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The Islandian Times
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
2024 Ruthlandian North Final Recap
Valmara Wins 2nd Straight RU North
Look out IPA, here comes the Valmara Vipers again... Jet Kazmarek's crew won its second straight Ruthlandian North flag and fifth in history... Don't be too surprised, if it's another Valmara-Tuckanarra Pro Cup Final like last year... the Vipers held off some strong teams and won by 6 games... they topped the IPA in victories this season with 97... Kilkenny had a great season and finished in the second spot... Taranto was third, followed by Ancona in fourth and Far Mountain (86-68) in fifth.
Valmara (97-57) seems to have it all this year with three 20-game winners in Clem Carmouche (20-8 2.52), Billy Ray (20-11 2.93) and Johnny Vasylenko (21-11 3.97)... the Vipers have a great bullpen, too, led by Chris Phillips (5-4) with 34 saved games and a fantastic 1.01 ERA... good bats abound, too, with CF Teddy Szymanski (.333 BA/27 HR/110 RBI/104 R) and LF Sonny Oliver (.299 BA/30 HR/111 RBI/86 R)... the Vipers are good with the gloves, too, with a .977 FA (2nd-tied).
The Cinderella Kilkenny Cats (91-63) have made good progress under Kevin McPhail the last three years, rising from seventh to fourth to second... The Cats have one outstanding starter Dave Whitaker (24-10 2.01) and a classy bullpen led by closer Cuzz Grandberry (5-6), who saved 39 games and posted a 2.37 ERA... McPhail needs really need some offense... the Cats hit only .244 this year (24th)... Kilkenny plays good defense with a .976 FA (4rd-tied).
Tommaso Lazzorda's Taranto Tars (88-66) wound up 9 games off the pace in third place... top performers at the plate were 2B Greg Murphy (.331 BA/24 HR/90 RBI/112 R) and 1B Denny Zaffino (.284 BA/28 HR/79 RBI)... on the hill the Tars had two fine starters with Johnny Sakelaris (18-12 3.15) and Alfredo Barsotti (13-8 3.69), although Barsotti went out in early August with injury and will be out four months.
The Ancona Red Elephants (87-67) ended up fourth in the standings and trailed Valmara by 10 games... manager Manny Mickens got good mound work from youngster Ken Rokas (21-15 3.67) and vet Spiros Zodiates (17-13 3.09)... and an excellent performance from Kenny Nikas (3-5) with 29 saves and a sparkling 1.29 ERA... Nikas is only 21 and in his second year in the league... topping the offense were vets 1B Alekos Kotas (.264 BA/30 HR/98 RBI/84 R), 3B Todd Nasso (.267 BA/23 HR/96 RBI/94 R) and newcomer LF Donnie Lewis (.280 BA/5 HR/44 RBI/101 R/32 SB), who came over from Rolling Hills in the off-season... Mickens lost his superstar LF Kenny Willard in late August due to injury... Willard was hitting .296 at the time with 24 homers, 109 RBIs and 97 runs... The Red Elephants are solid on defense with a .976 FA (4th-tied).
Alex Groveland improved his Far Mountain Redhawks (86-68) this year, but fell in the standings from second place... he finished a close fifth, 11 games out in the race... Groveland had the best team ERA in the RU at 2.81 (1st), sparked by Jeff Cooper (15-14 2.17), Woody Crawford (16-16 2.71), Jakob Wagner (20-11 2.98) and Karl Frantz (16-12 3.35)... they might be the best starting four in the IPA... but the Redhawks are woeful at the plate with a .241 BA (27th)... you can't compete well when your top bats are 1B Johnny Becker (.307 BA/10 HR/60 RBI) and LF Ryan Mizell (.262 BA/12 HR/88 RBI).
None of the other clubs had good years... the Glasco Athletics (72-82) with Charles Darby at the helm were sixth and 25 games back... 40-year-old Davy McAdams (18-15 3.20) heads up the hurlers... and 22-year-old 1B Garris Aiken (.300 BA/31 HR/119 RBI/88 R) is the only bonifide bat.
For the eighth season in a row the LaGrange Sports (68-85) are in the bottom half of the RU North in seventh place, 28 games in back... Otto Kronvath does have solid pitching wit a 3.28 ERA (8th)... Mike York (14-19 2.25), Niles Wooten (13-18 2.93) and Gabe Thomas (12-14 3.19) are very capable, but you can't win without runs... the Sports are batting a poor .239 (30th) and rank near the bottom in runs scored (29th)... 3B Mitch Pope was the club leader with 18 homers and 67 RBIs, but hit only .242.
Rick Fargnoli has bat woes, too... his Ranford Bulls (62-92) came in last for the second successive season... the Bulls were 35 games out... they batted just .242 as a team (26th)... but did well on the hill with Angelo Coppolo (9-12 3.04), Scotty Simmons (12-20 3.15) and Jimmy Travis (15-14 3.38)... LF Tyee Maska topped the team stats with 20 homers, 77 runs batted in and 78 runs, but hit only .258.
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