[Ruwisc]

Week 9-9.5: June 5-23

Round 17:
..Sh.Eagles 3-2 National - 1-10, 6-3, 4-2, 10-0, 1-4
....Nokelto 4-1 Mithazni - 7-5, 10-7, 11-5(10), 1-2, 7-1
....Cheshek 1-4 Tsapna - 3-6, 3-6, 1-10, 11-4(11), 1-2
.....Lutrul 2-3 Westline - 2-3, 3-5, 6-11, 7-6, 9-8
...Akashemo 3-2 Kupore - 6-3(11), 2-6, 5-1, 6-5(10), 1-8
...Pasataki 3-2 Otahel City - 8-7, 8-1, 3-2, 3-4, 10-13
..A.Spirits 2-3 Fampalo - 1-3, 3-2, 10-1, 9-10, 0-4
....Sitache 1-4 Keleri - 1-5, 2-6, 6-4, 3-5, 1-2
.....Hokrof 2-3 Kepmem - 3-4, 9-8, 6-7, 0-8, 5-2(10)
..Amnanache 1-4 Mighty Oaks - 1-2(10), 2-3, 1-5, 5-3, 4-15


Pasataki Galaxy 8, Otahel City 7: Facing his former club, Otahel LF Maso Ere stroked three homers in this game, including a game-tying solo shot in the 8th inning, bu the Galaxy would rebound to take the game anyway. Ere drove in 5 on the night. He entered the game with just 9 HR on the season, so a bit of a surprise for the 37-year-old, playing in his 13th EL season following stints with the Hefem Rangers (2004-08) and Galaxy (2010-16) mixed in with four other teams.

Round 18:
..Amnanache 2-3 Cheshek - 3-9, 1-4, 4-3, 6-4, 1-9
.....Hokrof 2-3 Akashemo - 0-4, 15-2, 1-8, 8-4, 7-10
...Pasataki 5-0 Sh.Eagles - 6-4(10), 5-1, 7-2, 10-6, 2-1
...Mithazni 0-5 National - 3-12, 0-3, 1-3, 5-10, 2-11
.....Kupore 0-5 Keleri - 0-3, 7-8(10), 4-5, 2-9, 2-3
Otahel City 2-3 Westline - 0-1(10), 7-5, 0-2, 7-5, 1-4
.....Lutrul 2-3 A.Spirits - 3-2, 4-2, 0-6, 3-11, 6-9
....Fampalo 1-4 Mighty Oaks - 6-9, 2-5, 3-0, 3-4, 2-5
....Sitache 3-2 Nokelto - 8-0, 5-6, 5-3, 4-3, 3-4
.....Kepmem 4-1 Tsapna - 10-8, 5-3, 4-3, 2-6, 4-3


Pasataki's 5-game sweep of the Eagles is just the second all season by an away team, a pretty surprising feat.

Sitache 8, Nokelto Scouts 0: a one-hit shutout by Sitache SP Chapeo Mematsa. It's one of the most efficient shutouts I've seen, with only 85 pitches thrown! He even got more efficient as the game went on, throwing just 33 pitches in the final four innings. Nokelto's lone hit was a 3rd-inning single from catcher Siyi Posheni, and they also had a man reach on an error in the 5th - naturally, both on the first pitch.

Pasataki Galaxy 5, Shunna Eagles 1: a season-ending injury for Galaxy starter Shotse Chyliwo, a torn labrum. This rotation has been pretty good, better than expected, but Chyliwo got the opening day nod this year so it's not good news regardless.

June 15: Closer Lisou Nikera resigns with the Pasataki Galaxy, for 3 years and a total of just under $7 million. This is a pretty good bargain for the Galaxy in my opinion, Nikera is an above-average closer and is only 21 years old. He has been the closer ever since being acquired in a 2019 deadline deal with Amnanache. He's never made more than just over the league minimum (his 2022 salary is $580k) so he's probably fine with it.

Keleri 9, Kupore 2: Keleri CF Rarehimi Pohyfe just returned from a sprained knee at the start of this week, winning player of the game honors in the 6-2 win over Sitache, but in this game he sprained the other knee! That'll be another 3-4 weeks on the shelf for the 30-year-old.

