3rd Londinium Challenge Invitational (Invite only)

[Nova Anglicana]

3rd Londinium Challenge Invitational

The Londinium Challenge Invitational was conceived by the sub-ministry of Sport following the Lions' first-ever WBC championship. It was thought of as a small tournament pitting the best of the best against Nova Anglicana, both as a warmup for the WBC team and a way to whet fans' appetite for the upcoming tournament. The tournament, as conceived of, would see the two finals participants and the best debut team visiting Nova Anglicana.

For the third LCI, in the absence of a truly excellent debut team, the rules were tweaked a bit: the best unranked team, regardless of whether or not it was their WBC debut, would be invited. Additionally, since Nova Anglicana was one of the two finalists (and ranked in the top two), the 3rd ranked team was invited. Therefore, the participants were: Cassadaigua, Newmanistan, Quintessence of Dust, and Nova Anglicana.

The format would be: a single round-robin group stage consisting of three games and then a three-game championship series and a three-game third-place series. All games would take place at Archbishop Stadium in Londinium. All told, the tournament would take about a week.

Londinium Challenge Invitational Participants

Quintessence of Dust (33)
Nova Anglicana (2)
Cassadaigua (1)
Newmanistan (3)

IC Schedule

Day 1: Teams arrive
Day 2: Teams practice
Day 3: QoD vs Newmanistan, Nova Anglicana vs Cassadaigua
Day 4: Newmanistan vs Cassadaigua, QoD vs Nova Anglicana
Day 5: Nova Anglicana vs Newmanistan, Cassadaigua vs QoD
Day 6: Championship series and third place series Game 1
Day 7: Championship series and third place series Game 2
Day 8: Championship series and third place series Game 3 (if necessary)

OOC Schedule

3/29: IC thread posted
3/31: Scorination

Those invited, and nobody else except moderators, should post rosters and RPs, if any. This tournament ICly takes place before the WBC begins.

Xkoranate with NSFS adjusted formula will be used.

[Nova Anglicana]

Welcome to Nova Anglicana/Bienvenue á la Nouvelle-Anglais

The Nova Anglican Baseball League and the nation as a whole welcome the nations of the 3rd Londinium Challenge Invitational and wishes them much luck in the competition. Below are the venues and some information on Nova Anglicana.

Archbishop Stadium in the Capital of Londinium (35,000)


Archbishop Stadium is the home stadium of the Londinium Capitols as well as the Nova Anglican national team. It is big and it plays big, with a serious nighttime marine layer, an enormous right-center gap known as "Triples Alley" and an imposing right field wall. It's not as hard on right-handed hitters, but is a fly ball pitcher's paradise. Many people are seen in the bay outside of the stadium attempting to catch home runs hit into the water or simply cruising the bay while enjoying the sound of the game on the radio.

About Nova Anglicana

Nova Anglicana maintains a strong public transport system, both inside and out of urban areas. Most large cities have a metro or subway system, managed by the city, but subsidized by the central government. Bus service is ubiquitous in cities with a population of 25,000 or more, and several private companies provide long-distance bus service. Many families own cars in Nova Anglicana, but these are often used for pleasure trips or as a symbol of status. Residents of urban areas often rely on public transport, and those in the suburbs often find that driving to the station and riding the metro is less time-consuming should they wish to enter the city. The state-owned NovaRail connects cities in the various provinces of Nova Anglicana and is widely regarded as an efficient and affordable way to travel within or between provinces.

For longer journeys or international travel, Nova Anglicana has international airports in each of its ten largest municipalities and domestic airports scattered across the country. The municipalities own the airports, but the security is provided by private companies as well as national air marshals and all flights are provided by private companies.

Crime is rarely a problem in Nova Anglicana, as a strong social safety net and good public education, along with an improved economy, give most Nova Anglicans little reason to commit crimes. Crime is so low that the central government spends nothing on law & order (except for border control), preferring to leave it to the individual cities and provinces.

