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THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Thursday, October 2, 2052
ROOSTERS HEAD TO PRO CUP FINALS
The Pro Cup favorite Middlefield Roosters rule the roost in Ruthlandian baseball circles... they captured the Ruthlandian Union League Championship Series and are now headed to the IPA Pro Cup Finals against the Tycobbian titleholder East Point... Taranto didn't go down quietly... it took Middlefield seven games to finish off the tough Tars... the game seven finale went to the Roosters 5-2 behind the sharp pitching of Chris Collier (4-0/1.67), who stymied the Tars on just three hits... Collier had a no-hitter for six innings... he walked no one and fanned two batters... none of the runs were earned... Middlefield went up 5-0 with four runs in the 6th... Collier (.214/2 RBI) doubled in two runs, Rupert Forbest (.273/4 RBI) hit a sac fly and SS Stan Radzikowski (.254/3 RBI) singled in the last one... Taranto got both of the its runs in the 7th on C Niccolo Parisi's (.304/13 RBI) sacrifice flyball and LF Leo Marchetti's (.400/6 RBI) run-scoring single... the defeat went to Valerio Rossi (1-3/4.03)... the Roosters rapped him for five runs in seven innings.
Middlefield manager Ricky Tinker commented to the press, "It sure is good to have Taranto behind us... they were just as tough as we expected... fortunate for us, Collier really came through for us in his two starts... our offense did well against maybe the best staff in the IPA... 6 runs a game should beat most teams."
Augie Marshall, Tars' skipper, told reporters, "It was a hard-fought series between two fine teams... we gave it our best and came up one game short... Middlefield really has a potent offense... good hitters up-and-down their lineup... averaging 6 runs a game against our pitchers speaks volumes for how good they are... we scored almost 5 runs a game and lost... we were just outgunned."
DONLEY'S HR ADVANCES PANTHERS TO PRO CUP
Miracles still happen... just ask the East Point Panthers... down 6-1 going into the last of the 5th in the seventh and deciding game of the Tycobbian title series against the lightly-regarded Oxford Red Caps, the Panthers made a great rally to triumph 7-6 and advance to the IPA Pro Cup Finals against the Middlefield Roosters, the Ruthlandian champion... 20-year-old rookie pinchhitter Skip Donley (.250/3 RBI) got the biggest hit of his career, walloping a three-run homer and making East Point the Tycobbian champion... a remarkable victory for East Point... and a heartbreaking defeat for the underdog Oxford Red Caps... the Panthers got stellar relief work from rookie Chip Dowler and Pudgy Putnam, who blanked the Red Caps over the final five frames... the win went to starter Benny Allen (2-0/3.86), but Oxford went to town on Allen for six runs in five innings... the Red Caps left 13 runners on base... leaving them loaded in the 8th inning against Dowler without a run... Oxford also missed another golden opportunity to tie the score in the top of the 9th when Allen Spears (.390) led off with a triple, but Putnam stranded him there and escaped without giving up a run... East Point got 11 hits in the game, while Oxford collected 9... starter Tekkan Nishikawa (1-2/5.51) was the loser, permitting seven runs in five innings.
"Too close for comfort", is how victorious skipper Frank Blair described the outcome at the press conference... "Nishakawa and Oxford were well on the way to a win and the Pro Cup Finals, when we snapped out of the slumber and put six runs on the scoreboard... Donley got the biggest hit of the year for us."
Oxford manager Dennis Hartwig lamented the loss, "This one really hurts to the core... up 6-1 and we lose... we outscore them 49 to 40 and we lose... one win away from the Pro Cup Finals... sorry, it will take me a little time to get over this."... Later Hartwig offered a more positive note, "Despite this, it was a super season for us... mark my words, the Red Caps will be back next year."
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