Originally Posted by Eugene Church
jg2977, here are the recaps of the 2025 season and each round of the playoffs.
South Fork was managed by the outspoken and sometimes controversial Deloche "Lips" Leon... notice he predicted the Stallions would win the Pro Cup after upsetting Pro Cup favorite Rolling Hills Reds in the first round.
YESTERDAY IN THE IPA
The Islandian Times
Monday, September 22, 2025
2025 Tycobbian East Final Recap
South Fork Shocks Tucks, Wins TU East
It was a shocker in the Tycobbian East this season... The South Fork Stallions have always been perennial also-rans... 23 years without a pennant... no postseason since 2002... after a sixth-place finish last season, no one expected it to change in 2025 either... most everybody thought it be pretty much the same this year... everybody but the Stallions... They stunned the heavily-favored Tuckanarra Blue Jays with a fantastic second-half run to win the TU East by 3 games... the strong Midway Wolves came in third and 6 games back with Hillsboro fourth in the standings, 10 games out of first... six teams wound up .500 or better in the very strong TU East.
1st - South Fork Stallions (96-58)... sixth last year (69-85)... Deloche "Lips" Leon had a lot to talk about this year as his South Fork Stallions won more games than anybody in the IPA... an influx of 5 rookies made the difference... they started off slowly and trailed Midway by 6 games in May and 5 games in June... Pro Cup champ Tuckanarra took over and led them by 9 in July... but the Stallions went an astounding 44-13 the next two months to go up by 2 games over the Blue Jays by September... South Fork is a well-balanced ball club with a .261 BA (5th), 3rd in scoring and 12th with 136 roundtrippers... on the mound they had a 3.14 team ERA (4th)... they are just average defensively with a .971 FA... Gary Price (22-14 2.95) and rookie Bill Massey (21-10 2.99) sparked the rotation with help from two more freshmen Jim Tettelbach (17-12 3.63) and Ozz Gatsby (19-9 3.73)... solid vet LF Patric Giles led the team with 28 homers, 94 RBIs and 114 runs, while hitting .291... 1B Teddy Nixon added a .307 BA, 10 home runs, 64 RBIs and 77 runs... rookies SS Kurt Pankewitz (.267/11/68/66) and 3B Mark Barker (.287/7/45/53) also contributed with their bats and gloves... South Fork's triumph was no fluke... Tuckanarra and Midway never gave up, they were just outplayed.
The Islandian Times
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Tettelbach Brilliant, SF Wins Series
"Hey, we won 96 games... we didn't get lucky."... That was manager Duroche "Lips" Leon's comments after his South Fork Stallions whipped the favored Rolling Hills Reds and captured the TU Elite 8 Series by a 4-2 margin... "We didn't care what the so-called experts said... we expected to win this series... and we did... and we also expect to win the Pro Cup."... Rolling Hills was rated the top seed in the Pro Cup playoffs, while the Stallions were ranked only fourth in The Islandian Times poll... In the sixth-and-deciding game at Jock Ewing Stadium in South Fork, Leon got a great performance from his number three starter Jim Tettelbach, who fired a 1-hit shutout for 8 innings and beat the Reds 1-0 with the help of closer Tommy Galloway... Galloway sat down the Reds in the ninth for his second save of the series... the winning run came in the fourth inning when LF Patric Giles (.261) hit a 435-homer off losing pitcher McGraw Christianson... Christianson (0-2 3.94) was magnificent in defeat, yielding only 4 hits, struck out 4 and walked only one... The Stallions will now go up against the fifth seeded Ginza Ninjas for the Tycobbian title.
The Islandian Times
Monday, October 6, 2025
SF Stallions Race By Ginza In 5 Games
After losing the opening game in the Tycobbian championship series, the South Fork Stallions reeled off four victories in a row to wipe out the Ginza Ninjas... Now South Fork will battle Middlefield, the RU champ, for the Islands' Pro Cup... They lost in the second round in 2001... and in the TU Final 4 in 2002... haven't been in the playoffs since... and have never played in the Pro Cup Finals.
