International Baseball Slam XI (Everything)

[The Royal Kingdom of Quebec]

Royal Kingdom of Quebec National Junior Baseball Team

Nickname: Grim Reapers
Acronym: QUE
Denonym: Quebecois (Preferred), Quebecer (that's fine)

Home Colours: Blue, White and Yellow
Away Colours:Red, Black and White
Official Supporters Group: The Bubonic Plague
IBS Season : November 2043-February 2044
Stadium: Parc Jamsil, Quebec City, Capitale-Nationale (Park Factor: 65)
Style Mod: +1

Coaching Staff
Head Coach: Elise Dhavernas-Llnagaay, 49 - Gyeongbuk A&M University (Collegiate)
Assistant Coach: Jean-Pierre Han, 36 - University of Southern Manitoba (Collegiate)
First Base/Hitting Coach: Elliot Sveningsson, 38 - Levis Wyverns (Quebecois Baseball Organisation)
Second Base/Fielding Coach: Seung Sung-Joo, 27 - Hanyang College (Collegiate)
Bullpen/Pitching Coach: Logan MacArthur, 57 - Universite St. Croix (Collegiate)

Pitching rotation (6)
#18 - FIRST - RHP - Alexandre Farias, 21 - Farrer University (Collegiate) -> Levis Wyverns (2043 Second Round - National - 7th Overall)
#61 - SECOND - LHP - Kim Gi-Joong, 20 - Ottawa Eagles (Quebecois Baseball Organisation)
#1 - THIRD - RHP - Kunimoto Jun, 21 - University of Halifax (Collegiate)
#23 - FOURTH - RHP - Lucinda Kweon, 21 - Hanyang College (Collegiate) -> Sherbrooke Raiders (2039 First Round - Territorial - Estrie)
#61 - FIFTH - LHP - Victoria Kim-Groningsetter, 20 - Niagara State University (Collegiate)
#13 - SIXTH - RHP - Mathieu Berard, 19 - Chicoutimi Lions (Quebecois Baseball Organisation)

Bullpen (8)
Long Relief : #57 - RHP - Andrew Weintraub, 21 - Universite de Montreal (Collegiate) -> Montreal Twins (2039 Third Round - National - 27th Overall)
Long Relief : #26 - LHP - Rasharda Cayenne-Mazepa, 19 - Central Honam University (Collegiate)
One-out-specialist : #67 - LHP - Sung Yoon-Ho, 20 - Moncton Dinos (Quebecois Baseball Organisation)
Middle Relief : #19 - LHP - Jarvis McKendry, 21 - Northwestern University (Collegiate)
Middle Relief : #40 - RHP - Lara Yoon, 19 - Universite de Levis (Collegiate)
Short Relief : #47 - LHP - Leo Hwang-Gascon, 18 - Greenbow HS -> Prince Eric Athletics (2043 First Round - Territorial - Northern Manitoba)
Setup Man: #28 - RHP - Elora Duncan, 20 - Masan College (Collegiate)
Setup Man : #26 - LHP - Baek Sang-Hyeon, 21 - Queen's College at Kingston (Collegiate) -> California City Dodgers (2039 Fifth Round - National - 51st Overall)
Closer : #21 - RHP - Benoit V.E. Everson, 20 - California University (Collegiate)

Catchers (3)
#20 - R/R - Chae Geon-Woo, 21 - Farrer University (Collegiate) -> Chicoutimi Lions (2039 Second Round - National - 4th
#25 - R/R - Noh Hye-Gyeong, 18 - Beolgyo Technical HS (High School) -> Quebec Bears (2043 Second Round - National - 2nd Overall)
#27 - R/S - Dylan Bong-Silvferberg, 19 - Halifax Giants (Quebecois Baseball Organisation)

Infielders (7)
#16 R/R - 1B/3B - David McAllister, 21 - Universite St. Croix (Collegiate) -> Halifax Giants (2039 First Round - National - Acadie East)
#5 R/R - 2B - Bobby Lee-Katsouranis, 20 - Kingston Blue Jays (Quebecois Baseball Organisation)
#7 R/R - SS - Gregory Reynolds-Walusimbi, 21 - Hanyang College (Collegiate) -> Kingston Tigers (2043 First Round - National - Kingston-Ontario-Frontenac East)
#9 R/L - 2B/SS - Anna Baek, 20 - University of St-Gabriel-Richard (Collegiate)
#14 R/R - 3B/2B - Marianne Otter-Joubert, 19 - Montreal Expos (Quebecois Baseball Organisation)
#36 L/L - 1B/DH - Noh Jong-Wook, 20 - Farrer University (Collegiate)
#52 R/L - DH/1B/LF - Fernando Rios Alvarez, 18 - Bugil Academy (High School) -> Ottawa Eagles (2043 First Round - Territorial - Mauricie-Outaouais-Quebecois Midwest)

Outfielders (4)
#4 L/L - RF/RF - Tara Lee-Hassett, 20 - Membertou College (Collegiate)
#8 R/S - CF/SS - Samuel Carlini-Mwambutsya, 21 - Cass Technical University (Collegiate) -> Kingston Blue Jays (2043 First Round - National - Kingston-Ontario-Frontenac West)
#12 L/L - LF/DH - Yi Seung-Yeon, 20 - Moncton Dinos (Quebecois Baseball Organisation)
#55 R/L - RF/LF - Hector Katic Guerrero, 19 - Attawapiskat Wiz (Quebecois Baseball Organisation)

Starting Lineup (Position, Bats)
1: G. Reynolds-Walusimbi (SS, L)
2: S. Carlini-Mwambutsya, (CF, S)
3: H. Katic Guerrero (RF, L)
4: J.W. Noh (1B, L)
5: F. Fernando Rios Alvarez (DH, R)
6: M. Otter-Joubert (3B, R)
7: S.Y. Yi (LF, L)
8: G.W. Chae (C, R)
9: A. Baek (2B, L)

My opponent, if they RP first, may do the following:
Choose my runscorers: Yes
Choose my lineup: Sure
Follow my pitching rotation: Yes for starters, no for bullpen
Godmod scoring events: No
RP injuries to my players: Yes
Godmod injuries to my players: No
Eject my players: Go ahead
Godmod other events: TG me in advance
Use DH at home: Sure

[Super-Llamaland]

MD7-9

Now that we’re halfway through the group stage, you might want to have the playoffs on your radar...

Group A:

Team Name              1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
The Jovannic Emperors  1  1  1  1  0  1  0  0  3   8
Tikariot Thunderforge  3  1  1  0  0  1  0  1  0   7

Team Name              1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
The Jovannic Emperors  2  1  0  0  0  0  1  1  0   5
Tikariot Thunderforge  1  2  1  0  0  0  0  0  0   4

Team Name              1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 Total
The Jovannic Emperors  0  0  0  1  0  0  0  0  0  0  1   2
Tikariot Thunderforge  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0   1

Team Name                    1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 Total
United Civil Republic Bears  0  0  0  0  0  1  1  0  0  1   3
Kalactin U21s                0  0  0  0  0  1  0  1  0  0   2

Team Name                    1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
United Civil Republic Bears  2  0  1  0  0  1  0  0  0   4
Kalactin U21s                1  0  1  0  1  2  2  1  X   8

Team Name                    1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
United Civil Republic Bears  2  0  0  0  0  1  0  1  0   4
Kalactin U21s                0  0  0  0  0  2  0  0  0   2

                              G W L RF RA  RD Win Pct.
1       The Jovannic Emperors 9 6 3 64 36 +28 0.667
2       Tikariot Thunderforge 9 5 4 58 47 +11 0.556
3               Kalactin U21s 9 5 4 47 44  +3 0.556
4 United Civil Republic Bears 9 2 7 32 74 -42 0.222

Group B:

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Nova Anglicana Lions  2  0  2  1  2  1  0  2  0   10
Ethane Red Kites      1  0  0  1  2  0  0  1  0   5

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Nova Anglicana Lions  0  0  0  0  0  1  1  0  0   2
Ethane Red Kites      0  1  1  2  0  0  1  1  X   6

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Nova Anglicana Lions  0  0  0  0  0  1  2  1  0   4
Ethane Red Kites      0  0  0  0  2  0  0  1  0   3

Team Name                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 Total
Sarzonia Junior Stars           0  0  0  0  0  0  0  2  0  0   2
Terre Septentrionale Nordiques  0  0  0  0  1  1  0  0  0  1   3

Team Name                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Sarzonia Junior Stars           1  0  0  2  0  0  0  0  0   3
Terre Septentrionale Nordiques  0  1  0  0  0  0  2  0  2   5

Team Name                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Sarzonia Junior Stars           0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  1   2
Terre Septentrionale Nordiques  0  0  2  0  0  0  1  0  X   3

                                 G W L RF RA  RD Win Pct.
1 Terre Septentrionale Nordiques 9 7 2 46 24 +22 0.778
2          Sarzonia Junior Stars 9 6 3 33 21 +12 0.667
3           Nova Anglicana Lions 9 3 6 27 42 -15 0.333
4               Ethane Red Kites 9 2 7 30 49 -19 0.222

Group C:

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Maniladrid Mariners   0  1  1  0  0  0  0  0  0   2
Mathuvan Union Moose  1  1  1  1  1  1  0  0  X   6

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 Total
Maniladrid Mariners   0  0  1  0  0  1  0  0  1  1   4
Mathuvan Union Moose  0  0  1  1  0  0  0  1  0  4   7

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Maniladrid Mariners   0  1  1  0  0  0  0  1  0   3
Mathuvan Union Moose  0  2  1  2  0  0  0  0  X   5

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
South Newlandia U22s  1  0  1  5  1  0  2  2  0   12
Falisiand U22s        1  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0   2

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
South Newlandia U22s  1  1  2  0  0  0  0  0  1   5
Falisiand U22s        0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1   1

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
South Newlandia U22s  0  1  0  1  0  1  0  1  1   5
Falisiand U22s        0  0  0  0  0  2  1  0  0   3

                       G W L RF RA  RD Win Pct.
1 South Newlandia U22s 9 7 2 54 21 +33 0.778
2 Mathuvan Union Moose 9 5 4 36 37  -1 0.556
3       Falisiand U22s 9 3 6 31 38  -7 0.333
4  Maniladrid Mariners 9 3 6 22 47 -25 0.333

Group D:

Team Name                             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 Total
Northern Moravica University Cougars  1  0  0  0  0  1  0  1  0  1   4
Cassadaigua U18s                      0  0  2  0  0  0  0  1  0  0   3

Team Name                             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Northern Moravica University Cougars  1  1  0  1  1  0  1  1  0   6
Cassadaigua U18s                      0  0  1  0  2  0  0  1  1   5

Team Name                             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Northern Moravica University Cougars  1  0  1  1  2  0  0  1  1   7
Cassadaigua U18s                      1  0  1  0  0  0  3  0  0   5

Team Name                             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Royal Kingdom of Quebec Grim Reapers  1  1  0  2  0  0  0  1  1   6
Random Place Fools                    1  0  0  2  0  0  0  0  0   3

Team Name                             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Royal Kingdom of Quebec Grim Reapers  1  0  0  0  1  0  0  1  0   3
Random Place Fools                    1  1  1  0  0  0  2  0  X   5

Team Name                             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 Total
Royal Kingdom of Quebec Grim Reapers  1  3  1  0  0  1  1  2  0  0  1   10
Random Place Fools                    1  0  0  1  1  3  0  1  2  0  0   9

                                       G W L RF RA  RD Win Pct.
1 Royal Kingdom of Quebec Grim Reapers 9 6 3 58 61  -3 0.667
2                     Cassadaigua U18s 9 4 5 69 47 +22 0.444
3 Northern Moravica University Cougars 9 4 5 46 55  -9 0.444
4                   Random Place Fools 9 4 5 50 60 -10 0.444

