 RBI/85 R), CF Augie Vitanza (.262/33 HR/91 RBI/101 R), RF Jack Vorland (.272/22 HR/88 RBI/83 R) and late bloomer 2B Hiroshi Minoru, who at age 37 hit .311 with 12 homers, 57 RBIs and scored 85 runs... rookie 3B Yuko Mihashi (.271) showed good potential with 10 homers in 236 at-bats... Ginza signed a rookie left-hander Yutaka Yoshida at mid-season and he quickly developed into the ace of the mound corps with a 9-3 record and a 2.23 ERA... long-time ace Joji Azuma is still around and doing quite well with a 23-11 mark and a 3.49 ERA... Julian Gilcrist, the number-three man in the rotation, posted an 18-12 record with a 3.98 ERA... closer Kakuzo Harimoto was only 1-6, but saved 23 games and registered a fine 2.32 ERA. The Colchester Elites had a fine year under Uncle Robbie Wilbertson... they wound up 14 games over .500, but still ended up in sixth place in the tough TU South... good pitching was the source of success... the Elites were 4th in the league with a 3.47 team ERA... heading up the staff was Brian Britt (18-13 2.66), Jess Carpenter (19-16 3.20) and Tommy Tuckman (14-8 3.79)... closer Don Richard saved 30 games, but was 3-7 with a 3.48 ERA... Colchester was a little less-than-average with the bats, hitting .253 (22nd), scoring 694 runs (18th-tied), but with decent power... the Elites went deep 142 times (17th)... 41-year-old LF Douglas Tilford topped the team with a .322 BA, while collecting 16 home runs, 82 RBIs and scoring 93 times... 1B James McCall led in roundtrippers with 23, along with 75 RBIs and 86 runs... CF Johnny Washington led the club in scoring with 96, but batted only .230 with 20 homers and 56 RBIs. Poor hitting (.237 BA-31st)) and so-so pitching (3.96-17th) is a good formula for a low finish in the IPA... the Cape Coral Hurricanes suffered a third consecutive seventh-place finish, 29 games behind the leader... the IPA's all-time wins leader Cody Burg is still Huggy Miller's top pitcher... this year Burg was 19-15 with a 3.84 ERA... Burg is closing in on 400 victories at age 39 with a career 369-264 record in his 21 seasons with a superb 2.79 ERA... closer Mike Rinaldi (4-6) had a strong year with a 2.16 ERA and 25 saves... RF Norman Rayfield (.287/17 HR/86 RBI/78 R) had the best batting average, but CF Derek Ryckman led with 19 home runs, 91 RBIs and 79 runs, while batting only .253 for average. For the ninth successive season the Summerland Sunsets were a second-division club, ending up in the cellar, 34 games out of first... Will Hackett's best arms were 17-year vet Steve Aaron (18-16 2.97) and Sparky DeWey (17-16 3.58)... 20-year vet Denny Coulon (15-17 3.72) is still a capable pitcher at age 41... lifetime Coulon is 328-306 with a sparkling 2.90 ERA... the Sunsets are not very much in the batter's box... 2B Stefan De Graaf led the team with a .316 average, but only had 8 homers, 69 RBIs and 74 runs... RF Brady Gilbert also added a .274 average, 9 home runs, 75 RBIs and 76 runs to the offensive numbers... 1B John Reynaud topped the team with 77 RBIs and hit .253 with 10 dingers.