[Eugene Church]

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Monday, September 22, 2031

2031 Ruthlandian East Final Recap

Elnora Easily Wins RU East
It was a 6-team race in the Ruthlandian East until the surprising Elnora All-Stars went on a second-half rampage and claimed the pennant with ease, winning by 11 games over the defending division champion Wynnamac Sundowners and Beechwood Bobcats, who deadlocked for the runner-up slot. The Sugar Valley Rattlers came in fourth and finished 14 games behind the All-Stars. This was Elnora's first flag since 2023 and the fourth overall in its history. They have been stuck in the second division for most of the last decade.

Last season was a fright for manager Leon Carter and his Elnora All-Stars (95-59) when they suddenly slipped to last place, mainly because of its pitching... this year the staff rebounded with a vengeance, improving from a poor 4.03 ERA to solid 3.42 ERA (12th), sparked by Lucien Vashon (22-10/3.18), Jeremy Sellers (22-11/3.09), Freddy Pfeffer (18-13/3.65) and 34-year-old Marv Elderson (12-8/3.89), who blossomed in a starting role after 8 years of mediocrity in the bullpen... the Elnora bats backed them up with a RU-leading .286 BA (1st) and ranked second in scoring, led by RF Pettis Pentleton (.353/15/98/111), who led the league in hitting, CF Travis Glass (.338/25/95/91), 1B Mel Long (.291/25/103/77) and 2B Matt Boyd (.314/13/85/76)... Look for the All-Stars to severely test the Valmara Vipers in the playoffs.

Last season's champ Wynnamac (84-70) faded in August and could not repeat... manager Matt Donnelly's bats went south on him this year, declining from .274 to .255 (25th), but his mound corps did their job well with a 3.18 team ERA (5th), especially the starters Lon Marshall (18-12/2.55), Jason Meeks (19-9/3.41) and Killara Bardo (14-14/2.39)... Both Marshall and Bardo suffered from a lack of run support... lack of good relief hampered the Sundowners, too... they ranked 28th in the bullpen with a 4.08 ERA... despite missing 40 games LF Lil Hoss Burkhalter still paced the team with 28 homers and 86 RBIs, while batting .262... C Lee Leslie helped out with 21 roundtrippers, 82 RBIs and a .267 BA... the rest of the Sundowners mainstays had off-years: 3B Dorak Aranda (.253/15/59/68), CF Allen Dundee (.253/23/74/73) and 1B Giles Butler (.277/20/56/65).

The Beechwood Bobcats (84-70) used their bats to tie for second place with Wynnamac, moving up from fourth place in 2030... Bret George's boys hit .279 (2nd) and topped the RU in scoring (767 runs)... the Bobcats were in the race until August, then dropped out of the running, winding up 11 games behind... veteran starters Ken Arby (21-10/2.96) and Maury Patterson (18-11/3.11) again stood out on the mound... and got strong help in the bullpen from Zack Dowdle (5-4/2.35/19 saves), who appeared in 67 games... at the plate it was LF Herb Douglas (.296/5/72/118), CF Howie Baldwin (.250/25/101/97), 1B Ron Griffin (.311/5/67/82), SS Thomas Laske (.322/5/53/55) and Jimmy Winters (.286/1/73/71) leading the way.

The Sugar Valley Rattlers (81-73) had a decent season in spite of falling from second place to the fourth spot this year, losing out to Elnora by 14 games... skipper Gibby Bobkins' club just doesn't hit for average, but does pack a wallop with 210 home runs (1st), tops in the IPA... but the .228 batting average is a killer... even with the homers the Rattlers ranked 25th in scoring... the Sugar Valley staff put up a 3.39 team ERA (11th)... better contact hitting would put the Rattlers near the top each year... RF Ray Ford is the club leader with a .268 mark... Ford had 33 home runs and 75 RBIs, CF Tyler White hit 33 with 83 RBIs, but had a terrible .212 BA, 1B Bucko Parks slammed 31 out of the park, drove in 78 with a .259 BA, 3B Johnny Doyle batted only .221, but collected 21 roundtrippers and 55 RBIs and SS Artie Morton drilled 20 homers, hit .235 and batted in 66 runs... 8 Rattlers had double-digit home runs... ace Aron Libertini had a marvelous 25-10 season with a 2.67 ERA... Benny McConnell had a good year with a 17-9 record and a 3.56 ERA... the 34-year-old McConnell reached the 200-win milestone this season and is 216-157 in his 13 seasons... Jeremy Blanchard posted a fine 3.20 ERA, but only had an 11-26 mark to show for it... and closer Dallas Casey (4-4/2.31/19 saves) did a good job in the bullpen... the Rattlers are the best defensive club in the division with a .976 FA.

