RU, TU TITLE SERIES BEGIN MONDAY
They began the season with 64 teams and now they are down to just four... it's Final Four time in the IPA playoffs... last year's champion Claxton made the cut, this year's favorite Rolling Hills is still alive, along with two other Pro Cup hopefuls, the Colfax Black Sox and the Southport Sun Sox... who will prevail in the second round of the Island Pro Alliance Pro Cup playoff and advance to the Pro Cup Finals and play for the coveted Pro Cup trophy?... will the dominating pitching of Claxton repeat with back-to-back Pro Cups?... will the hard-hitting Rolling Hills Racers outscore everybody?... will the good all-around Southport Sun Sox have their day in the sun?... can the underdog Colfax Black Sox use a well-balanced attack with fairly good pitching and pull a couple of upsets?... the baseball-crazed nation of Islandia will soon find out... starting this Monday afternoon it's the Ruthlandian Union and the Tycobbian Union League Championship Series... Claxton and Colfax will tangle for the RU title and Rolling Hills and Southport will square off for the TU title in best-of-seven series.
In the first round 2nd-ranked Claxton whipped 4th-rated LaGrange in a standout seven-game series... number 6 Colfax upended number 7 Wynnamac in seven tense games... top-ranked Rolling Hills bested 5th-rated Tuckanarra, but had to go the full seven games to prevail... and 3rd-rated Southport took care of number 8 Hartsdale in just five games.
Defending IPA champion Claxton probably looked the best in the first round... they whipped an outstanding LaGrange squad... the Diamonds did it with superb pitching, adequate hitting and excellent defense... unheralded Colfax can hit the ball and score runs... their success depends on how well they stop the Claxton bats... the Diamonds should win... they are devastatingly good on the hill... Claxton is the better club and should win in 5 or 6 games... the Diamonds have a strong chance to defend its IPA title.
Rolling Hills was better-than-ever against a strong Tuckanarra team... as expected the Racers hit well and scored runs, but it was the excellent pitching that impressed and won the series... Rolling Hills will have their work cut out for them... Southport may be as good as Claxton and LaGrange when it comes to standout pitching... in the first round the Sun Sox staff handled the Hartsdale Hellcats pretty well and the Hellcats had a fine year at the plate... they certainly were no patsies at the plate... the Tycobbian title is up for grabs... it a toss-up between two fine squads... both can hit, both can pitch... in recent years in the playoffs, Rolling Hills has had suspect pitching, especially in the bullpen... another critical shortcoming is the Racers' defense... if that proves to be the case this year, Southport will win... the Sun Sox have a much better defensive club... no matter what, it looks like a seven-game survival of the fittest and both clubs are fit... if the Racers continue to pitch like they did against the Tucks, Rolling Hills will win in seven games.
Claxton Diamonds
Colfax Black Sox
Rolling Hills Racers
Southport Sun Sox