Group E:

Team Name               1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Super-Llamaland Tigers  2  0  2  0  1  1  0  0  0   6
Kohnhead Pandas         0  2  1  4  0  2  0  2  X   11

Team Name               1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Super-Llamaland Tigers  1  0  0  1  0  0  1  3  3   9
Kohnhead Pandas         0  0  0  0  0  2  3  0  0   5

Team Name               1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Super-Llamaland Tigers  1  0  0  0  0  1  3  1  3   9
Kohnhead Pandas         1  2  2  0  1  0  0  0  1   7

Team Name          1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Jeckland Spuds     0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0   1
Mitarian Pelicans  0  0  0  0  1  2  0  0  X   3

Team Name          1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Jeckland Spuds     1  2  0  0  1  0  1  1  1   7
Mitarian Pelicans  0  0  2  1  0  0  0  0  1   4

Team Name          1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Jeckland Spuds     1  0  1  0  1  0  0  0  2   5
Mitarian Pelicans  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  2  1   3

                         G W L RF RA RD Win Pct.
1         Jeckland Spuds 9 6 3 40 34  +6 0.667
2      Mitarian Pelicans 9 5 4 45 43  +2 0.556
3 Super-Llamaland Tigers 9 5 4 51 52  -1 0.556
4        Kohnhead Pandas 9 2 7 50 57  -7 0.222

Group F:

Team Name                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Pripet Socialist Republic U21s  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0   1
Starcom Starboys                3  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  X   3

Team Name                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 Total
Pripet Socialist Republic U21s  1  1  1  1  0  1  0  1  0  0   6
Starcom Starboys                1  0  0  2  0  1  1  1  0  2   8

Team Name                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Pripet Socialist Republic U21s  2  1  1  0  0  0  0  0  0   4
Starcom Starboys                1  0  0  2  2  0  2  0  X   7

Team Name                        1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  2  0   2
Newmanistan U16s                 0  0  0  2  0  0  0  1  X   3

Team Name                        1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars  1  0  0  0  0  0  2  0  1   4
Newmanistan U16s                 0  0  0  0  0  4  0  0  3   7

Team Name                        1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  2  0   3
Newmanistan U16s                 0  0  1  0  3  0  1  0  X   5

                                  G W L RF RA  RD Win Pct.
1                Newmanistan U16s 9 7 2 56 49  +7 0.778
2 Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars 9 4 5 47 37 +10 0.444
3                Starcom Starboys 9 4 5 34 50 -16 0.444
4  Pripet Socialist Republic U21s 9 3 6 57 58  -1 0.333

[Nova Anglicana]

Halfway through, are playoffs an impossibility for Nova Anglicana?

Coming into the eleventh International Baseball Slam, nobody knew what to expect. The Slam hadn't been held in a number of years and a motley mix of national teams, youth teams, university teams, and even a team of retired players would be taking part. Expectations weren't exactly high for Nova Anglicana's team of mostly minor league veterans, but people thought they would acquit themselves well, since Nova Anglican baseball is well-regarded in the multiversal community. But after the first half, things look grim for the so-called "Last Chance All-Stars".

The Lions entered their most recent series against Ethane at 1-5, tied with the Red Kites for last in the group. They had both been victims of a Sarzonian sweep and a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Terre Septentrionale. One of them had to win the series, but who would it be?

In game one, the Lions sent Will Webster to the mound. Webster had struggled in his first start against Terre Septentrionale, walking four and allowing five runs in four innings. He was better this time around, but not much. He made it through five innings, surrendering five hits and four runs to go with three walks and six strikeouts. Fortunately for him, the Lions' offense backed him up, with Scott Neumann hitting a two-run double in the first and a two-run homer in the fifth. When Webster departed, the Lions led 7-4. They would tack on three more runs and relievers Cory Wright, Dana Myers, Randy McGee and Caleb Lucas would close things out for the 10-5 victory.

In game two, veteran Paul Strickland attempted to bounce back from his lackluster six-inning, four-run effort the first time out. He was not able to, laboring through four innings and surrendering four runs on 92 pitches. Meanwhile, the Red Kites starter tossed a nice and tidy seven innings of two-run ball, their only blemishes a pair of RBI singles by Kelly Drayton and Jean-Luc Desjardins. While Jacob Cox pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Strickland, relievers Mike Vaughn and Trevor Campbell gave up single runs in the seventh and eighth innings, keeping the Lions behind and stifling comeback efforts.

In game three, Andy Sutton pitched four shutout innings to begin the game, allowing only a hit and a walk. However, in the bottom of the fifth, the Red Kites' leadoff hitter punched a "slutter" into right field that fell for a single, scoring two runs and putting the Lions behind. Quentin Glazier hit a solo homer in the sixth to cut the deficit to 2-1, and Sutton held the Red Kites in check in the bottom of the inning. Kelly Drayton led off with a bunt single, then went first-to-third on Jared McLaurin's single to right. Hal Middleton hit a sacrifice fly to score Drayton and tie the game. Mason Garvey pinch-hit for Sutton and doubled to left, putting runners on third and second with one out. Bobby Faust, the pint-sized second baseman, hit a sharp grounder to the right side that scored McLaurin, even if it didn't result in a hit. Quentin Glazier rolled over to the second baseman to end the inning, but the Lions led 3-2. Randy McGee pitched a scoreless seventh, and Mitch Webber's RBI double in the eighth extended the lead to 4-2, crucial since Trevor Campbell allowed a solo homer in the bottom of the inning. Ben Morton set down the side in order to finish the game off, a 4-3 win for the Lions.

The "Last Chance All-Stars" took two out of three from the Red Kites, but their record still stands at an unsightly 3-6. Only two teams will make the playoffs from each group, and currently those spots are occupied by the Terre Septentrionale Nordiques at 7-2 and the Sarzonia Junior Stars at 6-3, after having been swept by the Nordiques. Three games back with nine to play is a tough, but not impossible deficit to overcome. The Lions do have the advantage of playing six of their nine games at home, while their closest rivals, the Junior Stars, will play six of nine games on the road. The Lions will need help, however.

Let's start with Terre Septentrionale. The Nordiques will host the Lions to start the second half of the group stage, in their stadium of Hickey-Stevens Park, in Port O'Connor. According to media reports, the park plays into the Nordiques' strengths of offense, with a park factor, or measurement of how offensive or defensive the park is, well above average. The Lions' rotation will go Bryce Duncan (a sinkerballer, so hopefully he can neutralize the offense), John Yates (who has pitched well so far), and Webster (who will be in the most danger). It is incumbent on pitching coach Willy O'Neill to help all the pitchers, but especially Webster, to adjust to the park's dangers. Two wins is a must here, as a sweep is unlikely. Ethane could do the Lions a favor by winning two of three against Sarzonia (a sweep might cause them to lead the Lions, so that's bad).

The head-to-head matchup with Sarzonia is crucial. The Junior Stars may already have clinched a playoff spot, depending on the results of the Ethane series, but if they haven't, they could end the Lions' hopes here. Paul Strickland will hopefully be able to use his experience to baffle the young, talented, Sarzonian hitters, while Andy Sutton surely wants to redeem himself after his poor performance last time, and the whole team wants to pick up Duncan, who pitched brilliantly, but took the loss against Sarzonia. A sweep would go a long way towards helping the Lions, but two of three is the absolute minimum if they want to stay alive. In the other series, it's probably better if Terre Septentrionale wins two or more games, as too many wins by Ethane puts them uncomfortably close to the Lions.

The final matchup with Ethane will either be the most important or the least important of the IBS for the Lions. They will either be in the thick of contention, and need as many wins as they can get, or they will be out of it and the two teams will probably just be playing out the string. In either case, the series offers the final chance before the potential playoffs for the "Last Chance All-Stars" to prove their mettle, either by playing well when the chips are down, or showing they won't let adversity get them down and they still want an NABL roster spot. If the playoffs are a possibility, a sweep might be necessary. If they aren't, winning two out of three should still be a goal; after all, there is national pride to consider.

Playoffs, though they seem unlikely at the moment, should be the goal for the "Last Chance All-Stars". In order to do that, they'll likely need to go at least 7-2 in the second half, for a record of 10-8. If they don't make the playoffs, they should shoot for a 6-3 second half record and a finish of 9-9. A .500 result for this Lions squad would be pretty good, especially considering their start.

[Super-Llamaland]

BREAKING: PRESIDENT HANSEN, VP NAKAMURA IMPLICATED IN FLAG SCANDAL
Aria Sigurdsson, LBC Politics

NEW LLAMA CITY -- A bombshell report from the government watchdog Llamaneans for Governmental Accountability (LGA) has implicated President Nicholas Hansen and Vice President Kennedy Nakamura in a government scheme to ensure that their preferred flag was able to win the flag referendum. The report implies that Hansen personally ordered Joyce Jimenez, a key figure in the scandal who started a campaign group against Eden Feliciano's diamond flag, to found Melissa's Choice and redirect LEC funds to it. Additionally, Nakamura was shown to have taken part in closed-door meetings involving Hansen, Jimenez, and LEC Director Kenneth Rasmussen, implicating her in the scandal as well.

"Today is a disastrous day for the Llamanean public," said Congressman Linus Kennedy, who ran against Hansen in the most recent national elections and was one of the first members of government to respond to the report. "President Hansen, VP Nakamura, and LEC Director Kenneth Rasmussen have shown a blatant disregard for the Llamanean people that must be punished. The role of the government - especially of the President and the Llamanean Elections Commission - is to neutrally facilitate the electoral process in our great country, not to rig elections toward their preferred result. Director Rasmussen must be replaced by Congress immediately, and the President and Vice President have clearly lost the trust of the Llamanean people." Kennedy is rumored to be at the head of a movement to impeach Hansen and Nakamura that is rapidly gaining traction in the Llamanean Congress.

Hansen has yet to comment on the issue, but Vice President Nakamura immediately attempted to remove herself from the scandal in a statement earlier this morning. "I am deeply sorry for the role I played in the recent Llamanean flag referendum scandal. I did facilitate meetings between President Hansen, LEC Director Rasmussen, and Ms. Jimenez, and I am deeply sorry for doing so. Certainly, if I had known that they were planning to interfere with the flag referendum to the degree that they did, I never would have acted in the way I did. However, I will maintain that I was not aware of the main plot to direct millions of taxpayer dollars toward government-created flag lobbyists."

While impeachment is still uncertain, it has the potential to trigger a constitutional crisis. Under the current Llamanean Constitution, if President Hansen and Vice President Nakamura were to be removed from office, Congress would vote on a new President to serve a two-year term before elections will be held. However, provisions for how to vote are unclear, and the two-thirds majority of Congress required to choose a new President makes it entirely possible that Congress could find itself unable to agree on who the next President should be. The Eighth Llamanean Republic truly faces turbulent times ahead...

[South Newlandia]

ELEPHANT VALLEY MAIL
Sports -> Youth Baseball
South Newlandian U22 gets three important wins, lead group at half-time

The Howard E. Ulysses Stadium is the arena where Falisiand is playing their home games, and it is almost twice as big as the biggest South Newlandian Baseball Arenas, and even bigger than South Newlandia Soccer Stadiums. They have good right to have a big stadium, as the Falisiand Baseball Association probably draws lots of attention and spectators to itself. Despite this, the South Newlandia was in the biggest stadium they ever were, except for those that played in the 48th World Baseball Classic. No one from the South Newlandian team will ever forget the first game they played in Drawkland, in the packed Corps Central Park in front of 89000 spectators, eventually losing 2-6 against Newmanistan.