In addition to its strong infrastructure and miniscule crime rate, Nova Anglicana is consistently ranked among the top nations in many categories. Visitors always remark on the warm welcome they receive from citizens, and Nova Anglicana is considered one of the happiest and healthiest nations in the NS universe. It also enjoys great weather and culture, so there is always plenty to do no matter what one's idea of fun is.

Food and Drink

So when you and that Nova Anglican fan hit it off and go for a drink and meal, what can you expect? Lots of fish, b'y. Londinium is located in the province of Newfoundland, which has a very strong fishing industry. Fish and chips, cod every way you can think of (tongues are a favorite), flounder, halibut, salmon, and lobster are some of the typical seafood one can expect, though if you're lucky, you might be able to find seal flipper pie, a real treat. For land fare, try caribou, deer, rabbit, or the famous "jiggs dinner", salted beef with boiled vegetables, as well as pickles and beets. For dessert, think figgy duff, a sweet raisin pudding, or one of our many baked goods flavored with molasses.

Jiggs Dinner



But what you really want to know about is the beer, right? Pubs in Londinium are open from noon to midnight, usually, and later on the weekends, and local breweries usually hold the same hours, give or take an hour or two. Expect to see plenty of traditional lagers and ales, though local microbreweries are turning out more complex beers, including a popular blueberry ale made with local blueberries. The most popular in the city is Lion, both in its lager and stout form. George Street, located near the harbour, is the best place to go for local nightlife, featuring over 20 bars, pubs, and clubs. Expect plenty of live music, mostly folk, though the clubs will play American and Canadian pop, as well as rap, hip-hop, and R&B.

Lion



Simeon Jones (DC)

Language and Religion

Being formed from parts of Anglophone and Francophone Canada, Nova Anglicans do not all speak the same language. English is, of course, the most widely spoken language and the language in which most classes are taught. Translators will be available at official functions, but good luck understanding the particular brand of English the people of Londinium speak (at least the natives).

Nova Anglicana is about 95% Christian of varying stripes, though mostly Anglican and Roman Catholic, and all religions are legal to practice, provided they don't involve animal cruelty or human sacrifice or something like that. Londinium is a cosmopolitan city, so one expect to find a synagogue, mosque, temple, or any other place of worship for a major religion, if you should find yourself in need of one.

[Nova Anglicana]

Nova Anglicana Roster: LCI III

Starting Rotation (order as given)
RHP #36 Cory Sharpe, 33 - Sharpe leaned on his 90 MPH slider and 97 MPH fastball to get here, the consummate power/strikeout pitcher, steady diet of high fastballs and just-out-of-reach sliders on 2-strike counts, uses a cutter or change against tough lefties, will flash a curve
LHP #20 Erik Russell, 32 - big high leg kick messes with hitters, 90 MPH fastball is underwhelming, but he can cut, sink, and run it, along with a circle and a Vulcan change, knuckle curve and passable slider, you just never know what's coming
RHP #44 Rex Boyd, 31 - sits 95, but can ramp up to 97-98 if needed, throws a slider and a changeup as well
LHP #19 Christian Hammond, 25 - known for his big bender that arcs into the strike zone, but fastball is more than respectable, 94-96 but can reach back for 98 at times, broke onto the scene by developing a tight slider, still working on changeup
RHP #56 Rocky Gantt, 26 - Gantt jumps into the starting rotation, pops the glove at 96-97, devastating slurve, good changeup and average cutter help him against lefties

