[Eugene Church]

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Friday, October 4, 2030

Pro Cup Finals Start Tomorrow In Valmara
Game one of the IPA Pro Cup Finals is scheduled tomorrow afternoon at War Memorial Stadium in Valmara. The Vipers will host the Blue Lake Blue Sox. The series is a toss-up. Valmara is well-experienced in Pro Cup action and will be making its fourth appearance. This will be a first for the Blue Sox. Overall this is the Vipers' 12th postseason appearance. Valmara racked up its only Pro Cup title in 2026. The Blue Sox are novices with only three playoff appearances in their history. Until this season, they have never gotten past the first round. The Vipers will be in quest of a second Pro Cup, while it will be the Blue Sox first. Neither team was expected to get this far. The Vipers were seeded sixth, while the Blue Sox were rated the seventh best team in THE ISLANDIAN TIMES Pro Cup Poll.

Blue Lake manager Rick Hilliard got a big boost when his ace Doug Kirkpatrick came back from a month on the DL. Kirkpatrick (22-9/2.92) did not play in the first two rounds. He will make Blue Lake's fine starting rotation even better. Kirkpatrick will join Derek Joubert, Chris Landry and Billy Trakas, who paced the Blue Sox to a very impressive 2.25 team ERA so far in the playoffs. Hilliard hasn't decided on his rotation for the finals yet. It won't be an easy decision. Trakas is 3-0 in the postseason with a 2.61 ERA, Joubert 3-1 with a 2.97 ERA and Landry was 0-3, but with an excellent 1.99 ERA. During the regular season Trakas was 13-17 with a 3.24 ERA, Joubert 12-5 with a great 1.84 ERA and Landry was 15-13 with a 2.88 ERA.

On paper Blue Lake seems to have much superior pitching. Valmara skipper Jet Kazmarek will counter with the trio of Teddy Lem (21-14/3.31), rookie Garry Gronek (15-10/3.38) and Carroll Cain (15-12/3.27). In the postseason Lem is 4-1 with a 2.57 ERA, Gronek is 3-1 with a fine 2.48 ERA and Cain is 1-1 with a 3.27 ERA. The Blue Sox have a much better bullpen than the Vipers, too.

For Valmara to have a chance the offense must produce much better in the championship series. They have hit only .236 so far in playoffs. The Vipers batted .272 during the year. Valmara's best bats in the postseason are RF Gerry Kazmarek (.315), 2B Alec Leclerc (.292), 1B Jerry Rembert (.267) and CF Teddy Szymanski (.259). The Blue Sox have performed better in the playoffs with a .258 team BA, sparked by 3B Matt Thompson (.360), CF Chris Halley (.315), Eddie Nagen (.297), 2B Skipper Smith (.289) and C Roger Webb (.267). Both clubs are about even in power. Blue Lake has 11 homers, while Valmara has gone deep 9 times. Scoring-wise Blue Lake has tallied 45 runs in 12 games, while Valmara has totaled 42 in 13 games.