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
South Newlandia U22s  1  0  1  5  1  0  2  2  0   12
Falisiand U22s        1  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0   2

For the first game, Roberto Goodman took the mount. For the first time, South Newlandia would play the top of the innings, and they got a good start as Adam King scored a run in the first inning for the fourth time in a row. The Falisiand U22 fought back, and scored the equalizer with a run by Ryan Grantham. In the top of the third, South Newlandia took the lead again after a run by Mike Larsen. Then came the top of the 4th inning, and Shawn Zimmerman started the team off, getting a walk. Sophia Smiths was at bat next, and she hit the ball perfectly to get the first home run of the day, and South Newlandia up by 3 runs with no one out. Fred Burn was next, getting a double. Mitch Sneider got a single, and first and third base were now loaded again. Jack Mine was the first retired player of the inning, and Mike Larsen got retired as well. Adam King was next, and he decided against a sacrifice fly. He hit a 1-1 pitch fantastically, and the second home run in the same inning got the South Newlandians a 7-1 lead in a terrible start for the Falisiandian pitcher. South Newlandias batters kept on dominating, and Sophia Smiths got another run in the 5th inning. The game was far from over, and South Newlandia kept on piling runs. After all, run differential might be very important at some point. In the 7th and 8th inning, South Newlandia scored 4 runs in total, with Adam King and Daryl Dunlop scoring in the 7th; while Jack Mine and Mike Larsen were scoring in the 8th inning. In the bottom of the 8th, Falisiand got at least another honorary run while Ian pitching since the 7th. Sandro Cristiano got this run, making the final score a crushing 12-2.

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
South Newlandia U22s  1  1  2  0  0  0  0  0  1   5
Falisiand U22s        0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1   1

Jay Kramer took the mount in game two, which was an interesting decision by Matteo Maxbar. Kramer had already pitched in each of the last two series, and Ryan Hunter seemed like an obvious choice, especially because of his experience with pitching long games. The gamble turned out great, as Kramer managed a shutout. The game started off with Adam King getting an early first run, for the fifth time in a row. In the second and third inning, South Newlandia extended the lead to 4 points, with Fred Burn scoring in the second inning and Adam King and David Drum scoring in the third inning. After that, both pitchers did great work; Barnaby Butt came in after the 5th inning, as Kramer seemed to get tired. Butt extended the flawless run through the 8th inning. In the top of the ninth, South Newlandia got another run, scored by David Drum after he had tripled. This meant that Falisiand had to catch up 5 runs to get into extra innings, but they would only get one scored by Ryan Grantham. With that, South Newlandia had taken the first two matches quite clearly, and Falisiand so far couldn’t show their potential.

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
South Newlandia U22s  0  1  0  1  0  1  0  1  1   5
Falisiand U22s        0  0  0  0  0  2  1  0  0   3

Marcus Raj took the mount in game three. For the first time in six games, Adam King didn’t score in the first inning, as he got struck out instead. That didn’t mean that South Newlandia didn’t go ahead first, but that only happened in the 2nd inning after a run by Sophia Smiths. She is currently doing some awesome work, both fielding and batting wise. In the 4th and 6th inning, South Newlandia extended their lead to three runs, with runs by David Drum and Mitch Sneider, respectively. Falisiand clearly had to do something, and they did in the bottom of the 6th. Rashaan Sebert got a two-run home run off of Raj, also scoring a run for Sandro Cristiano. With the distance narrowed down to a single run, Falisiand was hopeful again. In the bottom of the 7th, they equalized after Kodey Kenton getting a run after previously getting a triple off of Ian Capan, who was closing the match. South Newlandia was determent to complete the sweep. In the top of the 8th, they took the lead again, and extended it in the ninth, after David Drum and Mike Larsen scored respectively. Ian Capan managed to avoid giving up more runs, and South Newlandia took game three by 5-3.

Current standings:

P Team Name            G W L RF RA  RD Win Pct.
1 South Newlandia U22s 9 7 2 54 21 +33 0.778
2 Mathuvan Union Moose 9 5 4 36 37  -1 0.556
3       Falisiand U22s 9 3 6 31 38  -7 0.333
4  Maniladrid Mariners 9 3 6 22 47 -25 0.333

Yes, we did advertise the last two games as important top games as well, but now, the Moose are clearly in second. If South Newlandia can win in the Mathuvan Union, they are probably set for the Round of 12 at least. With nine games to go, South Newlandia will want to keep some chances to go to the Quarterfinals right away. In any case, Super-Llamaland is the goal, and South Newlandia should be able to pull that off.

[Sarzonia]

If you'd told Sarzonia national Under 21 baseball team manager Edwin Crawford that he would have his Junior Stars sitting at 6-3 and just a game out of first place in Group B, he likely would have been thrilled.

However, after seeing the Sarzonian bullpen implode in the first two away games against the Terre Septentrionale Nordiques and the offence sputter to the tune of seven runs combined in three games against the Nordiques and lose all three games, Crawford wasn't having that line of thinking.

"We came in facing a good team and we fought hard, but we're better than we played any of these three games," Crawford said. "We're going to look to add a couple of arms in the pen because we're pushing our back end guys too hard.

In Game 1 against the Nordiques, long reliever Joyce Khan pitched three scoreless innings before she left a 1-2 foshball up in the zone for catcher Trevor McGarry. He took Khan's offering deep and just off the left field foul pole for a walkoff 3-2 win in the bottom of the 10th. The homer wasted a two-run shot off the bat of shortstop Cristobal Vargas that drew the score level in the eighth inning.

Closer Ned Creighton usually doesn't pitch in tie ballgames, but after setup man William Gates threw 30 pitches in 1 2/3 innings in Game 2, Crawford felt he had no choice. He had fourth starter Kiki Felton warming up in case of extra innings, but third baseman Logan O'Rourke had other ideas, tagging a 3-1 fastball over the wall in right field for a 5-3 victory in Game 2.

Felton might have had fatigue after warming up in Game 2, as she didn't have her best stuff in Game 3. She managed to get through six allowing only two runs on eight hits and three walks, but setup man William Gates allowed McGarry a home run before pinch hitter Mickey Rowland gave the Junior Stars a cosmetic run for another 3-2 loss that ceded first place to the Nordiques.

The Junior Stars won't have much time to regroup as a trip to Ethane to face the Red Kites awaits. The Junior Stars may have a three-game lead over Nova Anglicana after they took two out of three games against the Red Kites, but Crawford said the team could I'll afford a mistake.

"These are experienced ballclubs we're going against," he said. "Now isn't the time to be complacent."

[Tikariot]

The picture fades in to the locker room of Port Rhovanyon's Oceanview Park, the one of the Tikariot Devil’s Rejects. The players look disappointed, the mood very subdued. Coach McCrory is walking into the room, as usual chewing on his cold cigar.

William McCrory: Alright ladies, I know that we lost, but don’t get your knickers in a twist, alright? When we signed up for this thing, how many wins did we expect to get? C’mon, Fleming?

Foster Fleming: Well, none really.

McCrory: Exactly! Now look at where we stand. 5 wins out of a possible 9. Second in the table after half the group stage, people all over this country fell in love with you guys, with the game, so what good is it gonna do us, if you gonna go all crybaby?

De’Andre Stevens: The coach is right. No matter what happens now, we’re already way further than anybody would have imagined we’d ever go. Yeah, we lost, but is that worth just letting our heads hang?

He turns around, looking at the men one by one.

Stevens: No, we’re better than this. We won 5 games, who says that we can’t win more? Look at the last three games, we lost them by one run each. The last one in the eleventh inning. What does that tell ya? We’re up there with them!

McCrory (smiling): Thanks, Stevens. So, I want you to gather your sorry arses and man up! Tomorrow we’re going against these Bears again and I want you to show them who’s the boss here, understood?

The team stands up, looking at each other.

Team: Yes, Sir!

McCrory: Who are we?

William Carruthers: Mighty Ducks!

McCrory: Yeah! Wait, wha—Carruthers! Really?

He facepalms.

McCrory: Again, Who are we?

Team: The Devil’s Rejects!

McCrory: And what do we do best?

Team: Win!

McCrory: There you go! Now go! Get some sleep! Then go kick some Bear butt!

The cameraman slowly exits the locker room, but from within the team’s voices can be heard loud and clear.

Team: REJECTS! REJECTS!

[The Royal Kingdom of Quebec]

Childhood, Traces
PART 2.1

-Part 1-

Anyways, the heightened tensions taken by the Quebecois Government back home was accompanied by governmental changes under the order of dismissal by late Jacques IX. Undaunted by all the complicated circumstances, my parents, with me and my brother Connor, returned to Quebec City after five years of appointments in the Interrealm Consulate in Montreal (IC) ^1. This was June 2029. The party matters required my father to move to Kingston, a city he was somewhat familiar with. The Parti Justice du Quebec, having been crushed in a horrible electoral defeat the previous November after the dismissal of the Prime Minister under charges of immorality, asked that he, the President of Universite St. Croix’s Labour Party Chapter, run as their party candidate for the fall’s byelection.

It was around that time, as we moved to the Southwestern centre, where he noticed that our Korean wasn’t at the level expected. So he decided that a family friend should come to take us to lessons and baseball matches as well. As I gently ring the bell that lies over me on my room, I am once again brought back to the nine year old self that I was, standing as I shake hand with the certain Mr. Kim. Eugene Jin-Sung Kim was an interesting man, with thick circular glasses, long black locks and oddly matched cardigans which clearly drew weird impressions upon my parents.

I remember on our first day, he brought a bunch of sports articles with a different topic planted on each and every one of them- one was about the Blue Jays’ struggles, the second one Kingston Knights’ victories, and the last one something about college football that I wasn’t so familiar about, way back when. Growing up, his maternal grandfather (only grandparent he recognised as his own) knew my late maternal grandmother (bless her soul) as the old gentleman was a loyal customer to her tiny restaurant.

A wild spirit of logician and debator, he kept his clothes loose enough to draw our (more more my brother’s than mine, mind you) approvals and also formal enough to draw my parents’ approval. He was a man careful enough not to provoke without purpose, but knew enough in a way to challenge his students, to think differently and more realistically, if that would be a right way to put forth. In some ways, he was still very much a prep school debater that he once were just a decade ago, though that I’d attribute rather to the man being in a phase of perennial give-ups on relationship commitments.

A natural c-lettered conservative in heart, he would inform on our high school and Blue Jays baseball trips and talk about the very habits and the theories, and how sometimes, it’s not always about being on one side, but rather on what would work and what would not, under circumstances we’d find ourselves into. Sometimes, he’d have us analyse cricket scoreboards for pleasure - dunno why but he was into Plough Islander national cricket team - and ask what would make it work. Not to mention, countless analyses of Akahkov, Plokhii, Razuminsky and Novotny, which I’ve come to appreciate much more later in life.

So the lessons went for about six years, before life got busier for both sides as he got married and went back to graduate school, while I started playing baseball and ran cross country at the very high school fields of Erskine I grew up watching the team practice. Certain Dr. Kim, now convocated, is now teaching at a small town college I later visited on the East Coast. He’s now married and with three children- last I heard his eldest son was an ace pitcher in Bugil Academy, a famous prep school with their orange baseball jerseys and Ottawa Eagles alumni, so I guess they aren’t doing so badly.

To him, I owe the way to look and analyse everything, something that I always held inside my head but needed to be consolidated beyond just the ideas, which runs well into the particularly challenging way the decade had ended. When, in June 2028, His Majesty had dissolved the Parliament on the immoral grounds of the Prime Minister’s conduct in the scandals that he were involved in, the nation was bound for some major changes to their ways. Father, being one of most prominent diplomats coming from the PJQ section of the ministry, decided to resign from Foreign Office and head into the party’s sinking fortunes. From what I remembered, father spent the entire summer and fall campaigning, usually nonstop, on his office and on the trail. My mother, still the same usual self, has the pictures from those times on an album back home, but for that, it's another story, dear reader.