Bullpen
LHP #57 Aaron Spencer, 33 - long guy out of the bullpen, stands 6'4, so his pedestrian 91 MPH fastball looks faster, sweeping slider, decent curve, will mix in a change every now and then as well
LHP #48 Dallas Hawkins, 29 - lefty has developed into a strong closer, features a 96 MPH fastball with a biting slider and tricky curve
LHP #46 Grant Graham, 28 - former starter now a lefty specialist, throws his dangerous curve close to 50% of the time, most of the rest is a fairly hard fastball with a change and slider just to give hitters an occasional change of pace
RHP #38 Cody Brock, 30 - sits 100, throws a changeup at 87 that is tough to handle, and his slider is 91 as well, not much control right now
RHP #16 Jonathan Drake, 25 - the newest fireman has a nice, easy, repeatable delivery that gives him a low-effort mid-90s fastball that can be ramped up if necessary, throws a slider and split change as well, club team is dreaming on him as a guy who can start, be a bulk guy, be a fireman reliever, or close
RHP #11 Justin Chandler, 24 - violent delivery means he almost falls off the mound as he pitches, but he sits 98 with a dynamite slider, not much else
RHP #43 Roger Bizet, 26 - Bizet is kind of an anomaly, chucking mid-80s sliders from a sidearm slot over 70% of the time, but fastball is 92-93 and can pull out a change against lefties too
RHP #30 Jon Klein, 32 - bowling ball of a fastball at 94, but throws a good curve and change as well, reliable strike-thrower
RHP #23 Eric Norton, 28 - the kind of guy that rears back and lets loose, 4-seam at 98-99, 2-seam at 94-95 that dives back over the outside corner to righties and dives just out of the zone low and away to lefties, hard slider at 90, decent change, also good control

C #18 Curtis Hughes, 29, (R/R) - below-average receiver, but he has power for days and is the best-hitting catcher in the league
C #60 David Conner, 22, (S/R) - rookie sensation burst onto the scene as a do-it-all guy, framing, arm, blocking, average, and power, could do with improvement in drawing walks and baserunning/speed, but his success is more about repeating it in future
C #51 Daniel Hunter, 26, (R/R) - a nuclear deterrent behind the plate for runners, already an excellent game-caller as well, offense will likely never be better than below-average, defensive replacement and occasional starter for this team

1B #21 Erik Austin, 29, (S/R) - bat speed is incredible and he has .300/.400 potential, power is growing, an above-average defender at first, and can play third if needed
3B #26 Pierre Duchesne, 31, (R/R) - a bit of a lumberer, so more suited to first, but can play a decent third, thick body with a lot of swing and miss, but generates a lot of power with the lower body, strong arm
SS #11 Luke Mills, 31, (S/R) - former #1 overall pick out of high school, outstanding fielder, but his hit tool has really taken off, good power for a SS, a national team fixture
2B #6 Nolan Dunning, 25, (L/R) - slick fielder can man short or second, though better at second, quick bat who hits for a high average and draws a good number of walks, though not much power, very fast
CI #50 Barrett Satterfield, 26, (S/R) - first thing you notice about him is his booming, sometimes inappropriately loud voice, can be goofy but motivator and cheerleader in chief, beyond off-field skills, combines spray-hitting approach with solid arm and quick feet, working on in-game tapping of substantial raw power
IF #27 Davis Shipley, 23, (R/R) - hit tool is below-average but developing, presently great at adding value outside of his bat, silky smooth in the infield, makes throws from anywhere, good eye at the plate, more of a smart baserunner than speed demon

OF #25 Joey Keller, 28, (R/R) - features a solid arm and good range in left, athletic power bat who still needs to work on taking walks, potential 30/15 guy
OF #35 Hank Oliver, 23, (S/L) - whiz kid makes highlight-reel plays in center, great jump/first step means he has tremendous range, arm is fair, doesn't hit for a terribly high average or power, but draws a lot of walks and steals/takes the extra base whenever possible, team hopes to develop him by exposing him to excellent competition
OF #29 Jerome Duplantier, 32, (L/R) - strong right arm in right means runners don't challenge him, a launch angle revolutionized swing means he has 30 HR power, not super mobile and won't hit for much average
OF #24 Cliff Garner, 32, (L/L) - Garner is all about the three true outcomes (homers, walks, and strikeouts), poor range but good arm, not an awful LF, but he's here for his hit tool, mostly
UTIL #40 Dusty Davidson, 31, (S/R) - Davidson is a super-utility guy, tall enough to play corner infield, quick enough to play middle infield, and fast w/a good enough arm to play any outfield position, will steal bases, draw walks, and play good defense, not much power, middling average

