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Old 06-10-2019, 01:00 PM   #26
Litty
Minors (Double A)
 
Join Date: May 2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 138
2039

Andrea Maas, Billie Eischens and Denise Marcehal all joined the Hall of Fame. Eischens received 98.5% of the vote.

Provo selected Jo Pyke out of the University of Arizona as the first overall pick. Pyke had gone second overall in 2038 but failed to sign with Lakewood. After returning for another year of college, Pyke cemented her first pick status. She is a pure power hitter with unbeatable stealing and speed to boot. Keira Roy, last year’s number one pick, only played nine games for Twin Falls. However, in those 10 at-bats, she hit .375, a home run and two RBIs.

Salisbury, hunting for their third straight title, won the East easily with a 111-win season. Beaver won the Central with 97 wins and Seattle won the West with 80. The number of teams with losing records entering the playoffs was down to four, with the worst playoff-eligible team being Roanoke at 71-79.

While Salisbury blew away Roanoke, the first round did see some upsets. 73-77 Odessa stunned 2038 runners-up Asheville 7-4 while 72-78 Wichita silenced Central Division champions Beaver 9-5. Wichita fell 2-1 to Portland in the quarterfinals, Odessa continued their Cinderella story run with a 2-0 sweep of New York. That included 2-out back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the first inning in game 1. Salisbury made short work of Seattle while Hamilton swept Charlotte in the other quarterfinals. While Salisbury proceeded to the finals with a 3-0 sweep of the Ohio team, Odessa v. Portland went the distance. However, that would be where Odessa’s run ended as a deep sac-fly in the bottom of the 10th allowed Portland’s pitcher to come from second for the winning run in a 2-1 game. Salisbury obliterated Portland, evidenced best by the 21-1 score line of game 1. The series score line was 33-3. Salisbury became the first back-to-back-to-back champions in the history of the WBLA.

Kel Franco lead in batting average with .438 as injuries forced Keesha DeWilliams out for over half the season. Franco’s teammate in Salisbury, Carla Vasquez became the first player to hit 60 home runs in a season. Finally, Ma Davis (New York) and Vasquez shared the RBI title with 142. Charlotte’s Jerri Fitzwater led the league in ERA at 2.45 while Hamilton’s Sophie Thieman was the winningest pitcher with 20 wins in 31 starts. Meg Sinatra was the strikeout queen at 281.
Wichita’s Gao Fok hit .318 and 21 home runs, good enough to win Rookie of the Year. Meg Sinatra, recording an ERA of 2.51 and going 19-8 took home her second Madeeha Baqri Award, the first pitcher to win the award consecutively since Lenora Pena in 2028 & 2029. Keesha DeWilliam’s injury-shortened season allowed Akemi Hao (.338 & 58 home runs) to secure her second MVP title in so many years.

The league said goodbye to Louisa Garcia, the 4-time MVP who retired after 19 seasons. She began her career as a free agent in Salisbury and finished it with two years in Lakewood. Over 1813 games, she hit .344 along with 551 home runs and 1697 RBIs. However, the league was soon to say hello to the Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse.
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