^1 - On this RP - OOC Montreal = IC Montreal

[Super-Llamaland]

MD10-12

The twelve teams with just two matchdays left in this tournament may be wondering where does the time go?

Group A:

Team Name                    1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
United Civil Republic Bears  0  2  0  0  0  0  0  0  0   2
Tikariot Thunderforge        0  1  1  0  0  1  0  0  X   3

Team Name                    1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
United Civil Republic Bears  0  0  0  1  0  3  2  1  0   7
Tikariot Thunderforge        0  1  2  2  0  1  1  1  X   8

Team Name                    1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
United Civil Republic Bears  1  0  3  0  0  1  0  0  0   5
Tikariot Thunderforge        1  0  0  5  1  0  0  0  X   7

Team Name              1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
The Jovannic Emperors  1  1  1  0  2  0  0  0  1   6
Kalactin U21s          2  2  2  0  1  0  0  1  X   8

Team Name              1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
The Jovannic Emperors  1  1  0  0  0  1  0  1  0   4
Kalactin U21s          0  0  0  2  0  0  2  2  X   6

Team Name              1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
The Jovannic Emperors  0  1  1  1  1  1  3  1  1   10
Kalactin U21s          2  4  0  0  0  0  0  0  1   7

                               G W  L RF RA  RD Win Pct.
1       Tikariot Thunderforge 12 8  4 76 61 +15 0.667
2       The Jovannic Emperors 12 7  5 84 57 +27 0.583
3               Kalactin U21s 12 7  5 68 64  +4 0.583
4 United Civil Republic Bears 12 2 10 46 92 -46 0.167

Group B:

Team Name              1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Sarzonia Junior Stars  0  0  0  1  0  0  1  1  3   6
Ethane Red Kites       1  0  0  0  0  1  1  1  1   5

Team Name              1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Sarzonia Junior Stars  2  1  0  0  2  1  2  0  0   8
Ethane Red Kites       0  0  0  2  0  0  0  0  0   2

Team Name              1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Sarzonia Junior Stars  0  0  0  0  1  3  0  1  2   7
Ethane Red Kites       1  0  0  0  3  0  0  0  1   5

Team Name                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Nova Anglicana Lions            0  1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0   1
Terre Septentrionale Nordiques  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0   0

Team Name                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Nova Anglicana Lions            0  1  0  0  0  0  0  2  0   3
Terre Septentrionale Nordiques  0  1  1  0  0  0  1  0  1   4

Team Name                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Nova Anglicana Lions            0  3  1  0  0  0  1  0  1   6
Terre Septentrionale Nordiques  0  0  1  1  1  0  2  0  0   5

                                  G W  L RF RA  RD Win Pct.
1          Sarzonia Junior Stars 12 9  3 54 33 +21 0.750
2 Terre Septentrionale Nordiques 12 8  4 55 34 +21 0.667
3           Nova Anglicana Lions 12 5  7 37 51 -14 0.417
4               Ethane Red Kites 12 2 10 42 70 -28 0.167

Group C:

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
South Newlandia U22s  1  0  0  1  1  1  0  2  1   7
Mathuvan Union Moose  2  3  0  2  1  1  0  1  X   10

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
South Newlandia U22s  0  0  1  0  0  1  0  1  0   3
Mathuvan Union Moose  0  2  0  0  0  0  0  0  2   4

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
South Newlandia U22s  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  1  0   2
Mathuvan Union Moose  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0   0

Team Name            1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Maniladrid Mariners  0  1  0  0  0  1  0  0  1   3
Falisiand U22s       0  0  0  2  1  1  0  0  X   4

Team Name            1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Maniladrid Mariners  2  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0   2
Falisiand U22s       0  0  0  2  0  0  0  3  X   5

Team Name            1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Maniladrid Mariners  0  0  0  1  0  0  0  0  1   2
Falisiand U22s       1  0  0  1  0  0  0  1  X   3

                        G W L RF RA  RD Win Pct.
1 South Newlandia U22s 12 8 4 66 35 +31 0.667
2 Mathuvan Union Moose 12 7 5 50 49  +1 0.583
3       Falisiand U22s 12 6 6 43 45  -2 0.500
4  Maniladrid Mariners 12 3 9 29 59 -30 0.250

Group D:

Team Name                             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Royal Kingdom of Quebec Grim Reapers  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0   0
Cassadaigua U18s                      0  1  0  0  0  1  0  0  X   2

Team Name                             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Royal Kingdom of Quebec Grim Reapers  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1   1
Cassadaigua U18s                      0  0  0  1  0  0  2  0  X   3

Team Name                             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Royal Kingdom of Quebec Grim Reapers  0  1  0  0  0  0  0  1  1   3
Cassadaigua U18s                      0  0  1  2  1  0  0  1  X   5

Team Name                             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Northern Moravica University Cougars  1  0  1  2  1  1  1  3  1   11
Random Place Fools                    3  1  1  3  2  1  0  2  X   13

Team Name                             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Northern Moravica University Cougars  1  0  0  0  0  1  0  1  1   4
Random Place Fools                    0  1  0  0  0  0  5  1  X   7

Team Name                             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 Total
Northern Moravica University Cougars  0  0  0  0  0  4  2  0  1  0  0   7
Random Place Fools                    1  1  1  0  0  1  1  0  2  0  2   9

                                        G W L RF RA  RD Win Pct.
1                     Cassadaigua U18s 12 7 5 79 51 +28 0.583
2                   Random Place Fools 12 7 5 79 82  -3 0.583
3 Royal Kingdom of Quebec Grim Reapers 12 6 6 62 71  -9 0.500
4 Northern Moravica University Cougars 12 4 8 68 84 -16 0.333

Group E:

Team Name        1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Jeckland Spuds   0  0  0  0  1  0  0  0  0   1
Kohnhead Pandas  2  1  1  0  0  0  1  0  X   5

Team Name        1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Jeckland Spuds   0  1  1  0  1  0  0  0  0   3
Kohnhead Pandas  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  0   1

Team Name        1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Jeckland Spuds   1  1  1  0  1  1  1  0  0   6
Kohnhead Pandas  1  1  0  1  1  0  0  1  0   5

Team Name               1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Super-Llamaland Tigers  1  0  1  0  1  0  1  1  0   5
Mitarian Pelicans       1  0  0  0  1  0  0  0  0   2

Team Name               1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Super-Llamaland Tigers  0  4  2  2  2  0  2  0  1   13
Mitarian Pelicans       1  3  0  0  0  0  3  1  0   8

Team Name               1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Super-Llamaland Tigers  0  0  0  1  0  1  0  0  0   2
Mitarian Pelicans       0  0  0  1  0  0  0  0  0   1

                          G W L RF RA RD Win Pct.
1 Super-Llamaland Tigers 12 8 4 71 63  +8 0.667
2         Jeckland Spuds 12 8 4 50 45  +5 0.667
3      Mitarian Pelicans 12 5 7 56 63  -7 0.417
4        Kohnhead Pandas 12 3 9 61 67  -6 0.250

Group F:

Team Name                        1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars  2  0  1  0  1  0  1  0  0   5
Starcom Starboys                 1  1  1  0  1  0  0  2  X   6

Team Name                        1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars  1  0  0  1  0  0  0  0  1   3
Starcom Starboys                 1  0  0  0  0  2  1  0  X   4

Team Name                        1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars  0  2  0  0  0  2  1  1  1   7
Starcom Starboys                 2  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0   3

Team Name                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 Total
Pripet Socialist Republic U21s  1  1  0  0  0  1  1  1  2  0  1  0  1   9
Newmanistan U16s                0  0  2  1  0  1  1  2  0  0  1  0  0   8

Team Name                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Pripet Socialist Republic U21s  0  0  0  0  0  1  2  0  0   3
Newmanistan U16s                2  2  0  0  0  1  0  1  X   6

Team Name                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Pripet Socialist Republic U21s  1  4  2  1  0  0  1  0  1   10
Newmanistan U16s                0  1  1  1  1  0  0  1  0   5

                                   G W L RF RA  RD Win Pct.
1                Newmanistan U16s 12 8 4 75 71  +4 0.667
2                Starcom Starboys 12 6 6 47 65 -18 0.500
3 Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars 12 5 7 62 50 +12 0.417
4  Pripet Socialist Republic U21s 12 5 7 79 77  +2 0.417

[Falisiand]

After coming off of a devastating series against South Newlandia, Falisiand looked to get their confidence back Maniladrid. They have seemed to do that. In game one, it was Logan Vinson pitching, and he allowed a run in the second inning, but luckily Ryan Grantham got on base and Kodey Kenton hit a 2 run home run to give them a 2-1 lead, then the next inning, Rashaan Sebert hit a home run in the 5th inning to make it a 3-1 lead. Vinson gave up another run, making it 3-2, but Ryan Grantham hit a rare home run, since he's a contact hitter, which made it 4-2, Maniladrid did try to come back, but lost 4-3 in the end.


The second game, Xerxes Anscom pitched, he allowed 2 runs in the first inning, but in the 4th inning,, Kodey Kenton hit a double, Ezekiel Elis hit a single allowing runners on first and third, then Val Gladwin hit a triple to allow both runs to score to make it a 2-2 game, then in the 8th, Roque Greg hit a homerun to make it a 3-2 game, then Sandro Christiano hit a single, then Rashaan Sebert hit a two run home run to make it 5-2. the game ended with a 5-2 score with Xerxes pitching 8.0 innings and having 9 Ks with no walks.

In the 3rd game, Luke Burle was the starter and he was coming off of a 12-2 loss. Falisiand got the lead in the first inning with Kodey Kenton hitting a home run to give them a 1-0 lead. Then in the top of the 4th, Maniladrid tied in 1-1, but in the bottom of the fourth, Ezekiel Elis hit a double and Val Gladwin hit a single to drive in the run to make it a 2-1 game, then in the 8th, Kwamw Keahi hit a home run to make it 3-1, then in the 9th, Maniladrid made it a 3-2 game, but couldn't seem to rally back as they lost 3-2. Luke Burle made a great rebound after a horrible game last time, he pitched for 7.2 innings with 12 Ks and 3 BBs.



Falisiand is facing Mathuvan who they beat them two games to one last time at home, but will they beat them on the road? We'll find out tomorrow.


Batting Avg - Ryan Grantham- .326
Hits- Ryan Grantham- 26
Home Runs- Kodey Kenton- 12

[The Jovannic]

Good Jovannican Performances as they win against Tikariot, Fight against Kalactin.

It has been a good few days for the Jovannic Emperors as good performances against Tikariot and Kalactin pushed them to second place.

Jovannic Emperors Vs Tikariot Thunderforge
Tikariot Thunderforge, or the Devil's Rejects, faced off against us two days ago at our home ground, The Park of the Great Emperor. 18,786 people attended this exciting match, and they were not let down. The first inning started off badly when Tikariot got the better of a slight miscalculation by Yui Ng led to 3 points for the Thunderforge. The Jovannic could not get back into it until the last inning, when a homer from Jititi Fathe and tricky curver from Johny Quaker led to 3 points for The Jovannic and overtaking Tikariot by 1 to win 8-7. The Jovannic did some solid pitching to keep Tikariot low on points and eventually surpassed them by another point in the 2nd game 5-4. The last game was more of a pitching game honestly, with both teams with extremely good pitches and the batters struggling to get points. The Jovannic eventually got a home run that decided the game with a score of 2-1.

"Beautiful Gameplay today, Tikariot gave us a really hard time, but we managed to pull through! We have to play like this every game." Ho Leng Chua said after the match.