Mark Singleton #55 (Manager)

Jay Garrett #1 (Hitting Coach)

Nick Berry #47 (Pitching Coach)

Dale Garner #9 (1st Base Coach)

Eli Nelson #8 (3rd Base Coach)

Casey Cain #15 (Bench Coach)

Toby Meyer #52 (Bullpen Coach)

Starting Lineup w/o DH (/9 is an estimation of about how many games each player would play in a situation using this lineup)
1B Erik Austin/Duchesne (Austin 8/9, Satterfield 1/9)
SS Luke Mills/Davidson (Mills 8/9 games, Davidson 1/9)
LF Joey Keller/Garner/Davidson (Keller 7/9 games, Garner 1/9, Davidson 1/9)
RF Jerome Duplantier/Davidson (Duplantier 8/9 games, Davidson 1/9)
3B Pierre Duchesne/Satterfield/Davidson (Duchesne 6/9 games, Satterfield 2/9, Davidson 1/9)
C Curtis Hughes/Conner/Hunter (Hughes 6/9 games, Conner 2/9, Hunter 1/9)
2B Dunning/Shipley/Davidson (Dunning 7/9 games, Shipley 1/9, Davidson 1/9)
CF Hank Oliver/Davidson (Oliver 8/9, Davidson 1/9)
P Pitcher's Spot

Starting Lineup w/DH vs. RHP
1B Erik Austin/Satterfield (Austin 8/9, Satterfield 1/9)
SS Luke Mills (Mills 8/9 games, Davidson 1/9)
LF Joey Keller/Davidson (Keller 8/9 games, Davidson 1/9)
DH Cliff Garner
RF Jerome Duplantier/Davidson (Duplantier 8/9 games, Davidson 1/9)
3B Pierre Duchesne/Satterfield (Duchesne 6/9 games, Satterfield 3/9)
C Curtis Hughes/Conner/Hunter (Hughes 7/9 games, Conner 1/9, Hunter 1/9)
2B Nolan Dunning/Shipley/Davidson (Dunning 7/9 games, Shipley 1/9, Davidson 1/9)
CF Hank Oliver/Davidson (Oliver 8/9 games, Davidson 1/9)

Starting Lineup w/DH vs. LHP
1B Erik Austin/Satterfield (Austin 8/9, Satterfield 1/9)
SS Luke Mills/Davidson (Mills 8/9 games, Davidson 1/9)
LF Joey Keller/Davidson (Keller 8/9 games, Davidson 1/9)
RF Jerome Duplantier/Davidson (Duplantier 8/9 games, Davidson 1/9)
3B Pierre Duchesne/Satterfield (Duchesne 8/9 games, Satterfield 1/9)
DH Curtis Hughes
2B Nolan Dunning/Shipley/Davidson (Dunning 5/9 games, Shipley 2/9, Davidson 2/9)
C David Conner/Hunter (Conner 7/9 games, Hunter 2/9)
CF Hank Oliver/Davidson (Oliver 8/9 games, Davidson 1/9)

My opponent, if they RP first, may do the following:
Choose my runscorers: Yes
Choose my lineup: No
Follow my pitching rotation: Yes
Godmod scoring events: No
RP injuries to my players: Yes, but not serious ones. Back stiffness, jammed fingers, bruises, etc. Nothing that would keep them out of the lineup for more than 1 game. Reciprocity is expected.
Godmod injuries to my players: No
Eject my players: No, but manager is fair game
Godmod other events: No
Use DH at home: No
Style Modifier: +1

[Cassadaigua]

Team Cassadaigua
Official Roster



DH: No
Choose my runscorers: Yes
Choose my lineup: It is posted here.
Follow my Pitching Rotation: It is posted here.
Godmod scoring events: Yes
RP injuries to my players: No
Godmod injuries to my players: No
Eject my players: Yes only if you make it exciting!
Godmod other events: Yes as long as no one dies or is seriously hurt.

