[Eugene Church]

The Waleska Westerners (86-68) played well throughout the entire campaign with only one down month, 14-15 in May... the Cowpokes hit well, score well and have average defense... only shortcoming is power... only 98 HRs (29th)... Waleska won the division three times in succession in '51, '52 and '53... lapsed to fifth in '54, but rebounded to a close third last year... now they are back on top... the starting rotation is a good one with three quality arms in Rory Beecroft (17-15/3.05), vet Lou Carlson (17-11/3.89) and tremendous rookie Bret Shockley (20-12/3.50)... the Westerners need help in the bullpen... the best reliever was Kenny Foster (6-4/3.98/18 saves/42 G)... the rest all had 4.00 ERAs or worse... the top bats belonged to CF Boomer Barnes (.278/18/93/90/5 SB), 3B Richie Fry (.364/4/62/69), LF Bitsy Boccabella (.282/15/71/67/5 SB), 1B Johnny Dillinger (.312/12/71/56) and C Cubby Nash (.272/13/76/83)... Waleska is not expected to get deep in the postseason playoffs... likely to lose in the first round... short on home-run firepower and weak in the bullpen.

Last year's RU South winner Grand City (81-73) flopped in August (11-18) and wound up second, 5 games off the pace of Waleska and tied with St. John... scoring is a problem for the Cybercats with 645 runs (27th)... lack power with 100 roundtrippers (28th)... but the pitching is good with a 3.62 ERA (9th)... they are just average defensively (.973 FA)... leading the lineup are LF Dave Durocher (.291/18/90/77/9 SB), SS Scott MacIntyre (.308/4/44/59/9 SB), 1B Zane Faulkner (.286/2/44/59) and RF Rocky Valverdi (.297/8/26/43/9 SB)... Valverti lost half the season with a bad elbow... have four dependable starters in Steve Shirley (13-5/2.21), Fred Barrow (13-13/2.82), Jozef Chojnaki (17-16/3.39) and Zac Borden (11-15/3.60), but nothing much in the bullpen.

After a seventh-place finish in '55 (71-83), St. John (81-73) improved their attack and climbed into contention this year... the Crusaders also had a bad August (13-16) and lost out late to division winner Waleska by 5 games... they hit very well with a .282 BA (3rd), score well with 743 runs (7th) and the mound staff is fair with a 4.02 ERA... and they handle the defense very well (.977 FA)... most of the offense comes from three regulars: 2B Ozwaldo Romero (.307/23/91/73), CF Freddie Woodruff (.271/8/61/91/18 SB) and All-Star C Tuffy Palmieri (.298/8/58/62)... the trio of Teddy de Grom (20-16/3.56), Whitlow Cornwell (18-11/3.37) and Teddy Howell (14-10/4.11) are pretty reliable starters... with a fine closer in Mark Faber (5-4/2.17/23 saves/45 G), but he has little help in the rest of the bullpen.

Fourth place in the RU South standings went to the Valka Blackhawks (80-74)... they ran a very tight race until midyear, then just slowly slipped behind Waleska, ending up 6 games back... the Blackhawks have a good club... they won the division in '54 (82-72) and were third last year (81-73), just 4 games out... Valka features solid starters (3.49 ERA), but could use some help in the relief corps... the Blackhawks don't hit very well with a .259 BA (25th), but have average scoring with 689 runs (18th-tied) with no firepower... only 85 roundtrippers (31st)... but are strong defensively with a .977 FA... anchoring the mound staff is rookie phenom Aavo Keskkula (20-11/2.32), along with Clark Harrington (17-15/3.53) and Norbert Border (14-10/3.95)... and also Arvi Tamm (8-4/2.40) had a fine season going, but got hurt in July and was lost for the year... Tamm was a big loss... he might have helped the Blackhawks rise higher in the standings... might have posed a bit of a challenge to first place Waleska... another big problem is the bullpen... it's bad... Ricky Cockburn (2-9/3.12/22 saves/44 G) was only decent... he had 22 saves, but was just 2-9 in the won-loss department... the most productive batters were All-Star Olev Tarvas (.317/4/66/78/24 SB), RF Mel Shadwell (.281/13/72/85/9 SB), 3B Corey Belk (.278/4/71/76/11 SB) and CF Marcos Arredondo (.234/9/48/89/33 SB).