Jovannic Emperors Vs Kalactin U21s
We lost all 3 games the last time, and The emperors were determined to fight back. Our batting was good in the first inning, but the Kalactin had produced some amazing batting to break through our infield defence and win the first game 6-8. The second game led the same course, although The Jovannic got a few good homers, Kalactin still won 6-4. The last game started off badly when Kalactin dominated and got 4 points in an inning. However, The Jovannic emerged and played one of their best games, with at least one run from the second game to the end, defeating the Kalactin U21s 10-7

"We competed well today. Batting could have been better, but the last game showed promise from the team." Batting coach Jonas Culster said in an interview today.

The United Civil Republic Bears are next. Although we have won them the last time, we cannot be complacent.

[Sarzonia]

The mark of an experienced pitcher is how they handle themselves when they don't have their best stuff or they miss spots or the home plate umpire squeezes them.

No one on the Sarzonian Under 21 national baseball team could ever be mistaken for being experienced, with the 21year-old Will Morgan perhaps being the oldest. He didn't have his best command in the series opener against Ethane, walking five Red Kites against eight strikeouts. He somehow managed to throw six innings-plus before coughing up a leadoff homer in the bottom of the seventh and forcing manager Edwin Crawford to go to his bullpen.

Vance Ridge pitched two innings and allowed a run in the bottom of the eighth before the Stars had their last chance in the top of the ninth. They managed to get two runners on before shortstop Cristobal Vargas stepped to the plate against the Red Kites closer. He managed to work the count full, then launched a mammoth home run to deep right centre to give the Junior Stars their only lead.

It would be the only lead they required, as closer Ned Creighton slammed the door despite giving up a run-scoring double. The Junior Stars took the all important first game of the series 6-5 and they had ace Nate Kingston pitching Game 2. Despite allowing a two-run single in the bottom of the fourth, Kingston was otherwise sharp, tossing a complete game and striking out nine in the Junior Stars 8-2 triumph.

Speaking of pitchers not having their best stuff, that also happened to Junior Stars No. 2 starter Cal Zane. He allowed a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first and then three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Ridge would pitch another two innings, this time keeping the Red Kites off the scoreboard. This time, he also ended up lined up to be the winning pitcher courtesy of first baseman Xavier Felton, who lined a screamer just over the left field wall for a three-run shot that drew the score level in the top of the sixth. Martaye Adams provided the go-ahead run with a solo shot in the top of the eighth inning.

After Sarzonia's next opponents Nova Anglicana took two out of three from Terre Septentrionale, the Junior Stars were once again back in first place in Group B, just a game ahead of the Nordiques. However, Crawford warned that the series against the Lions would be much more difficult than the previous meeting.

"We're playing them at Queen Charlotte Park," he said. "They aren't going to make the mistake of taking us lightly this time." Not when they're still fighting for their lives." At 9-3, the Junior Stars may have a favourable position for a spot in the Round of 12, but Adams said nothing was guaranteed.

"We still have six games left and anything can happen," he said.

[Jeckland]

INTERNATIONAL BASEBALL SLAM: JECKLAND WELL POISED TO ADVANCE

Jeckland go into their final two series of the IBS group stage knowing that four wins will be enough to ensure their advancment into the knockout phase.

In reality, the total required is likely to be less, especially as the Spuds final series is at home to Mitary, the side most likely to be able to snag one of the top spots from Jeckland or Super-Llamaland. The top two clash in the next series, with the Tigers triumphing 2-1 in the last series in Jeckland.

Since then, the Spuds have won 2-1 on the road twice themselves, firstly against Mitary and secondly against Kohnhead. The new team was an unknown quantity going into this tournament, especially in the face of a tough group draw, but they seem to have found some consistency and cohesion, which bodes well for the rest of the tournament and beyond.

Whilst Mitary being three wins behind in third could be seen by some as a sign the Spuds could afford to relax a little in this last two series, this is anything but the case. The format offers benefits for strong group finishes beyond just seeding, with the four strongest records for group winners bypassing the Round of 12 and going straight to the quarterfinals. Jeckland are currently just three runs behind Super-Llamaland to top the group, with the coming series likely decisive in that regard. Only Sarzonia's Junior Stars have won more than eight games so far, so those four spots are very much up for grabs for teams in all six groups.

The series with Super-Llamaland will be incredibly difficult to win, especially without the benefit of home advantage. However, playing in the nation which will host the playoffs may give the Spuds an advantage when (and if) they get there, being more accustomed to their surroundings. Whatever will happen will become much clearer after this coming series, but it's looking like this trip to Super-Llamaland won't be the last for the Spuds.

[South Newlandia]

ELEPHANT VALLEY MAIL
Sports -> Youth Baseball
South Newlandia struggles, drops two games

The South Newlandian U22s visited the Mathuvan Union Moose for the forth match series, and despite a strong showing in Falisiand, this match went much worse. In every aspect, the South Newlandian squad played much worse, with Marcus Raj receiving a sizeable portion of the blame. That isn’t entirely justified, as the entire squad played a poor game – except for Ryan Hunter.

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
South Newlandia U22s  1  0  0  1  1  1  0  2  1   7
Mathuvan Union Moose  2  3  0  2  1  1  0  1  X   10

The South Newlandian players were surprised when they entered their opponent’s stadium. Different to the Falisiandian fans, the fans in the Mathuvan Union seemed to be much more hostile. The atmosphere seemed to frighten some of the young South Newlandian players.
Marcus Raj took the mount in game one. He pitched in the last two games as well, and the young pitcher seemed to be both tired and frightened. In any case, Adam King scored in the first inning to give South Newlandia an early 1-0 lead. Does anyone here have a déjà-vu? After that, Marcus Raj started pitching. He gave up five runs in the first two innings. That included several mistakes and a home run. Jean-Luc Conrad didn’t want to do this, but he had to. Before the second inning ended, Raj was taken away from the mount, and Long Relief pitcher Patrik Bryant got to work. The first balls were the first international balls the 18-year-old pitched in his life, and it seemed to go well at first. In the top of the fourth inning, South Newlandia finally started to try and fight the heavy deficit. Mike Larsen got a run to change the standings into a 2-5 to give the South Newlandian players some hope. This hope was quickly smashed, as the Moose scored two runs in the bottom of that same inning. South Newlandia kept fighting, scoring runs in both the 5th and 6th inning as well, with Sophia Smiths and David Drum collecting a run each, but Bryant gave up one run in each of these innings as well. It seemed to be a sisyphos task; for every run scored by South Newlandia, the Moose would score one as well. With two innings to play, South Newlandia was down 4-9. They managed to get two runs in the 8th after a good triple by David Drum, scoring Drum and Adam King to reduce the gap to three runs, but once again, the Moose took a run off of the pitcher. Since the start of the 7th, Barnaby Butt was in play as a closer, and he gave up a run as well. This meant that South Newlandia had to score four runs or more to have a shot at extra innings, but they only managed one run by Jack Mine. With that, South Newlandia lost by a surprising score of 7-10, the highest scoring game they had so far.

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
South Newlandia U22s  0  0  1  0  0  1  0  1  0   3
Mathuvan Union Moose  0  2  0  0  0  0  0  0  2   4

Roberto Goodman went to take the mount for the second game. We don’t know which words were given to him by Conrad, but he seemed much more confident than Raj, and he managed to do a better job, but in the 2nd inning, he made a dangerous mistake. A very bad pitch gave the Left Field for the Moose an opportunity, and one home run later, South Newlandia was down by two runs to none. They fought, just like in the first game, and Sophia Smiths got one of the two runs required to catch up in the third inning. Nothing happened for a while; Goodman was doing good work and South Newlandias batters weren’t. In the 7th inning, Ian Capan came in as closer; and South Newlandia equalized the game with a run by David Drum. They went even further; taking a lead in the 8th inning after Mike Larsen scored a run. After the top of the 9th inning, South Newlandia led 3-2. Surely, Capan could bag this up? No, no he could not. He allowed two runs, and South Newlandia lost the second game in a row.

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
South Newlandia U22s  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  1  0   2
Mathuvan Union Moose  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0   0

For the last game, Ryan Hunter took the mount. The WBC-veteran was clearly the strongest pitcher in the last few days, and he came in hoping to help South Newlandia win at least one game. For six innings, Hunter shredded through batters, allowing just two hits, three walks and no runs on 10 K’s in these first six innings. Meanwhile, the South Newlandian batters got basically nothing more done. Admittandly, the pitcher for the Moose was doing a good job as well. Ryan Hunter stayed on the mount for the 7th inning, despite looking tired already. He knew how close the game still was, and he knew of Butt’s bad form. Hunter managed to retire three batters after allowing a walk. For the top of the 8th inning, South Newlandia got the first run of the game. David Drum managed to score the much-needed run, as South Newlandia did want nothing less than getting swept today. Ryan Hunter decided to stay on the mount for the bottom of the 8th. He seemed very tired already, but he managed to get the job done again, not allowing a run. The South Newlandian U22 got another run in during the top of the ninth after a nice play; with Daryl Dunlop getting a much needed second run to take a 2-0 lead. Ryan Hunter made the decision to power the last inning through. He seemed to play under pain already, but he got the job done, completing a perfect shutout over nine innings. He has every reason to be proud of his performance, but he seemed like he could barely stay standing after the last pitches. Kudos to him, as thanks to that effort, South Newlandia got at least one game out of a terrible series for them.

Current standings:

P Team Name            G  W L RF RA  RD Win Pct.
1 South Newlandia U22s 12 8 4 66 35 +31 0.667
2 Mathuvan Union Moose 12 7 5 50 49  +1 0.583
3       Falisiand U22s 12 6 6 43 45  -2 0.500
4  Maniladrid Mariners 12 3 9 29 59 -30 0.250

South Newlandia is going to play against the Malinadrid Mariners next, visiting them for the third away series in a row. The Mariners didn’t have a lot of success so far, and the South Newlandian squad hope to collect at least two wins there. They remain on top of the standings, but if they want to make the Quarterfinals as one of the best group winners, they will need a better performance than in this last series.

[Super-Llamaland]

CHU PLEASANTLY SURPRISES AS TIGERS ROLL TOWARDS PLAYOFFS
Alyssa Zhao, LSN Baseball

MITARY -- Long reliever Simon Chu, forced into an emergency spot start, dominated over seven innings of one-run ball in a 2-1 road win over the Mitarian Pelicans. The win improves the Tigers to 8-4, edging out Jeckland for first place by H2H record, and if the IBS group stage ended today, the Tigers would be one of four teams to automatically qualify for the quarterfinals.

Savanna Wladecki, best known to LBL fans as the reigning Rookie of the Year, was originally slated to start after a strong first start and a disappointing second one. Unfortunately, Wladecki was a late scratch due to shoulder soreness, and Sofia Rasmussen opted to instead hand the start to long reliever Simon Chu. Fans have speculated that Chu was meant to serve as an "opener" to the relatively unprepared Danielle Nørregaard. However, despite being just seventeen years old, Chu blew away the Mitarian Pelicans in his first three innings of work, racking up five strikeouts and giving up a lone second-inning single to Eli Manno, prompting Rasmussen to save Nørregaard for the series against Jeckland.

Mitary starter Josef Rodrick impressed as well for the first three innings, with Ivy Werner and Miles Villeneuve (who was immediately caught stealing) reaching base early. However, things changed for the better in the top of the fourth. Werner showed off some impressive plate discipline in working a nine-pitch at-bat before drawing the leadoff walk. Werner then stole second inches ahead of the throw from Nike and advanced to third on a fly ball to right field off the bat of Tyson Long. With a relatively quick runner on third and just one out, Noah Slater needed just a slow ground ball or a sacrifice fly to score a run. Instead, the designated hitter roped a first-pitch fastball down the left-field line, scoring Werner with a double before advancing to third on a throwing error.

Unfortunately, while the Tigers had the Pelicans on the ropes early, they simply let their foot off the gas. Miranda Gray and Albert Vaughn both failed to get Slater home, and in the bottom of the inning, Simon Chu hung a slider to Martin Mickey that was deposited four hundred feet over the left-field wall. Chu recovered quickly to strike out the side, but the damage had been done.