Coach- Maddie Polanco- 11th Classic with Cassadaigua, Bench Coach of Super-Llamaland's WBC 40 Championship squad among other accolades with Super-Llamaland, and led Cassadaigua to the semis in each of WBC 41 and 42, plus runner up performances in WBC 46, 48, and 49 before FINALLY winning the WBC with the Fillies in the WBC 50.

Starting Rotation (Stats in the last Cassadagan season included)
SP- #33- Brianna Shirley, 28, LHP, Concord Heights Royals, (21-5, 2.10 ERA, 241 K’s)
SP- #35- Jessica Ashfield, 29, RHP, New Lakeland Tycoons, (22-5, 2.32 ERA, 240 K’s)
SP- #27- Desiree Plummer, 31, LHP, Carthage Tornadoes (15-10, 2.22 ERA, 247 K’s)
SP- #28- Jennifer Mandrick, 22, RHP, North Granby Bobcats (19-6, 2.38 ERA, 225 K’s)
SP- #40- Hannah Phelan, 27, LHP, Concord Heights Royals (18-4, 2.27 ERA, 206 K’s)

Bullpen
RP- #31- Victoria Vassar, 27, RHP, Winchester Gamblers, Anytime Relief
RP- #26- Sierra Ogletree, 33, LHP, Rutland Engineers, Anytime Relief
RP- #38- Suzi Newkirk, 25, LHP, New Lakeland Tycoons, Long Relief
RP- #30- Zoey Valor, 20, RHP, Columbia Attack Geese, Long Relief
RP- #45- Sophie Calhoun, 29, RHP, Brattleboro Brats, Short Relief
RP- #36- Madison Mahoney, 28, LHP, Grande Mountain Huskies, Short Relief
RP- #34- Danielle Simms, 28, RHP, Grande Mountain Huskies, Set-up Reliever
CP- #43- Becca Fischer, 30, LHP, New Lakeland Tycoons, Closer

Here is our lineup with the players stats from the most recently completed season in Cassadaigua. All players are switch hitters, you don’t get to this level in Cassadaigua without having that ability.

1) #5- Katie Stephens- CF, Concord Heights Royals, 26 (.322, 10 HR, 61 RBI, 85 SB)
2) #3- Rachel Kessler- SS, Starkville Brown Birds, 29 (.357, 18 HR, 89 RBI, 47 SB)
3) #16- Tori Fullerton- LF, Victoriaville Venom, 28 (.337, 33 HR, 110 RBI, 24 SB)
4) #29- Macy Hamel- 3B, New Lakeland Tycoons, 32 (.281, 48 HR, 131 RBI, 0 SB)
5) #14- Steffie Kennedy- RF, Brattleboro Brats, 26 (.329, 26 HR, 97 RBI, 36 SB)
6) #15- Chloe Sorenston- 2B, East Amherst Bison, 22 (.330, 10 HR, 71 RBI, 11 SB)
7) #25- Meghan Thompson- C, Brattleboro Brats, 31 (.312, 17 HR, 75 RBI, 0 SB)
#9- Kaitlin Beane- 1B, Victoriaville Venom, 27 (.302, 19 HR, 82 RBT, 3 SB)
9) Pitcher

Bench:
#55- Melanie Putnam- C, Victoriaville Venom, 25
#22- Sarah Peluso, 1B/3B, North Granby Bobcats, 20
#4- Erin Jeffries- 2B/SS, Northbury Red Foxes, 29
#1- Ashley McKnight- OF, North Granby Bobcats, 20
#11- Avery Breen- OF, Starkville Brown Birds, 30
#12- Sarah Millerson- Utility, Grande Mountain Huskies, 28
#13- Hailey Morris- Utility, Grande Mountain Huskies, 20

[Quintessence of Dust]

WBC 50 roster has vast amounts of unnecessary information which is mostly still applicable, so just the barest essentials have been included here.

