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Eugene Church · 01-04-2011, 01:27 PM

The Islandian Times
Tuesday, September 17, 2019

2019 Ruthlandian North Final Recap

Tars Take RU North By 4 Over Ancona and FM Redhawks
Ferocious firepower won the Ruthlandian North... The Taranto Tars hit their way to the title and overpowered Ancona and Far Mountain, who tied for the runner-up spot, winding up 4 games back... Kilkenny was in fourth place and 8 games off the pace... first half leader Ranford faded to fifth place in the second half and trailed by 10... Taranto and Ranford were tied for the top spot at the All-Star game. The Tars came within 2 runs of a new IPA mark for most runs... Middlefield holds the record with 943 set in 2006... Arroyo Grande is number one in homers in a single season with 260, hit in 2005... the top team batting average is held by Ozarka , who hit .295 in 2017.

Tommaso Lazzorda's Tars were paced by the heavy hitting of RF Augie Marshall (.319/40/130/111), LF Arnie Kennedy (.303/29/80/103), CF Phil Buckner (.314/11/79/133) and C Denny Radke (.327/14/101/87)... Taranto had adequate pitching led by Anthony Zinacola (21-9 4.32) and Yuri Dozhenko (17-11 4.22) with closer Vance Waters (6-4 2.17) doing a fine job in the bullpen with 26 saves.

Last year's division winner Ancona had a good season under manager Manny Mickens... the Red Elephants have good hitting with LF Kenny Willard (.28/32/94) and rookie phenom 3B Todd Nasso (.325/28/126)... Ancona has one fine pitcher in Clete Dukas (20-13 2.66) and a good rookie in Bud Garner (12-8 3.72)... Mickens just didn't have the offense and mound power to whip Taranto this year.

Alex Groveland ran a very good race with his Far Mountain Redhawks, but it hard to win with only one talented starter, a good closer and an average offense... Woody Crawford (20-11 2.57) won 20 games for the fourth time in his 8 seasons... and bullpen ace Konrad Braun saved 34 games with a 2.87 ERA, but was only 5-9 in the won-lost category... RF Tony Tanaka (.291/22/83/131), LF Phil Stewart (.312/13/81/103), 3B Mackie McAllister (.292/28/97/85) and 2B Don Nichols (.299/19/87/111) led the hit parade.

Fourth-place Kilkenny has a poor first half, but rebounded in the the last half and ended the year just 8 games off the pace... Kieran McKenna's Cats hit well for average with a .277 mark (2nd) and ranked fourth in scoring... Kilkenny needs help on the hill to contend seriously... Scotty McFarland (19-12 3.19) was the ace, but had no help... 1B Artie Frost (.283/14/100), CF Robby Campbell (.346/26/89), RF Jay Roche (.304/15/81/111) and 2B Stu Ashford (.301/19/97) were the best run producers.

The Ranford Bulls ran out of gas after being tied for first at the All-Star break and slipped to fifth, 10 games back... skipper Rick Fargnoli had fairly good pitching with ace Scotty Simmons (22-10 2.51) and Archie Young (17-17 3.35), but not enough hitting throughout his batting order... the Bulls did have two solid bats in CF Tyee Maska (.295/35/116) and 3B Vic Scalzi (.275/30/110).

The Valmara Vipers wound up 16 games off the pace in sixth place... the V's were never in the race... poor hitting holds Valmara back... manager Jet Kazmarek's only plus is two fine starters in 19-year vet Vanya Vasylenko (15-13 3.42) and 36-year-old Tad Janicki (18-12 3.33)... Vasylenko could top 300 victories next season... Overall he is 289-249 with a 3.47 ERA... 2B Ron Freiberg (.273/24/86) is a slick-fielding All-Star 2B with some power... He was the Vipers best bat... SS Tyler Ferguson (.313/12/56/92) also contributed.

The seventh-place Glasco Athletics were a bad ball club, finishing 27 games out of first... the A's hit only .236 and ranked last in the RU (32nd)... SS Lee Sullivan (.275/21/97/92) is Glasco's only decent hitter... on the mound Ike Plunkett's pitching was not a lot better with a 4.40 team ERA (26th)... vet closer Jack Hatcher (5-7) has a good year with 25 saves and a 2.62 ERA in 52 relief appearances.

It was another long season for Otto Kronvath and his LaGrange Sports... for the third straight season they have wound up near the bottom... the Sports were last for the second time in 3 years, 28 games behind... last year they were seventh... at the plate three oldtimers led the way... 42-year-old superstar Quincy Peterson, who had a remarkable season with a .336 BA, 32 HR, 122 RBIs and 106 runs... Peterson is one of the most productive bats in IPA history with 530 homers, 1838 RBIs and 1862 runs in 19 seasons with a .296 lifetime batting average... a sure-fire Hall-of-Fame caliber player... 14-year-vet 1B Dale Scoville had a solid year at age 39 with a .316 BA, 16 roundtrippers, 64 RBIs and 104 runs scored... another "oldie, but goodie" was 17-year man RF Joel Reed... at 39 Reed batted .284 with 18 home runs, 89 RBIs and 78 runs... it's a good thing that LaGrange has these veterans... the young players are only mediocre at best except for the 24-year-old closer Julian Buisson (4-4), who stood out this year with 24 saves and an impressive 2.20 ERA.