Longtime manager Killer Brewster saw some improvement this year with his Eastshore Elegants (80-74), who wound up in the fifth spot in the RU East standings, trailing by 15 games... it's been 12 years since the Elegants' glory years when they won 4 consecutive flags and 2 Pro Cups from 2016 to 2019... Eastshore was sixth the last three seasons... the bats perked up this year with a .270 BA (14th), 136 homers (10th-tied) and ranked 11th in runs... on the hill the Elegants chalked up a 3.58 team ERA (15th)... offensively CF Scotty Lagrange had a great year despite missing more than a month of the season... Lagrange had 34 homers, 93 RBIs and scored 88 runs in only 119 games with a .326 BA... LF George Shepherd (.292/23/69/104) and SS Larry Romney (.288/11/71/72) were the other good sticks... Randy Boone, a 9-year vet, topped the pitchers with a 14-14 mark and a 3.07 ERA.

After two fine seasons when Danny Church first took the reins of the Marston Nine (72-82), the club has fallen on hard times and sunk into the second division the last four years... Marston came in sixth this season and were 23 games behind Elnora... the Nine batted .271 (11th), ranked 18th in runs and compiled a 3.93 team ERA (26th)... leading the Marston attack were superstud CF Russ Woodward (.313/28/97/92), still a star at age 37... other bat leaders were LF Ken Armstrong (.311/20/82/77), 3B George Varsh (.299/5/38/80), C Ron Marlowe (.295/19/81/68) and rookie SS Johnny Church (.282/9/62/85), the manager's 19-year-old son... Dennis Carravaggio (18-17/4.05) and Doug Hansack (15-19/3.47) are the most effective pitchers... Marston needs help on the mound to get back into contention.

20 years have gone past since the Cold Creek Catamounts (68-86) had a good team... 2012 was the last good year when they won the RU East pennant... the Catamounts are a perennial loser stuck mainly in the depths of the second division... occasionally they slip into fourth place, but no higher... manager Scoop Lemieux's team has ended up seventh for the last three years.... this year Cold Creek trailed by 27 games... Lemieux has solid pitching with a 3.26 team ERA (8th), but lacks offense, hitting only .256 (23rd) with 96 homers (26th) and ranked 29th in run scoring... starters Eddie Brasher (17-16/2.29) and Tommy Smith (14-17/3.19) are quality pitchers... relievers J. J. Gillespie (6-5/2.14/6 saves) and Bobby Reid (5-4/1.75/11 saves) have been quite effective, too... 1B Steve Daniels (.305/33/107/83), RF Carl Glick (.293/14/68/82) and free agent 2B Yancy Duvicque (.290/6/38/67) are the only proven hitters in the Catamounts lineup... Duvicque was previously with Turon in the Tycobbian Union.

The last place Belle Plaine Musketeers (67-87) ran a good race until mid-season - they were just 2 games out - then ran out of gas and plunged down to the cellar, ending up 28 games off the pace... manager Dave Torregrossa has a good-hitting club with a .273 BA (7th), 690 runs (12th-tied) and 139 home runs (8th), but fails miserably in the pitching department with a 4.27 ERA (30th)... only starter Johnny Davenport (16-11/3.03) and closer Mac Shaw (7-5/2.44/15 saves) are proficient pitchers... but the Muskies have three rock-solid hitters in CF Shelby Glasscock (.299/36/88/121), C Derek Roman (.309/23/92/85) and 1B Marty Blake (.314/20/77/78), still a stud at age 37 and 19 years in the league.