Nation name: Quintessence of Dust (QoD or Quod)
Demonym: Quodite
Adjective: Quodite or Quintessential (formal, rarely used)
Team nickname: The Things
Kit: All grey, but players wear the caps of their domestic baseball teams

Cheerleaders: The official cheerleaders of the Things are “the Riot Squad”, so named for their raucous and lewd behaviour. They consist of two men, two women, and one gender-non-conforming individual, all dressed in shapeless grey outfits collar-to-toe. Their sole dance move consists of standing squarely in place in an exact line, unsmiling. In the event of a particularly brilliant play one member may hold up a sheet of A4 paper printed with a smilie :) in Arial, 10 pt., but this sort of extravagance is usually reserved for something truly special like back-to-back grand slams or unassisted triple plays to cap perfect games.

Names: Since this was not clear last time, all Quodite names use the forename-surname format, including for players of Japanese or Chinese descent.

NEW! Coach: Jun Jiang. The Things resurrect a 120 year dormant tradition of appointing former players as coaches, and a Quintessential-Chinese one at that. Jun lost his starting place at WBC 50 but enjoyed a couple solid domestic years before succumbing to injuries. Rather than endure a long slow decline, he sensibly hopped straight into coaching. By international standards he’s very experienced, having never even coached an HBL team, but the Things are betting on his good rapport with many team-mates and intimate knowledge of his pitchers. A pretty traditional guy (in Quodite terms, meaning he favors splits, aggressive use of relievers, being willing to use his high-leverage closers before the 9th inning, aggressive base running, and conservative base stealing).

Starting pitchers: Pitchers can be expected to be kept on fairly tight pitch counts owing to concerns by HBL clubs about workload management, usually in the 70 – 90 range. Mayumi is the only pitcher who’ll be allowed a longer leash. Regardless of pitch count, relief pitchers will be used aggressively, especially to give splits. The team will revert to an orthodox 1 – 5 starting rotation, though changes may be announced prior to games. The use of openers, perceived as a failure at the last WBC, has been abandoned. LCI note: For this tournament, Jun will not be risking any starters so will pull them much earlier and give all relief pitchers heavy use.

1. #10 Jack Martin
2. #71 Mayumi Kawakami
3. #11 Hachirou Fujimori

NEW! 4. #96 Wen Lei (L/L) Upper Niedewe Gael
Cut fastball (95 – 97 mph), curveball, changeup
2.69 FIP / 1.03 WHIP / 6.6 K/9
His so-so career numbers compared to some of his other teammates are partly explained by his young age when he made the jump to Hannasea, but he’s coming off an insane hot season, which has seen him win multiple pitching awards and throw a first career no-hitter. Still not a major strikeout guy, he’s a pronounced groundball pitcher with a Platinum Glove fielding off the mound and a fair bat for a pitcher.

NEW! 5. #36 Zhen Jiang (L/L) New Blopping Mountaineers
Cut fastball (92 – 94 mph), curveball, changeup, slider
3.60 FIP / 1.27 WHIP / 8.9 K/9
Following a career repeatedly hit by injuries, Jiang finally seems to have put it together in time to impress at a WBC. A very decent hitter for his position, he was previously more known for his exploits at the plate than on the mound, but always had solid strikeout numbers thanks to excellent off-speed pitches. This season, a change in release angle helped him improve his control.

Gender-non-specific-bovine-pen: Listed in approximately ascending order of leverage. Splits favored. Given the complete implosion the supposedly highly rated closers suffered at WBC 50, Jun has instead gone with bright young prospects, for the most part.

