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THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Friday, July 31, 2037
SPORTS & CATS IN RU NORTH DOGFIGHT
The LaGrange Sports got hot in July and moved ahead of the Kilkenny Cats in the Ruthlandian North Division by three games... Ancona is in the third spot in the standings, 6 games back... the Glasco Athletics and Far Mountain Redhawks are tied for fourth place... going into the final seven weeks of the season sixth place Taranto is only eight games out of first... LaGrange has won the division for the last two seasons and is a slight favorite to do it again... it looks like a repeat of last year when the Sports and Kilkenny battled down to the last few days of the season and the Sports won by two games.
LaGrange is set for the stretch run with four veteran starters... it will be tough to beat Walt Thurber (15-6/2.67), Mike York (15-8/3.55) and recent additions to the starting rotation Earl Perkins (8-4/3.47) and Ryan Janssen (6-9/3.04)... the Cats are also steep in pitching with Fred Doyle (16-7/2.30) and Dave Whitaker (12-11/2.39) heading up the staff, but the Sports have the better offense... LaGrange was 19-10 in July, while Kilkenny was only 14-15... odds are the Sports will pull away from the Cats in the last weeks of the season... good pitching bodes well for LaGrange in the postseason... Ancona, Glasco, Far Mountain and Taranto don't appear to be in the running for the pennant.
WESTERNERS TAKE CHARGE IN RU SOUTH IN JULY
The Waleska Westerners had a torrid 20-9 record in July to put some space between them and the rest of the pack in the Ruthlandian South... the Westerners now have a seven-game edge over runnerup Claxton and 8 over third-place San Dimas... the Diamonds were 15-14 for the month, while the Rancheros were 16-13... Waleska seems to be in control of the division.
Waleska has a solid rotation consisting of Terry Richards (13-9/2.90), Craig Nash (14-8/3.34) and Tony Haskell (13-9/3.94)... add in 20-year-old rookie Niles Nielsen (4-1/1.64) as a starter and you have a pretty fair foursome... after flourishing in the bullpen Neilsen now gets his chance in the regular rotation... offense is a problem for the Westerners should they make the Pro Cup playoffs.
The Claxton Diamonds have a lackluster mound corps, but they can hit the ball, led by Jojo DeLucca (.316) with 28 HRs, 81 RBIs and 80 runs... Foxy Fuchs (.318) with 25 HRs, 80 RBIs and 83 runs... and Ivan Krause (.255) with 20 HRs and 71 ribbies.
The San Dimas Rancheros are sparked by pitchers Seth Dawson (10-4/3.27) and Gil Arnaud (11-8/3.08) on the hill and at the plate by Leonard Purkey (.299/10/64/47), Klaus Stordahl (.301/16/50/71) and Denny Hendrix (.333/17/52/63).
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