Nuka News Update
Reporting on the NWL, NWLB, and APYL Leagues
by Evan Guy
15 March 2303
Victory-Echo Lake Rematch Marks Power Play in NWL, VL
When the NWL's Victory Cave Crickets and the VL's Echo Lake Harbormen met in the 2303 Season Pass Series, a seven-game series between the two leagues' champions, there was some doubt on how competitive the league from an island in Maine could do versus the powerhouse league of Bradberton and the Nuka-World area.
The Harbormen ended that discussion, winning the second Season Pass Series, four games to one. Coming into the 2303 season, then, the NWL had something else to prove. That's where they could showcase the changes and improvements through the preseason's Season Pass Tournament. As it turned out, both Echo Lake and Victory proved to still be the best of the best in the two leagues.
On March 14, with the Harbormen one win away, both the Harbormen and Cave Crickets battled for the 2302 championship. As a reference, the runners-up in the 2301 Season Pass Series, the Far Harbor Ghoul Whales of the Vim! League, won the 2302 Season Pass Tournament. That gave Victory hope.
Victory then achieved their name in the first matchup, winning 3-2 to force a 35th game and winner-take-all matchup for March 15. In the 3-2 win, one of the Crickets' star pitchers, Laurence Crash, was the hero, allowing two earned runs on six hits with three walks and nine strikeouts in 8.0 innings of work. Patch Batman pitched the ninth for the save.
The Crickets were led offensively in Game 34 by 1B Settler Colon. He went 2 for 4 with a home run, two runs scored, and an RBI. His 6th-inning bomb against Echo Lake starter Jesse Prentiss proved to be the winning run, giving the Crickets a 3-0 lead at the time.
Prentiss allowed three earned runs on eight hits with a walk and seven strikeouts in 8.0 innings. He was also 1 for 2 with a walk, a run, and an RBI.
In Game 35, Echo Lake led the entire time in taking the Season Pass Tournament title, 5-3. The Harbormen's Berg Poppy led the way, pitching 7.0 innings, allowing two earned runs on nine hits with a walk and a strikeout.
Victory's John Diner got the loss by allowing three earned runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts in 7.0 innings. The Harbormen's Sheep Sanchez earned the save by allowing one earned run on two hits with three strikeouts in 2.0 innings.
Echo Lake started the scoring early on Diner, getting two runs in the top of the 1st inning. RF Chris Oaks led off the game by bunting for a single on the first pitch. After stealing second, Oaks scored on a one-out double by LF Edgar Virus. Virus was then thrown out at home on the next at bat on Keagan Heat's single. However, Heat scored when 3B Hollywood Simmons singled.
Two of Victory's three runs came on solo home runs. Their first run came in the bottom of the 5th still trailing 2-0. C Bobby Stanberry hit a home run off Poppy to cut the lead to one. Stanberry finished the game 2 for 3 with a double, a home run, a walk, two runs, and an RBI.
The final run came in the bottom of the 9th trailing 5-2 at the time. 2B Shawn Burton, who was 0 for 4 coming into the bat, hit a deep home run with the Cave Crickets down to their final pitch. Burton also added another RBI in the 7th on an RBI groundout that scored Stanberry.
The Harbormen had three players with two hits apiece. Virus and Simmons were two of those players. Virus was 2 for 4 with two doubles and two RBI.
The NWL regular season begins April 20 when the Quartz Star Force take on the Cherry Ghoulrillas. The Cave Crickets begin the next day when all eight NWL teams play. Victory will take on the Dark Bloodworms on April 21 at Dark's Ol' Sugartop Ballpark at Dry Rock Gulch.
The Vim! League's regular season starts on April 5. Echo Lake will travel to Dalton Farm for their first two games before hosting the Fogcrawlers in the next two.
Winners from each league will face off for the third time at a yet-to-be-determined date in August.