[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times
Monday, September 22, 2025

2025 Ruthlandian South Final Recap

CL Regains RU South, Nips Waleska
After a year's absence the Crystal Lake Crushers are back on top of the Ruthlandian South. They went into September trailing by 2 and came out of it leading by 3 over defending champion Waleska, who held the spot for a season. This was Crystal Lake's fourth division title in six years. The Crushers have also garnered two Pro Cups in that time... The Crushers got hot the last month, going 15-5 to the Westerers 10-10. Nobody else was close. It was strictly a two-team race. Belair Beach was a distant 19 games behind in third place and San Dimas and Valka deadlocked for the fourth spot, 22 games off the pace. Only two teams had winning records in one of the weaker IPA divisions.

Crystal Lake manager Herman "Baby" George was known for his longball prowess in his industrial league days... George hit more amateur homers than anybody in his illustrious career... but people forget he was a very capable pitcher as well... George started off on the mound and hit so well, he moved to the outfield and became a legend... strange as it may seem, the Crystal Lake Crushers (92-62) have never been a good hitting team, but they certainly do well on the mound with a 2.96 team ERA (2nd) and are above-average defensively (.975 FA)... the
Crushers rotation features two superstuds: Duncan Welch (21-14 2.39) and Derek Taylor (22-12 2.87), along with two quality arms: youngsters Rick Gilliam (7-2 3.30) and T. D. Burnham (13-8 3.90)... George's bullpen is strong, too, led by Keith Hunter (3-4), who notched 36 saves and a terrific 1.54 ERA... Hunter led the RU in saves and was second-best in the IPA to Fairfax's Manny Hunsinger with 37... the Crushers are just an average hitting club... top bats were CF Herm Taylor (.294/5/84/81) and SS Pete Hicks (.273/10/68/110)... RF Augie Marshall batted only .230, but delivered 93 RBIs and 14 homers... Pro Cup winners usually have to hit the ball, but Crystal Lake has disproved that theory on several occasions in 2022 and 2024... the Crushers will be one of the favorites this year.

The Waleska Westerners (89-65) are actually a better, all-around club than Crystal Lake... skipper McGraw Johnson's ball team was 6th in scoring, fields well (.975 FA) and has one of the better staffs in the RU with a 3.04 ERA (5th)... two veterans Sammy Grimaldi (21-15 2.65) and Doug Watts (21-8 3.14) were 20-game winners... Chet McNeil (18-11 3.32) and Pete Herrmann (15-19 3.11) were solid, too... Jarred Laclair (6-4) led a strong bullpen with 30 saves and a standout 1.80 ERA... CF Roy Hobbs (.305/20/77/90), LF Loco Dillinger (.310/35/106/88) and 1B Glenn Christian (.294/12/71/82) sparked the batting attack.

For the ninth straight season Marty Pedroza's Belair Beach Sunbirds (73-81) have missed the playoffs... the 'Birds were third, but were 8 games under .500 and 19 games back in the race... not much offense (.249 BA), near the bottom... fair pitching (3.56 ERA)... and poor defense (.967 FA)... Jaime Pedroza (17-13 3.06) led the staff... All-Star Kees Draeger (.328/32/98/97) had a great season and carried the offense almost single-handedly.

It's been 17 years since the San Dimas Rancheros (70-84) claimed their only division title... the Rancheros wound up fourth, tied with Valka, 22 games out of first... a very similar team to Belair Beach... lack of scoring (29th)... no power (30th)... decent pitching (3.64 ERA)... and poor fielding (.969 FA)... All-Star Shannon White (18-14 3.05) and Keir Wells (17-17 2.93) were two fine hurlers... rookie phenom and All-Star 1B Lloyd Kelly had a marvelous season, easily leading the IPA with a .382 BA... though he had only 11 homers and 57 runs batted in... it's hard to drive in runs when nobody is on base... CF Ray Ford also made the All-Star team and chalked up good numbers with a .307 BA, 19 home runs, 83 RBIs and 85 runs.

Andrei Kokk's Valka Blackhawks (70-84) haven't been in the playoffs since 2017... pretty much in the same ballpark as Belair Beach and San Dimas except they had a little more power with 96 homers (23rd)... the Blackhawks batted .246 (22nd), but were 9th in scoring... posted a 3.79 ERA (26th) and a poor .969 fielding average... top pitchers were both 24, starter Adam Aru (17-12 3.01) and closer Kermo Kabin (7-3 1.41)... leading the way offensively were RF Tonu Viks (.275/20/95/84) and All-Star SS Olari Ojastu (.292/16/75/83).

The sixth-place Grand City Cybercats dipped into the second division of the RU South for the first time since 2017, falling 23 games behind Crystal Lake... manager Wade Joslin's pitching fell off considerably with a 4.25 team ERA (30th)... however, the Cybercats were 7th in scoring... 4th with a .259 BA... and 24th with 94 homers... and strong defensively with a .977 FA... two vets LF Ricky Rich (.338/12/85/87) and All-Star RF Nick Baldini (.305/9 HR/72/87) paced the club at the plate.

Only 5 times in its history has the St. John Crusaders (67-87) had a winning team... it's been 13 seasons since the club made the Pro Cup playoffs... this year Skinny Kisecawchuk's team wound up seventh, 25 games back... this is the fourth year in a row St. John has finished near the bottom... Kisecawchuk had better-than-average pitching with a 3.34 team ERA (12th), but little else... Jeremy Vincent (13-15 2.65) is a very capable pitcher, along with Don Baillie (17-18 3.28), both suffer from a lack of run support... SS Vinny Teicher (.282/14/78) and LF Joey Daigrepont (.291/16/75/63) are the Crusaders best bats.

Times are hard for the Ole Perfesser Stacy Engel... his Claxton Diamonds (54-100) spiraled down to the RU South basement this year... Engel's pitching was atrocious with a 4.33 ERA (32nd)... and his offense was not much better... Max Jung (16-20 3.23) is his only quality pitcher... and LF George McKay (.287/25/74/97) is his only quality bat... however, CF K. C. Moerdijk hammered 26 out of the park, scored 96 runs and batted in 77, but hit just .238 for average.