The Crystal Lake Skippers (78-76) ran a steady race, winding up in fifth place, 8 games behind... the Skips were a serious challenger until midseason, then fell back in the second half of the year... they were fourth in '55 (80-74), trailing by 5 games... '44 was the last time Crystal Lake won the RU South... the Skippers possess good starters, weak bullpen, average offense and just average gloves (.974 FA)... they hit .263 (16th) and scored 689 runs (18th-tied) with 129 homers (16th)... the Skips were 11th with a 3.73 ERA... Merle Pitts (17-11/2.16) led the staff starters, followed by Ozzy McLendon (14-13/3.52) and Robin Norbourne (12-15/3.93)... not much in the pen... Josh Crosby (5-12/4.30/28 saves/59 G) was the best they had... he had lots of saves, but lots of losses and a sky-high ERA... Crystal Lake had some potent hitters in All-Star LF Zippy Coburn (.332/27/102/100/18 SB), 1B Gib Conlan (.265/25/100/96/1 SB), SS Bama Quade (.287/3/37/91/27 SB) and 3B Jasper Shackleford (.289/22/87/75).

The Belair Beach Sunbirds (76-78) remained in close contention until mid-June, then fizzled out, ending up sixth in the RU South, 10 GB... it's been 9 years since the Sunbirds won the division (2047)... for the fourth straight season they have been a borderline .500 club... they haven't posted a winning season since '47... last year Belair Beach (74-80) was fifth, 11 GB... the Sunbirds don't hit very well with a .262 BA (19th), nor score well with 633 runs (29th), nor hit homers well with only 104 (26th)... the pitching is average with a 3.83 ERA (14th)... however, the defense is outstanding with a .978 FA... the starting rotation consists of Jeffrey Verblen (16-15/3.82), Chris Malbrough (14-11/3.66) and Glen Long (16-16/4.25)... the pen is pretty good with Kyle Gibson (7-5/2.34/28 saves/55 G)... at the plate the best sticks are All-Star LF Curtis Cochran (.330/7/61 85/32 SB), 3B Rusty Van Slyke (.292/15/67/54/1 SB) and 2B Mark Hawkins (.278/14/57/49).

The seventh-place San Dimas Rancheros (73-81) stayed in the RU South race until the halfway point, then quickly dropped out with a bad July (11-17) and an awful August (8-21)... they were 13 games behind by season's end... San Dimas had lackluster hitting, scoring and pitching... with average fielding (.974 FA)... the Rancheros haven't made the playoffs since their last RU South pennant in 2041... they were last in '53 (59-95) and '54 (60-94) and sixth in '55 (73-81)... San Dimas has been stuck in the second division for some time now... but they do have some quality starters in Hernando Almora (17-13/3.88), Tomas Olmeda (16-16/3.83) and Tyler Tydings (16-17/3.95)... plus a very fine closer in Kenny Robinson (1-3/1.31/30 saves/44 G)... the club could use some better relievers... the Rancheros have a few good bats with LF Gilberto Gallardo (.317/27/92/85/1 SB), SS Emiliano Martinez (.259/16/81/59/20 SB) and 1B Kenneth Joost (.337/17/55/49/1 SB).

Pulling up the rear are the last place Claxton Diamonds (68-86), 18 GB... they never were close in the RU South pennant race... the Diamonds can hit homers and score, also have standout defense, but they have bad pitching... they batted .259 (24th), scored 735 runs (9th), hit 181 out of the park (3rd), posted a very fine .977 FA, but had a 4.30 ERA (29th)... Claxton came in eighth last year (69-85), too... won the RU South flag four times in five years from '45 to '49... they have had seven straight losing seasons since... the Diamonds have four pretty fair hitters in CF Scoops Dunn (.305/23/82/88/15 SB), 41-year-old superstar All-Star 2B and player-manager Jojo DeLucca (.298/28/102/85/4 SB), SS Freddi Hahn (.278/22/79/80/1 SB) and RF Bobby Bright (.280/24/73/65)... not a lot on the mound for Claxton... Leon Reynolds (18-11/3.73) is the only starter with a winning record and an ERA under 4.29... Ramon Santos (1-1/2.32/no saves/40 G) might be a good closer next year... he did well in middle relief this season.