#29 Justin Isaacson
#79 Jules Béranger

NEW! #25 Cody Young (R/R) Highmark Giants
Four-seam fastball (90 – 92 mph), curveball
2.82 FIP / 1.39 WHIP / 6.7 K/9

#37 Jiro Fujioka
#76 Alexis Lacroix

NEW! #70 Matthew Murphy (R/R) Greenfield Shamans
Sinking fastball (95 – 97 mph), curveball
2.10 FIP / 1.06 WHIP / 13.7 K/9

NEW! #43 Jean-Noël Boudreaux (L/L) Butterfly City Super Hamsters
Sinkiing fastball (95 – 97 mph), slider
2.06 FIP / 1.04 WHIP / 10.3 K/9

NEW! #37 Michael Ryan (R/R) West Chestnut Dragons
Four-seam fastball (97 – 99 mph), slider
2.61 FIP / 1.05 WHIP / 14.7 K/9

NEW! #95 Cheng Mao (R/R) New Blopping Corsairs
Sinking fastball (95 – 97 mph), slider
2.15 FIP / 0.98 WHIP / 12.8 K/9

Position players: After the failures last time the priority has been to get power into the lineup and especially on the bench. Splits at first, third, and right field. Isabella leads off and Naoko bats second but everything else can be reasonably fluid.

#27 Luke Phelps

NEW! #89 Joakim Stensrud (R/R) Pintook Saracens
.331 wOBA / .173 ISO / 20.5 LD% / 2.3 SPD
Superb hitting catcher with real pop. Nowhere close to Luke as a defensive catcher and cannot catch the knuckleball, so appearances may be limited to DH, bench, and giving Luke the odd rest.

NEW! #4 Sigurkarl Borgþórsson (L/L) West Chestnut Dragons
.476 wOBA / .301 ISO / 28.6 LD% / 5.6 SPD
Poor Thorsten, just as he establishes himself as the everyday first baseman, Sigurkarl knocks 51 home runs over the fences as a rookie. Physically the strongest man to play for the Things since perhaps the days of Barry Pullman. Surprising speed for a man of his size. Awful splits and not a special defender.

#47 Thorsten Kaufer

NEW! #45 Yasuhiro Hanazawa (R/R) New Blopping Mountaineers
.337 wOBA / .112 ISO / 21.9 LD% / 6.9 SPD
One scrappy slap hitter replaces another at second base. Yasuhiro is a better fielder than Kosuke was, though. Not much upgrade in power.

NEW! #92 Stig Akerström (L/R) Coral Coast Silver Sox
.372 wOBA / .226 ISO / 22.7 LD% / 2.1 SPD

NEW! #45 Kun Lin (R/R) Angelwood Green Jaxx
.308 wOBA / .181 ISO / 18.5 LD% / 4.7 SPD
The split at third contrasts a pretty typical corner infielder in Stig, with a lot of power, a good eye, and not much else, with Kun, who has some speed, a better glove, a more rounded offensive game, but nothing close to the power. Fortunately Stig can barely even be in the same ballpark as a lefty so Kun will get some games.

#7 Naoko Hisakawa
#74 Arielle Lacroix
#62 Ben Wilson

NEW! #2 Isabella Gennarelli (S/R) Oakwood Whites
.402 wOBA / .185 ISO / 23.7 LD% / 8.6 SPD
A speedy center fielder who served as bat girl at WBC 50.

NEW! #30 #Naemi Kivimäki (L/L) Coral Coast Silver Sox
.382 wOBA / .158 ISO / 18.5 LD% / 8.4 SPD
Unlikely to break in ahead of Isabella, so mainly there as defensive substitute and pinch-runner.

NEW! #26 Ryan Harris (L/L) Butterfly City Super Hamsters
.349 wOBA / .235 ISO / 19.2 LD% / 4.2 SPD
A beautiful swing to righties. Ugly hacks to lefties.

NEW! #73 Tom Brøndum (R/R) Oak Park Iguanas
.327 wOBA / .176 ISO / 18.2 LD% / 7.6 SPD
Young prospect with a massive arm from deep right that has not quite converted to power from the plate, yet.

RP permissions:

You may choose run-scorers and otherwise assign statistics for my players. You may RP baseball events. You may choose my lineup and RP substitutions, in line with my roster. You may assign injuries. You may RP ejections. You may RP any story elements you like. We will waive our right to determine DH preference at home and will use at home whatever the DH preference of the visiting team (unless the team has no stated preference or has a similar permission, in which case to avoid getting stuck in a causality loop we will not use DH). If you consider any of my RP lore wank you may ignore it.