01-04-2011, 01:27 PM	#2246
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 35,877	The Islandian Times Tuesday, September 17, 2019 2019 Ruthlandian North Final Recap Tars Take RU North By 4 Over Ancona and FM Redhawks Ferocious firepower won the Ruthlandian North... The Taranto Tars hit their way to the title and overpowered Ancona and Far Mountain, who tied for the runner-up spot, winding up 4 games back... Kilkenny was in fourth place and 8 games off the pace... first half leader Ranford faded to fifth place in the second half and trailed by 10... Taranto and Ranford were tied for the top spot at the All-Star game. The Tars came within 2 runs of a new IPA mark for most runs... Middlefield holds the record with 943 set in 2006... Arroyo Grande is number one in homers in a single season with 260, hit in 2005... the top team batting average is held by Ozarka , who hit .295 in 2017. Tommaso Lazzorda's Tars were paced by the heavy hitting of RF Augie Marshall (.319/40/130/111), LF Arnie Kennedy (.303/29/80/103), CF Phil Buckner (.314/11/79/133) and C Denny Radke (.327/14/101/87)... Taranto had adequate pitching led by Anthony Zinacola (21-9 4.32) and Yuri Dozhenko (17-11 4.22) with closer Vance Waters (6-4 2.17) doing a fine job in the bullpen with 26 saves. Last year's division winner Ancona had a good season under manager Manny Mickens... the Red Elephants have good hitting with LF Kenny Willard (.28/32/94) and rookie phenom 3B Todd Nasso (.325/28/126)... Ancona has one fine pitcher in Clete Dukas (20-13 2.66) and a good rookie in Bud Garner (12-8 3.72)... Mickens just didn't have the offense and mound power to whip Taranto this year. Alex Groveland ran a very good race with his Far Mountain Redhawks, but it hard to win with only one talented starter, a good closer and an average offense... Woody Crawford (20-11 2.57) won 20 games for the fourth time in his 8 seasons... and bullpen ace Konrad Braun saved 34 games with a 2.87 ERA, but was only 5-9 in the won-lost category... RF Tony Tanaka (.291/22/83/131), LF Phil Stewart (.312/13/81/103), 3B Mackie McAllister (.292/28/97/85) and 2B Don Nichols (.299/19/87/111) led the hit parade. Fourth-place Kilkenny has a poor first half, but rebounded in the the last half and ended the year just 8 games off the pace... Kieran McKenna's Cats hit well for average with a .277 mark (2nd) and ranked fourth in scoring... Kilkenny needs help on the hill to contend seriously... Scotty McFarland (19-12 3.19) was the ace, but had no help... 1B Artie Frost (.283/14/100), CF Robby Campbell (.346/26/89), RF Jay Roche (.304/15/81/111) and 2B Stu Ashford (.301/19/97) were the best run producers. The Ranford Bulls ran out of gas after being tied for first at the All-Star break and slipped to fifth, 10 games back... skipper Rick Fargnoli had fairly good pitching with ace Scotty Simmons (22-10 2.51) and Archie Young (17-17 3.35), but not enough hitting throughout his batting order... the Bulls did have two solid bats in CF Tyee Maska (.295/35/116) and 3B Vic Scalzi (.275/30/110). The Valmara Vipers wound up 16 games off the pace in sixth place... the V's were never in the race... poor hitting holds Valmara back... manager Jet Kazmarek's only plus is two fine starters in 19-year vet Vanya Vasylenko (15-13 3.42) and 36-year-old Tad Janicki (18-12 3.33)... Vasylenko could top 300 victories next season... Overall he is 289-249 with a 3.47 ERA... 2B Ron Freiberg (.273/24/86) is a slick-fielding All-Star 2B with some power... He was the Vipers best bat... SS Tyler Ferguson (.313/12/56/92) also contributed. The seventh-place Glasco Athletics were a bad ball club, finishing 27 games out of first... the A's hit only .236 and ranked last in the RU (32nd)... SS Lee Sullivan (.275/21/97/92) is Glasco's only decent hitter... on the mound Ike Plunkett's pitching was not a lot better with a 4.40 team ERA (26th)... vet closer Jack Hatcher (5-7) has a good year with 25 saves and a 2.62 ERA in 52 relief appearances. It was another long season for Otto Kronvath and his LaGrange Sports... for the third straight season they have wound up near the bottom... the Sports were last for the second time in 3 years, 28 games behind... last year they were seventh... at the plate three oldtimers led the way... 42-year-old superstar Quincy Peterson, who had a remarkable season with a .336 BA, 32 HR, 122 RBIs and 106 runs... Peterson is one of the most productive bats in IPA history with 530 homers, 1838 RBIs and 1862 runs in 19 seasons with a .296 lifetime batting average... a sure-fire Hall-of-Fame caliber player... 14-year-vet 1B Dale Scoville had a solid year at age 39 with a .316 BA, 16 roundtrippers, 64 RBIs and 104 runs scored... another "oldie, but goodie" was 17-year man RF Joel Reed... at 39 Reed batted .284 with 18 home runs, 89 RBIs and 78 runs... it's a good thing that LaGrange has these veterans... the young players are only mediocre at best except for the 24-year-old closer Julian Buisson (4-4), who stood out this year with 24 saves and an impressive 2.20 ERA. Last edited by Eugene Church; 01-04-2011 at 01:31 PM.