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THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Saturday, October 5, 2041
2041 IPA LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES - Game Seven
Ruthlandian Union
CC 'CATS DETHRONE RANFORD IN RU LCS
For the fifth time in the 41-year IPA history a team has rebounded from a 3-1 deficit to win a postseason series... this time it was the Cold Creek Catamounts that did the amazing feat and won the right to advance to their first-ever Pro Cup Finals against Tycobbian titlist North Hills.
On the road at Ranford County Stadium, J. J. Gillespie pitched the game-of-his-life in dethroning the reigning Pro Cup champion Ranford 4-1 in game seven of the Ruthlandian Union League Championship Series... the 36-year-old lefty stifled the Bulls on one run and four hits in his eight innings and got ninth-inning help from Tommy Wynn to finish off the Bulls ... Gillespie (2-2/1.71) fanned seven and walked two in getting the best of Ranford ace Ralph Hawk (5-1/1.04), last year's Pro Cup MVP... the 'Cats got to him for four runs on nine hits in seven and two-thirds innngs... Hawk walked two and struck out 8... Hawk had beaten Cold Creek 3-1 and 2-0 in games one and four.
RF Guy St. Laurent (.250) sent the Catamounts into the lead with a solo blast in the top of the second... Bulls' 2B Harley Freeman (.234) evened it up with his homer in the last of the fifth... it was St. Laurent's third roundtripper of the postseason and Freeman's second... Cold Creek took charge in the sixth with three runs... LF Jimmy Howell (.355) doubled in Robert Harrison (.500) to make it 2-1... 1B Eric Hollister's (.261) sacrifice fly upped it to 3-1... and 3B Joe Cochrane's (.333) base hit expanded the lead to 4-1... Ranford never recovered and failed in its valiant attempt to repeat as IPA champion.
Howell and Harrison sparked the Catamounts with two hits each... Harrison took over for CF Ken Brennan, who was injured diving for a ball in the first inning... Freeman had a pair of hits to lead the Bulls at the plate.
With huge tears flowing down his face, brightened up by a big smile on his face Cold Creek manager Scoop Lemieux joyfully said, "We finally made it to the Pro Cup Finals... the 'Cats have won a lot of games in the last six years, but we couldn't get to the big time... now we have... now we've got to finish it and bring the trophy back to the wonderul fans of Cold Creek."
An upbeat Ranford skipper, Chris Bernhoffer, told reporters, "This was another great season for the Bulls... we had a wonderful opportunity to repeat as Pro Cup champion being up 3-1 and all... the team really gave it their all, but just couldn't finish it off... I'm not disappointed... we won the division title again and almost won the Ruthlandian title again... I'm sure there are about 60-something teams in the IPA that would have liked to be in our shoes... no, I'm not disappointed... I have never bought into the philosophy that you have to win the Pro Cup to have a successful season."
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