You may not:

• choose my starting pitchers: please follow the listed pitcher
• godmode unusual statistical events taking place (specifically, no no-hitters without asking)
• RP any of my players or fans being involved in violence
• use RL photographs and say they represent my players, fans, ballparks, or nation

[Nova Anglicana]

This Londinium Challenge Invitational promised to be a doozy. Not only would there be a rematch between Nova Anglicana and Cassadaigua, but 3rd-ranked and champion several times over Newmanistan would be joining the party. Not to mention that Quintessence of Dust had made their return to WBC play and had gotten slotted in as the best unranked team from WBC 50. And they were all descending on Londinium.

Female baseballers from across the nation of all ages were buying tickets to see Cassadaigua. Some people came to see the spectacle of the moonmen and moonwomen of QoD. Baseball diehards wanted to see Newmanistan in action. And then, of course, there were just plain old fans of Nova Anglicana baseball. Not to mention the foreign fans who made the trip. All in all, 35,000 seat Archbishop Stadium would be packed to the gills for every game. To the sub-Ministry of Sport, it promised to be the best LCI yet.

For manager Mark Singleton, it was going to be a test, for sure, but he wasn't going to hype it up quite yet. He was going to be debuting a somewhat new lineup and new rotation and decided to pitch backwards. He would start Rex Boyd, Christian Hammond, and Rocky Gantt, his 3-5 starters, in the group stage, and reserve his top two starters for the "playoff" series. If they needed to go three games, Jonathan Drake, the current fireman, was a starter with a rubber arm, so he could pitch in the group stage and still be ready for a third game in the playoff series if necessary. In his lineup, he was going to start all of his catchers once in the group stage, to see what they had, then roll with Hughes for the playoff series, as he was going to be the WBC starter. He wanted to get his two young infielders a start each in the group stage, as well as Cliff Garner in left. They might not have been the optimal guys, but he needed to know he could rely on them. And of course, Dusty Davidson, his super-utility guy, was going to get at least one start in these six games.

They could win anywhere from zero to five games, but by God, he was going to learn something about this team.

LCI results incoming.

Quintessence of Dust      0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0  2
Newmanistan               1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 X  4

Nova Anglicana            0 1 0 0 0 1 0 3 1  6
Cassadaigua               1 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0  5

Newmanistan               0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0
Cassadaigua               0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  1

Quintessence of Dust       0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0  2
Nova Anglicana            12 0 0 1 1 2 1 0 X 17

Nova Anglicana            0 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 0  4
Newmanistan               0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0  3

Cassadaigua               0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 4  7
Quintessence of Dust      0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1  4

LCI                       Pld   W  L   RF  RA  RD  Pts 
1 Nova Anglicana            3   3  0   27  10 +17    9
2 Cassadaigua               3   2  1   13  10  +3    6
3 Newmanistan               3   1  2    7   7   0    3
4 Quintessence of Dust      3   0  3    8  28 −20    0

Championship Series
Cassadaigua               0 0 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 2  8
Nova Anglicana            0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 2 0  6

Cassadaigua leads series 1-0

Championship Series
Nova Anglicana            0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0  2
Cassadaigua               1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 X  4

Cassadaigua wins series 2-0

3rd Place Series
Quintessence of Dust      0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0  4
Newmanistan               3 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 X  5

Newmanistan leads series 1-0

3rd Place Series
Newmanistan               0 2 0 0 2 1 0 0 0  5
Quintessence of Dust      0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1  3

Newmanistan wins series 2-0

OOC: Xkoranate with adjusted NSFS formula, max rank was Cassadaigua's rank of 4.78 plus roster bonus. I view the results mainly through the small sample size lens, you are free to interpret them however you like. Again, this takes place ICly before the WBC.