Still, Chu held firm over the next three innings, while Rodrick just could not keep up the pace. The fifth inning saw the Tigers unlucky not to score, with Caitlin Rosario and Miles Villeneuve both drawing walks before Derrick Armstrong sacrificed them to second and third with just one out. However, Pelicans coach Mike Mondowski opted to intentionally walk Liam Desjardins to load the bases, and the usually-clutch Ivy Werner rewarded his decision by grounding into a 5-4 double play. But not even Mondowski's savviness could save his Pelicans in the sixth inning. Tyson Long worked an eleven-pitch at-bat before singling up the middle, and although Mondowski recognized that his starter was tiring and brought in Jake Nyamonte, Noah Slater doubled the run in anyways.

From there, it was smooth sailing for the Tigers. While Nyamonte - and later Tim Akernik and John McDouglas - were able to contain the Tigers for the rest of the game, Chu was never seriously threatened after the fourth inning. Rasmussen took her young pitcher out with a final line of four hits, two walks, and nine strikeouts over seven innings of one-run ball, and Justin Frazier was able to take care of business in the eighth and ninth innings to finish off the Pelicans.

Next up for the Tigers is a trip to Tyler Rocke to face Jeckland. The series will be the Tigers' biggest test to date, and the winner of the series will likely win Group E - and guaranteed admission to the quarterfinals - alongside it. Savanna Wladecki (now recovered from injury), Nørregaard, and Jason McAllister will take the mound for the Tigers, as Sofia Rasmussen's young team looks to solidify their playoff standing.

[Tikariot]

Today we will shine the spotlight on the youngest member of our squad, the Tikariot Devil's Rejects, 17-year old third baseman Foster Fleming, considered one of the brightest prospects in Tikariotian baseball right now.

He was born in the small Paladonian seaside town of Verengi, he began playing for the local football team, like most kids of his age. Then at the age of eleven, however, his family went on a vacation trip that would change Foster's future forever. His father brought him to some games of the International Baseball Slam and that kindled a desire to play to the point that his dad set up the Verengi Grasshoppers, a tough team to enable Foster and other children to share their new passion.

Over the next few years villages and towns in surrounding Paladon began to start teams and at first friendlies and then little tournaments began to sprout up across Tikariot. Calls for minor leagues became louder and several provinces set up their own small leagues. Fast forward to 2019 and the inaugural season of the Tikariotian Baseball League. 14 teams across the whole nation signed up and hopeful Foster Fleming was drafted by the Avanaroch Nightwatch.

After a somewhat rocky start to the season, Foster managed to secure a first team spot for most of the games and when the TBL announced that it would be sending a team to the International Baseball Slam XI, young Fleming was one of the first players to be nominated by coach Graham McCrory. Despite some avoidable errors in the semi final series against the eventual first TBL champions Port Rhovanyon Paladins.

Foster Fleming: The first season was an absolutely incredible experience for me. It felt surreal to be part of the first ever season of professional baseball in Tikariot and on top of that making the semi finals! After we lost, it meant the world to me to see my dad come down from the stands and tell me how proud he was of me. Without him nothing of this would ever have happened."

The team's first steps on the international stage again were something for the history books as in game one Foster hit a two-run homerun at his first at bat that would lay the foundation to the historic first ever win for a Tikariotian baseball team and the eventual sweep of the United Civil Republic Bears. He added another three RBIs in the 2-1 split series victory over the Kalactin U21s before experiencing his first slump, not being able to score against The Jovannic Emperors and also defensively being utterly unspectacular, to say the least.

However in the second series against the United Civil Republic Bears he had an absolutely stellar performance in the fourth inning of game three when he managed a grand slam homerun after the Bears pitcher had some big problems with the unpredictable winds at Oceanview Park, opening a lead that they would not relinquish until the end.

Fleming: All I can say is wow. I still can't believe it, it was like the perfect hit, a grand slam at an event like this is just-- aaaah--"

His teammates did not quite care that he was in the middle of an interview when they grabbed him and threw him into a Crocorade filled cooler. But overall the sky is the limit for this young an and the next few months will show, if he will be able to help the Thunderforge, uh, Devil's Rejects to continue their fairytale story so far. Tonight against the Kalactin U21s we will be able to see, if the magic continues

This is Kenneth Burgess for TSG TV reporting from Port Rhovanyon.

[The Royal Kingdom of Quebec]

Childhood, Traces
PART 2.2

-Part 2.1-

The old and the new, the openness and the closure, the wild and the urban were mysteriously brought together at the very turn between the second and third decades of our century. Sometime during that summer of 2029, my family of four would sometimes walk our new neighbourhood before father, sometimes, would be greeted by a bunch of strangers asking him policy-related questions. Quickly my father would fix his glasses, excuse himself to mum and us, and then proceed to provide concise answers as expected.

Of course, I do not exactly remember them- what point is there for me to remember such lines at an age of nine? - but still, it was evident enough that in such an air of enthusiasm, the buzz seemed to be found profoundly in the air about the chances. It probably had something to do with how the city of Kingston, in its complicated history of being a city of swing ridings, or something more about how a political newbie, whose years of diplomatic ranks had trained him for dealing with ooh’s and ah’s and how to deal with them, was generating enough interests. Once, as always expected, the question was answered, there would once again be some kind of a buzz that hits the questioner. Whether it be disappointment, degoutant, or just rabid endorsement was up in the air, and then life would go along as expected for us for yet another half hour (before the chain were to repeat itself outside).

Of course, that election season was a busy time for him, so we’d sometimes see him for half a day, if not the entire day, at times. So a lot of the times, my maman, who had her own culinary business, would be the one more or less looking after my brother and I. She had to make sure we weren’t going late to schools and still did our homework, but hey, it’s not easy since all four of us were occupied everywhere at all times. Still, there would exist surprising apparitions- sometimes brother and I would be watching old television shows from the Other Side of the Interrealm Portal that my parents watched when we were little - Reply Series reruns, One Night, Two Days; etc, etc - and we would just critique and walk around. Usually I’d be having a book, something about trivial facts or random fields of personal interest, with me, while my brother, being more active of the two back then, would run around the apartment a bit more. Then, all of sudden, the lights would all get turned off. I would turn to the left and boom, see my father pop outta nowhere in a matter of levitation, with papa in old jackets and jeans waving at them, as he turned on the light.

And then, like the usual, he'd join us and we'd return to our old selves watching television and doing random shit on top of it.

[Super-Llamaland]

MD13-15
Will you be eliminated tonight, or will you keep holding on?

Group A:

Team Name              1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Kalactin U21s          0  0  0  0  0  1  1  2  0   4
Tikariot Thunderforge  1  1  2  0  1  1  1  3  X   10

Team Name              1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Kalactin U21s          0  0  0  1  0  0  0  0  0   1
Tikariot Thunderforge  2  3  1  0  2  0  0  0  X   8

Team Name              1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Kalactin U21s          0  0  2  1  1  0  0  0  0   4
Tikariot Thunderforge  0  0  0  0  2  0  0  0  0   2

Team Name                    1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
United Civil Republic Bears  1  0  1  0  1  0  0  0  0   3
The Jovannic Emperors        0  0  2  0  0  0  1  0  1   4

Team Name                    1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
United Civil Republic Bears  0  0  0  1  0  0  0  1  0   2
The Jovannic Emperors        0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0   0

Team Name                    1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
United Civil Republic Bears  1  1  1  0  0  0  0  0  0   3
The Jovannic Emperors        2  0  2  0  4  2  1  0  X   11

                               G  W  L RF  RA  RD Win Pct.
1       Tikariot Thunderforge 15 10  5 96  70 +26 0.667
2       The Jovannic Emperors 15  9  6 99  65 +34 0.600
3               Kalactin U21s 15  8  7 77  84  -7 0.533
4 United Civil Republic Bears 15  3 12 54 107 -53 0.200 E

Group B:

Team Name                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Terre Septentrionale Nordiques  0  1  0  0  1  0  0  1  0   3
Ethane Red Kites                2  0  0  0  1  0  0  1  X   4

Team Name                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Terre Septentrionale Nordiques  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  2  0   3
Ethane Red Kites                0  0  0  1  0  0  0  1  0   2

Team Name                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Terre Septentrionale Nordiques  1  2  1  1  0  0  2  2  0   9
Ethane Red Kites                1  1  0  0  1  0  0  0  1   4

Team Name              1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Sarzonia Junior Stars  0  0  1  1  0  0  0  0  0   2
Nova Anglicana Lions   0  1  1  1  1  1  0  0  X   5

Team Name              1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Sarzonia Junior Stars  0  0  0  0  1  1  0  0  0   2
Nova Anglicana Lions   0  2  2  3  1  3  0  0  X   11

Team Name              1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Sarzonia Junior Stars  0  1  0  0  0  0  0  0  2   3
Nova Anglicana Lions   1  0  0  0  0  1  1  0  1   4

                                  G  W  L RF RA  RD Win Pct.
1 Terre Septentrionale Nordiques 15 10  5 70 44 +26 0.667
2          Sarzonia Junior Stars 15  9  6 61 53  +8 0.600
3           Nova Anglicana Lions 15  8  7 57 58  -1 0.533
4               Ethane Red Kites 15  3 12 52 85 -33 0.200 E

Group C:

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Falisiand U22s        0  2  1  0  0  0  0  3  1   7
Mathuvan Union Moose  1  0  0  2  0  0  0  0  0   3

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Falisiand U22s        2  1  1  0  0  1  0  1  0   6
Mathuvan Union Moose  0  0  0  1  0  0  0  1  0   2

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Falisiand U22s        0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0   1
Mathuvan Union Moose  0  0  0  0  1  0  1  0  X   2

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
South Newlandia U22s  0  0  0  0  0  2  1  0  0   3
Maniladrid Mariners   0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0   0

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
South Newlandia U22s  0  0  0  1  0  4  1  0  2   8
Maniladrid Mariners   1  0  0  2  0  0  1  2  1   7

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
South Newlandia U22s  3  3  0  3  0  0  0  1  0   10
Maniladrid Mariners   0  1  0  0  3  2  0  0  2   8

                        G  W  L RF RA  RD Win Pct.
1 South Newlandia U22s 15 11  4 87 50 +37 0.733
2       Falisiand U22s 15  8  7 57 52  +5 0.533
3 Mathuvan Union Moose 15  8  7 57 63  -6 0.533
4  Maniladrid Mariners 15  3 12 44 80 -36 0.200 E

Group D:

Team Name           1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 Total
Random Place Fools  1  0  1  2  3  0  0  0  1  0  0  1  0   9
Cassadaigua U18s    0  0  6  0  1  0  0  1  0  0  0  1  2   11

Team Name           1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Random Place Fools  1  0  2  0  0  0  0  0  0   3
Cassadaigua U18s    0  0  0  1  1  0  1  0  2   5

Team Name           1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Random Place Fools  2  1  0  0  1  3  0  0  1   8
Cassadaigua U18s    2  1  0  1  1  1  1  2  X   9

Team Name                             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Royal Kingdom of Quebec Grim Reapers  1  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0   2
Northern Moravica University Cougars  0  0  1  0  1  0  0  2  X   4

Team Name                             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Royal Kingdom of Quebec Grim Reapers  1  0  0  0  1  0  0  1  0   3
Northern Moravica University Cougars  1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1   2

Team Name                             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 Total
Royal Kingdom of Quebec Grim Reapers  0  0  0  0  1  2  0  1  0  0   4
Northern Moravica University Cougars  0  0  2  0  0  1  1  0  0  1   5

