[Eugene Church]

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Tuesday, September 22, 2043

ARLON CLAIMS TU WEST
In the Tycobbian West Division the Arlon Champions turned it up the last two months and outdistanced three other contenders to reign supreme... the Champs won by four games over defending titleholder Kenwood and La Claire... in the fourth spot were the Denton City Redbirds, five games off the pace.

1. Arlon: in a surprise the Champions won the division for only the fourth time in history... Arlon was seventh in '41 (23.5 GB)and '42 (17 GB), but they rose up and took the title for the first time since 2039... the Champs have never won a Pro Cup, but did reach the Finals in 2039, losing out to Waleska in six games... a good offense put them over the top this season... they batted .269 (9th), were tied for third with 794 runs, hit 177 roundtrippers (10th)... on the hill not so good with a 4.31 team ERA (28th)... Arlon's top guns were All-Star 1B Robby Westin ((.334/38/115/107), All-Star RF Mark Cameron (.309/38/106/104), C Nick Shafer (.301/22/98/80) and CF Scotty Durham (.281/12/68/107)... fireballer Lanny Gray (13-11/3.95), Pat Stuyvesant (17-13/4.34) and Paul Sweet (14-11/4.50) were the main starters.... for Arlon to have any chance in the Pro Cup playoffs the pitching will have to do better than they did in the regular season.

2. Kenwood: the Wildcats had a good shot at a third straight pennant, but fizzled badly in the last weeks (19-28), tying for second with La Claire (4 GB)... they had the offense, led by superstar All-Star C Corky DiNozzo (.344/38/108/79), the Tycobbian batting champ... plus 2B Country Crowder (.321/4/62/88) and 1B Bert Henrich (.290/29/90/61)... and decent pitching with Clyde Myers (20-12/3.91) and Tommy Carter (14-10/2.92)... and very strong with the gloves (.978 FA)... Kenwood has one Pro Cup to its credit, won in 2014... they have been to the postseason only five times.

2. La Claire: the Lynx came in a distant third last year (21 GB), but improved to the runner-up spot this year (4 GB)... they have only been to the postseason four times in history and have not captured an IPA Pro Cup trophy... this season just a little above average as a team.... starters Nelson Stubbs (21-11/3.25) and Sato Ishii (19-7/3.41), along with super closer Terry Baird (7-2/1.88/27 saves) carried the club pretty much... Baird topped the IPA with 27 saves... the bat leaders were All-Star 3B Phil Lyons (.298/24/99/93), RF Hank Morton (.314/11/69/90), SS Donnie Nilsson (.296/6/54/84) and 2B Royce Hill (.282/12/92/71)... Lyons led the club with 187 hits, 24 HRS, 99 RBIs and 93 runs... Morton had the best BA at .314.

4. Denton City: the Redbirds have made the playoffs on nine occasions with no Pro Cups... but twice they reached the Finals (2005 and 2008)... Denton City last won the TU West in 2040... last year they were in second place (15 GB)... this year they were fourth (5 GB) with a winning record (80-74)... a slow 24-28 April and May hampered the club... the pitching was good with starters All-Star Francisco Salcido (20-12/2.60) and Harry Elliott (16-16/3.00)... at age 38 Salcido won 20 games for the fourth time in his 16 seasons with the club... overall he is 231-174 with a 3.45 ERA... the offense was pretty good with superstar All-Star 1B Wayman Stetson (.312/47/145/106)... Stetson topped the IPA in RBIs with 145 and was tied for third with 47 homers and seventh with 202 hits... other contributors were were SS Sammy Thornton (.326/6/71/88), LF Sadaharu Uchiyama (.300/12/74/80) and RF Pete Doyle (.272/15/58/107)... the defense is excellent with a .979 FA.

5. Rolling Hills: the Reds were fourth in '42 (22 GB) with a 72-82 record, but got better in '43 with a 77-77 mark, coming in fifth, but only 8 games out of first... they have made the playoffs 10 times and have won two Pro Cups (2029 and 2031)... the last TU West flag came in 2032... Rolling Hills is just an average ballclub except on defense, where they are excellent with a .979 FA... Matthew Christianson (16-16/3.02) was the only reliable starter... not much in the bullpen... at the plate 23-year-old star 1B Darwin Tard (.332/25/83/98) put up some very good numbers again... so did RF Jimbo Foxx with 33 homers, 107 RBIs and 78 runs, but the free swinger struck out 155 times and batted only .235.

6. Bayview: the Vikings were never a factor in the pennant chase... they finished 11 GB in sixth place... last season they were fifth (26 GB)... the Viks have been to the playoffs only six times and do not have a Pro Cup... the last pennant came in 2016... Bayview has never gone deep in the playoffs... they have a good offense led by super slugger 2B Jerry Culpepper, who was the club leader with 46 homers, 119 RBIs, 99 runs and 170 hits... Culpepper ranked sixth in the IPA in HRs and tenth in RBIs... he batted .304... SS Andreas Stokke was the other big bat in the line-up with 36 HRs, 91 RBIs and 84 runs, but he hit only .243... Johnny Young (16-16/3.64) and Bobby Knudsen (16-17/3.61) were the only dependable starters.

7. Bay St. Clair: it was an eighth straight year the Buccaneers wound up in the TU West second division, but they did improve from the awful 54-100 last place finish in '42 (40 GB), climbing up to 67-87 and seventh place (18 GB)... the Bucs have made 9 appearances in the playoffs, but not recently... 2030 was the last time... Bay St. Clair is still waiting on its first Pro Cup... they did make the Pro Cup Finals in 2015, but fell to Taranto in five games... 35-year-old Freddi Hahn (13-15/3.88) was the only reliable starter... 37-year-old closer Clark Van Vreeland (11-6/3.02/22 saves) was the most dependable reliever... Van Vreeland was tied for fourth in the IPA with 22 saves, beaten only by Terry Baird of La Claire with 27, Timmy Hickens of Ginza with 27 and Wes Christopher of Fairfax with 23... the Bucs didn't fare very well in the batter's box, lacking runs and home-run power, but they hit pretty well with a .265 BA (12th)... the club leaders were SS Edison Randall (.276/19/85/79), new RF Spade Weldon (.290/15/68/69), who came over from Tuckanarra in a July trade for pitcher Pete Cross (10-18/3.55), CF Gilbert Bauer (.283/20/71/86), RF Robby Palmer (.301/7/69/63) and C Johnny Martin (.313/9/60/70).

8. Chicopee: the Braves ended up in the cellar for the third time in four years (20 GB) and in the second division for the seventh year in a row... last year they were sixth (30 GB)... only three playoff appearances in the team's history... they came in back-to-back seasons 2034 to 2036... Chicopee has no Pro Cup trophies in its trophy case... the Braves are not very talented... Wes Pennington (15-11/3.66) led the club in wins... Paul Foster (13-21/4.05) was second... there was no reliever worth mentioning... not much at the plate either... RF Denny Halverton (.280/8/48/67) led the team with a .280 BA... CF Marty Hogart (.276/18/67/83) had the most homers with 18 and scored the most runs with 83... and C Augie Meaux (.259/12/72/48) was the club leader with 72 RBIs.