Game 5 went to the Stallions 4-2 behind the solid pitching of rookie left-hander Bill Massey (4-0 1.86)... He tossed 8 innings, held the Ninjas to 2 runs on 8 hits with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts... Ricky Raeburn closed it out with a perfect ninth for the save... Harlan Wilson (0-1 4.00) took the loss in his first start of the postseason... Wilson allowed 4 runs and 7 hits in 7 innings, walking 6 and fanning 4.
South Fork had 9 hits to 8 for the Ninjas... RBIs by RF Robby Michael (.256), LF Patric Giles (.225), CF Shelby Glasscock (.227) and 2B Norris Nettles (.314) gave the Stallions a 4-0 lead after 6 and a half innings... CF Lyle McCann (.333) doubled in Ginza's only runs in the seventh.
The Islandian Times
Thursday, October 16, 2025
2025 IPA Pro Cup Series
What a Relief, South Fork Wins First Pro Cup
Great relief work in the seventh game of the Pro Cup Finals paved the way for South Fork's first-ever Pro Cup victory... three Stallion relievers stopped Middlefield cold, blanking them over the final 6 innings on one hit, striking out 9 and walking only one... that gave South Fork a chance to rally from a massive 6-run deficit after 3 innings... they slowly pecked away and shaved it to 6-4 after 7 innings and then delivered the coup de grace - a 5-run explosion in the eighth, putting them ahead to stay 9-6... the big blow of the game was when PH Lou Boone crashed a 3-run triple to put South Fork ahead 7-6.
Winning skipper Lips Leon exclaimed excitedly at the press conference, "Wow, that was a wild and crazy game and a wild and crazy series... to come back from a 6-0 score in game seven is fantastic... thank heavens we hit the ball today... We won the series, but got outscored... how about that!"... Both clubs averaged almost 6 runs a game with Middlefield having the edge 42-41.
Just like they were the entire season, the Stallion bullpen was fabulous... Kyle Preston worked four hitless innings and fanned 4... winning pitcher Ricky Raeburn (2-0 1.98) struck out all 3 batters in his only inning and closer Tom Galloway got his 7th save with a scoreless ninth... Galloway allowed one hit and whiffed 2 batters... Working on 2 days' rest Danny Denver ran out of gas in the late innings and lost it... Denver (2-3 4.12) was tagged for 7 runs and 8 hits in 7 innings... the Stallions outhit the Roosters 12 to 9... RF Robby Michael (.296) had 3 hits, including a home run... he drove in 2 runs... 3B Ray Hershberger (.324) also batted in a pair of runs with 2 hits.... 1B Keith Yashin (.329) had a 3-run double to pace the Roosters.
Losing manager Bailey Norcross was disappointed, but not down. "The Roosters had a great season... we won our division for the third year in a row and we went all the way to the finals of the Pro Cup... we whipped two fine teams in Wynnamac and Crystal Lake and we came pretty darn close to whipping another fine team... we had our chance... we were up three games to two... we just didn't do it... South Fork did... congratulations to Lips and his boys."
The Islandian Times
Friday, October 17, 2025
SF's Tettelbach 2025 Pro Cup MVP
A 20-year-old rookie right-hander named Jim Tettelbach was honored as the IPA Pro Cup Most Valuable Player today by The Islandian Times. Tettelbach was the prime reason why the South Fork Stallions won the IPA Pro Cup for the first time in history. He was superb in the playoffs with a 4-0 record and a sparkling 1.06 ERA. Tettelbach whipped Middlefield twice in the Finals, 6-2 in game two and 6-3 in game five. He also defeated Ginza 2-0 in the TU Final 4 and Rolling Hills 1-0 in the Elite 8. During the regular season Tettelbach recorded a 17-12 mark with a 3.63 ERA.
Stallion teammate Patric Giles was a distant second in the voting. Giles, a veteran left fielder, had a fine postseason with a .313 batting average, 2 homers, 13 RBIs and 16 runs scored. Number three in the balloting was South Fork closer Tommy Galloway, who didn't allow a run in 8 relief appearances and stood out with 7 saves. Also receiving some support were two Middlefield Roosters, left fielder Floyd McClellan and first sacker Keith Yashin. McClellan batted .348 with 5 homers, 11 RBIs and 17 runs scored, while Yashin hit 5 roundtrippers, drove in 15 runs and scored 15 times with a .329 average.
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