                                        G  W L  RF  RA  RD Win Pct.
1                     Cassadaigua U18s 15 10 5 104  71 +33 0.667
2                   Random Place Fools 15  7 8  99 107  -8 0.467
3 Royal Kingdom of Quebec Grim Reapers 15  7 8  71  82 -11 0.467
4 Northern Moravica University Cougars 15  6 9  79  93 -14 0.400

Group E:

Team Name          1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Mitarian Pelicans  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0   0
Kohnhead Pandas    0  0  1  0  2  0  0  0  X   3

Team Name          1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Mitarian Pelicans  0  1  0  2  0  1  0  0  0   4
Kohnhead Pandas    0  1  2  1  0  2  1  1  X   8

Team Name          1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Mitarian Pelicans  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  0   1
Kohnhead Pandas    0  0  0  1  1  2  0  2  X   6

Team Name               1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Jeckland Spuds          0  0  0  0  1  1  1  2  0   5
Super-Llamaland Tigers  0  1  1  0  0  1  0  0  0   3

Team Name               1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 Total
Jeckland Spuds          0  2  0  2  0  0  0  0  1  0   5
Super-Llamaland Tigers  0  1  0  0  0  2  2  0  0  1   6

Team Name               1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Jeckland Spuds          0  0  1  3  2  0  1  2  0   9
Super-Llamaland Tigers  2  0  3  0  1  0  1  0  0   7

                          G  W  L RF RA  RD Win Pct.
1         Jeckland Spuds 15 10  5 69 61  +8 0.667 Q
2 Super-Llamaland Tigers 15  9  6 87 82  +5 0.600
3        Kohnhead Pandas 15  6  9 78 72  +6 0.400
4      Mitarian Pelicans 15  5 10 61 80 -19 0.333 E

Group F:

Team Name         1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Newmanistan U16s  3  1  1  0  0  1  0  0  0   6
Starcom Starboys  0  0  0  0  1  1  0  0  0   2

Team Name         1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Newmanistan U16s  2  1  1  0  1  0  0  0  0   5
Starcom Starboys  0  3  0  0  0  0  1  1  1   6

Team Name         1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Newmanistan U16s  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0   0
Starcom Starboys  0  1  2  1  1  0  0  1  X   6

Team Name                        1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars  3  0  0  0  2  1  0  0  0   6
Pripet Socialist Republic U21s   0  1  0  1  0  0  0  0  2   4

Team Name                        1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  1  0   2
Pripet Socialist Republic U21s   1  0  0  1  0  0  0  0  1   3

Team Name                        1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars  0  0  1  1  0  2  1  1  3   9
Pripet Socialist Republic U21s   1  0  0  0  3  1  0  1  1   7

                                   G W L RF RA  RD Win Pct.
1                Newmanistan U16s 15 9 6 86 85  +1 0.600
2                Starcom Starboys 15 8 7 61 76 -15 0.533
3 Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars 15 7 8 79 64 +15 0.467
4  Pripet Socialist Republic U21s 15 6 9 93 94  -1 0.400

PLAYOFF SEEDING (AS OF MD15):

1. South Newlandia U22s (11-4, +37)
2. Cassadaigua U18s (10-5, +33)
3. Tikariot Thunderforge (10-5, +26)
4. Terre Septentrionale Nordiques (10-5, +26)

5. Jeckland Spuds (10-5, +8)
6. Newmanistan U16s (9-6, +1)
7. The Jovannic Emperors (9-6, +34)
8. Sarzonia Junior Stars (9-6, +8)
9. Super-Llamaland Tigers (9-6, +5)
10. Falisiand U22s (8-7, +5)
11. Starcom Starboys (8-7, -15)
12. Random Place Fools (7-8, -8)

[Super-Llamaland]

IBS PARTICIPANTS FACE DRAMA-FILLED FINAL SERIES
Jeff Cauchy-Schwarz, LBC Sports

NEW LLAMA CITY -- With three games left in the group stage of the International Baseball Slam, there's all to play for. The Maniladrid Mariners, a club team from Hispania y Filipinas, and the national teams of the United Civil Republic and - shockingly - WBC39 champions Ethane have found themselves on the outside looking in, and the Spuds of Jeckland are through to the playoffs after a series victory over the Tigers in Tyler Rocke. However, the other twenty teams competing in the group stage are still vying for a ticket to Super-Llamaland and their ever-important playoff seeding.

Two teams from each of the six groups of four will advance to a Round of 12. However, just qualifying for the playoffs won't be enough for many teams - since group winners will be seeded 1-6 regardless of record, and since the top four group winners by record will automatically progress to the quarterfinals, even relatively safe teams will still be giving their all in the final three games. Additionally, all ties of two nations that will determine who advances to the playoffs will be broken by a single-game playoff, potentially setting up a drama-filled MD19, while other ties (including those based on seeding purposes) will be broken by first run differential, next on H2H record, and finally a coin flip.

Group A

High-flying newcomers Tikariot Thunderforge travel to second-place The Jovannic Emperors, while third-place Kalactin U21s will need to take care of business abroad against the United Civil Republic Bears. Tikariot are a game ahead of The Jovannic, while Kalactin's 8-7 record puts them two games back. The Jovannic's 22-1 destruction of the Bears means they can likely advance by winning two out of three games, making their series with Tikariot truly a best-of-3 for the group title. Meanwhile, Kalactin would need to blow out the Bears to win the group. However, if they can win one more game than The Jovannic or two more than Tikariot, which they are guaranteed to do by sweeping United Civil Republic, they could set up a playoff for a playoff spot. Additionally, if they win two more games than The Jovannic or three more than Tikariot, they could guarantee their advancement and even potentially contend for the group title with big enough wins.

Group B

Nova Anglicana Lions will need big things to happen at home against the beleaguered Ethane Red Kites, while the Sarzonia Junior Stars play host to the Terre Septentionrale Nordiques. The situation is essentially the same as Group A, but the Nordiques' superior run differential means they would likely just need to avoid a sweep to guarantee at least a tie for first place, meaning they would advance barring an utter disaster of a final series. Meanwhile, Sarzonia and Nova Anglicana will both try to win as many games as possible, with Nova Anglicana needing one more win than Sarzonia to force a playoff.

Group C

The South Newlandia U22s would need to (1) get swept, (2) have Maniladrid get swept, and (3) lose by a significant margin in run differential to finish anything but first in this group. Obviously, they're more worried about seeding in their series hosting Falisiand. The Falisiand U22s, currently in second, will need to match the Mathuvan Union Moose's results to force a playoff game. However, while Falisiand takes on group leaders South Newlandia, the Moose play the already-eliminated Maniladrid Mariners, who will have one last chance at glory in front of their home crowd.

Group D

Similarly to Group C, while it's technically possible for the Cassadaigua U18s to not win this group, it's pretty unlikely that they'll do so. The drama on MD16-18 will be Quebec, as the Royal Kingdom of Quebec Grim Reapers take on the Random Place Fools in what could very easily be a best-of-3 for second place. Meanwhile, the Northern Moravica University Cougars, a college team from ex-WBC champions Banija, would need to sweep Cassadaigua just to force a playoff against the winner of the RKQ-Random Place series.

Group E

Currently in second place, our hometown Super-Llamaland Tigers are guaranteed at least a playoff for a Ro12 spot, and would only be forced into a playoff if they were swept at home against the third-place Kohnhead Pandas. In first place, the Jeckland Spuds need to just match the Tigers' results to win the group, although they too will be worried about getting a top-four seed. Meanwhile, Tigers fans will be anxiously hoping for the Mitarian Pelicans, who started strong but have since been eliminated, to take some games off of Jeckland in Rack City.

Group F

There's all to play for still in Group F, with the IBS' oldest team hosting its' youngest as the Abanhfleft Revolution All-Stars take on the Newmanistan U16s. First-place Newmanistan are two games ahead of third-place Abanhfleft, but one bad series could easily change that. Meanwhile, the second-place Starcom Starboys are a game behind Newmanistan and two games ahead of fourth-place Pripet Socialist Republic U21s, who they'll be visiting tomorrow. Every team except for Pripet Socialist Republic can still win the group, and any team except for Newmanistan could finish last. Suffice to say, fans of these four teams will have to anxiously watch two sets of scoreboards for the next three games.

[Sarzonia]

After the final out of the three-game sweep at the hands of Nova Anglicana, outfielder Martaye Adams called for a closed door meeting.

The Junior Stars had come into the series after a sweep of the Ethane Red Kites ahead of the Lions by four games with six to play. Winning even one match, which was in sight after Cristobal Vargas bashed a long two-run homer to draw the score level in the third game, would have made the path to the knockouts all but impossible for the host nation.

However, closer Ned Creighton promptly gave up a game winning homer to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning and now the Junior Stars were just one game ahead of Nova Anglicana for the second and final knockout round berth from Group B.

And Sarzonia's task would be much more difficult than the Lions. The Stars would play at Khalil Dennis Park, but would host Terre Septentrionale in their final series whilst the Lions face the 3-12 Red Kites in theirs.

The Junior Stars would have to win as many games as the Lions did to avoid their overtaking Sarzonia. They were also in play for the group title, but would need to sweep the Nordiques to make that happen.

Regardless, Adams saw his team slump into the clubhouse and saw the lack of joy in his teammates. He wanted to make sure they played their asses off in the final series, but also wanted them to have fun doing it.

"We got outplayed by a good team at their park," he told the media after the clubhouse finally opened. "Now we face another good club at ours. We've got a lot of work to do."

[Nova Anglicana]

Sweep of Sarzonia puts playoffs in sight

Coming in to the series with the Sarzonia Junior Stars, the "Last Chance All-Stars" had a couple of reasons for wanting to do as well as possible. First, if they didn't win at least two games, they'd be eliminated from playoff contention, and if they didn't sweep, they'd be practically eliminated, needing a sweep of Ethane and for Terre Septentrionale to sweep Sarzonia to merely tie them and force a playoff for the Round of 12. Second, revenge. The Junior Stars swept the Lions last time to put them at 1-5 and their Slam chances on life support.

In game one, Paul Strickland took the hill. Strickland hadn't had the best success so far, giving up eight runs in ten innings in his two starts. But the crafty veteran southpaw pitched well, giving up just two runs in six innings, while the Lions scored a single run in innings two through six to back him, eventually earning a 5-2 win at Queen Charlotte Park. They got RBIs from Quentin Glazier, Kelly Drayton, Jean-Luc Desjardins and others in the win, and Cory Wright, Caleb Lucas, and Ben Morton pitched scoreless innings to close out the game for the Lions.

In game two, Kiki Felton was on the mound for the Junior Stars. The last time out, she baffled the Lions over seven innings before eventually finishing the game allowing three runs. This time, she wasn't so successful. The Lions jumped on her off-speed offerings, with Mason Garvey mashing a curveball over the wall in left for a two-run homer in the second, then Scott Neumann hitting a two-run double in the third, Hal Middleton with an RBI single in the fourth, and Quentin Glazier poking one the other way for a two-run single in the same inning. That chased Felton, having allowed seven runs in three and two-thirds innings. Scott Neumann hit a solo homer in the fifth, and Jean-Luc Desjardins and Garvey added RBI hits in the sixth to stretch the lead out to 11-2. Andy Sutton pitched seven innings, allowing just the two runs, and Randy McGee and Dana Myers finished it off.