Round 19:
Mighty Oaks 4-1 Lutrul - 1-2, 6-0, 6-4, 9-2, 11-7
...Akashemo 0-5 Sitache - 0-6, 2-6, 2-4, 5-8(12), 0-4
....Cheshek 2-3 Pasataki - 5-4, 2-11, 8-3(10), 1-4, 6-7
..Sh.Eagles 2-3 Kupore - 3-5, 8-5, 2-0, 0-2, 7-8
....Nokelto 2-3 Hokrof - 13-2, 3-6, 14-8, 3-8, 2-4(10)
...Westline 1-4 Kepmem - 0-5, 3-4, 4-5(10), 11-0, 3-4(10)
.....Tsapna 3-2 Fampalo - 4-8, 9-2, 2-0, 3-7, 14-0
...National 2-3 Amnanache - 2-6, 1-2, 9-3, 9-1, 3-6
.....Keleri 4-1 Otahel City - 4-3, 5-3, 3-1, 3-4(10), 10-5
..A.Spirits 3-2 Mithazni - 3-6, 10-2, 7-5(10), 8-5, 1-3


Amnanache 2, National 1: One more season-ending injury, this time to Amnanache closer Teyumpu Riali (shoulder). The 22-year-old Rei, serving as the Amnanache closer for the first time, was on a real hot streak, having not allowed an earned run since early May. Amnanache have been surprisingly bad, they can't really afford breaks like this.

Mighty Oaks 6, Lutrul 4: Last year's MVP, Oaks RF Peyaka Sefenera, showed why by taking over this contest. He was 5-for-5 with a pair of home runs and a triple, falling a double short of the cycle, while driving in four runs including the eventual winner in the 7th.

Standings..........W..L
-- Mighty Oaks 66 29
-- ...National 60 35
+1 .....Kepmem 58 37
-1 ....Cheshek 57 38
-- ...Pasataki 56 39
+1 .....Keleri 56 39
-1 .....Tsapna 52 43
-- ....Fampalo 48 47
+1 ..A.Spirits 47 48
+2 ...Westline 45 50
-- ...Akashemo 45 50
-3 .....Lutrul 45 50
-- ..Sh.Eagles 43 52
-- .....Kupore 43 52
+1 ..Amnanache 42 53
-1 Otahel City 42 53
-- ....Sitache 41 54
-----------------------------
-- ....Nokelto 39 56
-- .....Hokrof 36 59
-- ...Mithazni 29 66


A 12-3 period for Mighty Oaks puts the league on notice – they really want to be the team that breaks the three-peat "curse". A symmetric 3-12 period for Mithazni seems like it's all but locked them into a relegation position, 12 games from safety at the halfway point. Given that, the last two seasons, teams with 79-111 records have been relegated, that suggests Mithazni would need to play the second half above .500 to stick around.

Kepmem and Cheshek continue to stick around. I'm most impressed with BK Kepmem, who have never finished higher than 9th place in the Elite League and still don't really have all that much of a pitching staff. Their underlying hitting stats aren't actually all that impressive either, but it's added up to the 2nd-highest run output in the EL. I don't really expect it to continue, as they are a staggering 24-11 in one-run games and 9-3 in extra innings, but hard not to be proud of wins already banked.

Next post will be a stats & lower leagues update - then rounds 20-22 to start off the second half. These are all reverses of series from earlier in the year, specifically rounds 3-5. So, we'll see a couple of decent rematches - National vs. Galaxy probably the most prominent.

Round 20:
Shunna Eagles vs. Kepmem
Cheshek vs. Sitache
Westline vs. Fampalo
Tsapna vs. Mithazni
National vs. Pasataki Galaxy
Keleri vs. Lutrul
Mighty Oaks vs. Otahel City
Aroketsil Spirits vs. Hokrof
Akashemo vs. Amnanache
Nokelto Scouts vs. Kupore

Round 21:
Sitache vs. Mighty Oaks
Fampalo vs. Keleri
Lutrul vs. Cheshek
Hokrof vs. Shunna Eagles
Otahel City vs. Tsapna
Amnanache vs. Aroketsil Spirits
Mithazni vs. Akashemo
Pasataki Galaxy vs. Westline
Kupore vs. National
Kepmem vs. Nokelto Scouts

Round 22:
Lutrul vs. Nokelto Scouts
Hokrof vs. Cheshek
Kepmem vs. Keleri
Sitache vs. Shunna Eagles
Fampalo vs. National
Mithazni vs. Westline
Pasataki Galaxy vs. Aroketsil Spirits
Otahel City vs. Akashemo
Kupore vs. Mighty Oaks
Amnanache vs. Tsapna