Coming into the third game, the Lions were hungry for the sweep and the Junior Stars were desperate for a win to put themselves in prime position for the playoffs. Brice Duncan gave up an RBI single to Deanna Parker in the second, but otherwise allowed no runs in his seven innings. It looked like he would get the win when Quentin Glazier and Mason Garvey hit solo homers in the first and sixth innings, and when Bobby Faust singled home a run in the seventh to give the Lions a 3-1 lead. But Ben Morton took the hill in the ninth, and the pressure got to him. Well, either the pressure, or the superior skill of Cristobal Vargas, who hit a two-run homer in the top of the inning to tie the game at three. Morton would get out of the inning, however, and the Lions had a chance to win against Junior Stars closer Ned Creighton. The lefty Creighton toed the rubber while Neumann, the first batter, settled into the box, hitting from the right side. Creighton got a first-pitch strike with the fastball, missed with the fastball, then got Neumann to swing over a hard curve. After a waste pitch up high, Creighton returned to the curve, but, despite its velocity, it didn't bite quite as much as he wanted it to, and Neumann deposited it into the seats in left for a walk-off homer. Neumann was mobbed at home plate and the "Last Chance All-Stars" were just one game back of the Junior Stars for the playoffs.

With the sweep of Sarzonia and counting from the sweep by Sarzonia, the Lions have gone 7-2 in their last nine games, pulling their record over .500 at 8-7 and making them competitive in Group B. It's not over by a long shot. If the Lions sweep Ethane and the Junior Stars lose two out of three, then they will advance straight to the Round of 12. The Lions will still need to win at least one more game than Sarzonia in order to tie them and force a one-game playoff. If they fail to win more games than Sarzonia, their sweep will count for nothing and they will miss the playoff. There's a long road ahead yet for the "Last Chance All-Stars", but they're doing their best to inject some drama into Group B and keep themselves alive.

[Jeckland]

JECKLAND SECURE QUALIFICATION BUT STILL MORE TO FIGHT FOR

Jeckland are the only team in the International Baseball Slam to have secured their place in the knockout stages - but face the prospect of playing in the Round of 12 as they are currently not one of the top four teams in the tournament.

The Spuds went into the key series with Super-Llamaland level with them on wins, knowing that victory in this series would secure top spot for this matchday at least. The series started well for the Spuds, winning 5-3 in the first game after scoring in four consecutive innings to come from behind. The second matchday saw the Tigers strike back, with a game that went into an extra innings the highlight for the neutrals. Jeckland went from 4-1 up to 5-4 down before levelling at the top of the ninth. It took some sharp fielding to ensure it stayed level at the bottom of the ninth but it was ultimately to no avail as Super-Llamaland scored the run in theri tenth inning that levelled the series. The decider was a back and forth affair. With the Spuds 5-1 down at one point, it was level at the top of the eigth before a two run play that would prove to be decisive.

Kohnhead's sweep of Mitary eliminates the latter and mathematically secures Jeckland's qualification. However, despite their strong results, Jeckland have been involved in some very narrow games, meaning they are only fifth in overall records as a result of a worse points difference than the other three teams on the same 10-5 record. With the lowest of those a whopping eighteen points better off than the Spuds, it looks as if they will have to sweep Mitary to secure one of those automatic quarter final tickets. They must only match Super-Llamaland's results against Kohnhead to secure the top spot in the group. A 2-1 win over Mitary could do if one of the current top teams loses their series, but a 3-0 would mean the Spuds would be very unlucky not bypass the Round of 12.

[South Newlandia]

ELEPHANT VALLEY MAIL
Sports -> Youth Baseball
South Newlandia with one and a half legs in the playoffs

A sweep against the Malinadrid Mariners has put the South Newlandian U22s very, very close to the playoffs, but they aren’t quite all the way there yet. Ahead of the game, Matteo Maxbar and Jean-Luc Conrad had a minor pitcher problem, because Ryan Hunter had been playing nine innings in the very last game, but Marcus Raj was due to be rested. Raj hadn’t been playing well in the last few games either. Maxbar and Conrad had to make a decision on how to solve this, as there was no easy answer.

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
South Newlandia U22s  0  0  0  0  0  2  1  0  0   3
Maniladrid Mariners   0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0   0

Jay Kramer took the mount for the opener in this away series. He was rested against the Moose, so he was very fit. He started off well, shutting out the Mariners’ batters well, but so did their pitcher, and the South Newlandian batters struggled as well. The sixth inning started with no runs scored yet, and it was about time for South Newlandia to go ahead. They did, and David Drum and Sophia Smiths collected the first two runs of the day to gain the lead. They scored one more run in the top of the 7th inning after a nice hit by Jack Mine, getting a run for the Right Fielder. Kramer completed his shutout through the 7th inning, and he allowed only three hits and four walks on his way to get there. Ian Capan came in as closer for the last two innings, and he completed the shutout to make the final score a 3-0 victory.

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
South Newlandia U22s  0  0  0  1  0  4  1  0  2   8
Maniladrid Mariners   1  0  0  2  0  0  1  2  1   7

For the second game, Roberto Goodman took the mount. The changing of the pitchers proved to make the matchup much more interesting, and many more runs were scored in this second game. South Newlandia didn’t start great, as Goodman gave up a run in the first inning already. It took the South Newlandian players quite some time to come back, but in the 4th inning, they found an equalizer, with Mike Larsen scoring a much needed run. That didn’t last long, as the Mariners took two runs off of Goodman in the bottom of the very same inning. After the fifth inning, they were still down 1-3. Conrad decided to take Goodman out of the match now and make Barnaby Butt play four innings as closer, knowing he probably wouldn’t be able to rest Goodman in the nest series. The top of the sixth was a great inning for South Newlandia. Fred Burn started the team off with a single, after Jack Mine got retired, Jack Mine drew a walk and Mike Larsen got another single. With all bases loaded, it was Adam King’s time to shine. He got a perfect hit on a 2-1 pitch, and South Newlandia got their first grand slam of the tournament. With those four runs at once, South Newlandia was now ahead by two runs. Shawn Zimmerman got one more run for South Newlandia in the 7th inning, but Butt gave it right back up in the bottom of the 7th. In the bottom of the 8th, Butt gave up two runs, and the Mariners were suddenly all tied up again. Conrad seemingly trusted Butt anyway, and let him play on. South Newlandia wanted some runs in the top of the 9th, and they got some. Daryl Dunlop managed to get a double in, and Fred Burn managed a triple. After a sacrifice fly, he got a run as well. Going into the bottom of the ninth, the game was 8-6. Butt scared the South Newlandians, giving up another run, but he managed to hold and got the team the win.

Team Name             1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Total
South Newlandia U22s  3  3  0  3  0  0  0  1  0   10
Maniladrid Mariners   0  1  0  0  3  2  0  0  2   8

The solution that Jean-Luc Conrad came up with was letting Ryan Hunter pitch. He seemed to want to, but he didn’t seem properly rested at all. Good for Hunter, South Newlandia got a 6-0 lead with the first two half-innings they played, after which the Mariners changed their pitcher. In the top of the first, it was a home run by Shawn Zimmerman who got runs for David Drum and Daryl Dunlop as well. In the second inning, Daryl Dunlop got the home run himself, getting runs for Jack Mine and Mike Larsen as well. With this comfortable lead, it looked like this couldn’t go wrong anymore, and no one was concerned when Hunter gave up a run in the bottom of the second. In the top of the 4th, South Newlandia got another three run inning, this time without a home run. David Drum, Shawn Zimmerman and Sophia Smiths got the runs this time. Surely, South Newlandia couldn’t blow a 9-1 lead over? Ryan Hunter’s struggle began in the bottom of the 5th. He gave up a home run with the first and second base loaded. The coaching team wasn’t too concerned, as they still led by 5, and Hunter continued pitching. He gave up two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, and the lead had now shrunk to three runs. Ryan Hunter left the mount now, and Ian Capan came in to close the game. After three innings without a run, South Newlandia got one more, this one scored by Daryl Dunlop. Going into the bottom of the ninth, South Newlandia was up by 10-6. Capan had played well so far, but the South Newlandian bullpen wasn’t exactly strong so far in this tournament. Capan gave the first batter a walk, and the second batter singled. The first batter also stole the third base now, and the Mariners had runners on the corners. After that, Capan retired the first batter, but the fourth one got a single, and with it the first run of the inning. Capan retired another batter, which was very necessary at this point, but after a double by the sixth batter, the Mariners were down by only two, only a double away from extra innings. Capan finally got things together, and he struck out the last batter now, winning South Newlandia the match to complete the sweep.

Current standings:

P Team Name            G   W  L RF RA  RD Win Pct.
1 South Newlandia U22s 15 11  4 87 50 +37 0.733
2       Falisiand U22s 15  8  7 57 52  +5 0.533
3 Mathuvan Union Moose 15  8  7 57 63  -6 0.533
4  Maniladrid Mariners 15  3 12 44 80 -36 0.200 Eliminated

With the sweep, South Newlandia is very, very close to the playoffs, and they have booked a hotel in Super-Llamaland already. If they manage to avoid getting swept with more than 16 runs, they are almost certainly safe. In fact, they are in the pole position to get to the Quarterfinals instantly , as they maintain the only 11-4 record between all teams in the International Baseball Slam. If they get all three wins, they are certainly the top seed, while two wins will almost certainly be enough for the Quarterfinals as well. With only one win, it’s not so certain. The last series of the group phase will be played against the Falisiand U22s, who need every win they can get. It will be played in Elephant Stadium in Elephant Valley, and it will be the first game in the new and upgraded stadium. While many fans might have paid to see Ryan Hunter, we don’t think he will be playing in the series.

[Tikariot]

After the special feature on Foster Fleming, TSG TV is back in their studio with Angelo Mori and Sarah Ladle at their desk, but instead of their usual attire they both are wearing jerseys with the Devil's Rejects logo on them.

Angelo Mori: Good evening ladies and gentlemen, welcome to TSG TV and the International Baseball Slam XI, where the Tikariot Devil's Rejects are still soaring like our snowy owls so majestically do!

Sarah Ladle: Yes, another series win for our team, 2-1 against the Kalactin U21s and now it all hinges on their series against The Jovannic Emperors to see, if they can qualify for the playoffs or not.

Mori: With the exception of the United Civil Republic Bears all three remaining teams still have a chance at reaching the playoffs, so nothing is set in stone yet, however Tikariot is currently in the lead in Group A with one win ahead of Jovannic and 2 ahead of Kalactin. Now the, let's call it that, problem that our team is facing is that Kalactin will be going against the Bears and let's be honest, even though they managed to take one win against the Emperors we have to expect the U21s to sweep the series.

Ladle: So here is the current deal. Tikariot has 10 wins, Jovannic 9 and Kalactin 8. We have to assume that the U21s will sweep the UCR getting them to 11 total. This means that Jovannic has to win in order to stay ahead of the U21s with either 11 or 12 wins total. Tikariot could qualify even if they lose 1-2 against Jovannic due to the U21s' far worse run difference, but in order to win the group, we have to win our series, no matter what.

Mori: And on top of that we also have something else to consider. Seeding. Currently the Devil's Rejects are sitting in the number 3 seed spot, which would give them a bye in the first round of the playoffs and would be a very important achievement to guarantee them a spot in the quarter finals right then and there. So for that we have to win, preferably with a sweep because there are several teams very close behind that could take advantage of any slip-up of our team.

Ladle: We are going to try to keep you up to date with results from other groups as they happen during our live coverage of the last three games of the group stage in order to keep track of where we stand not just within the group, but also within the big picture. Our team has been doing fantastic so far and I know that now the pressure is mounting, but I hope that they guys will be able to rise to the occasion and continue this majestic adventure.

Mori: So make sure to tune in tomorrow, because this will be an edge of the seat thriller until the last pitch.

Ladle: What he said! See you tomorrow, hopefully with pictures of celebrations by the Tikariot Devil's Rejects (and us), I'm Sarah Ladle--

Mori: And I'm Angelo Mori for TSG TV.

Both: Up the Irons!

[The Jovannic]

This was it. The final battle. Emperors against Thunderforge. Could they win? Of course. But they could not let that happen. For the good of our country. They must win. With determined looks, they stepped onto the field, facing the one obstacle of Jovannic Baseball. The crowd was screaming, but the team could not hear what they said. There was only one goal in mind. One chance.