WBC 21 RP and Results thread

[Darmen]

Darmen defeats Branta Island, 8-2

Darmen 8, Branta Island 2
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 T H  E 
BRI 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 3  1
DAR 2 0 0 4 0 0 1 1 x 8 13 0
Time: 2:35 Atten:5,600

Pitching              IP SO BB H R ER
C.C. Samanthia W(1-0) 8  6  1  3 2 2

Batting          AB H R 2B 3B HR
Eddy Money-1b    5  1 1 0  0  1
Kazuo Matsoy-2b  5  2 1 1  0  0
Scott Rol-3b     5  2 2 0  1  1
Tim Prince-ss    4  3 1 0  0  1
Joe Meyer-of     4  2 2 0  0  0
Mitchel Mante-of 4  1 1 0  0  0
Bern William-of  4  1 0 1  0  0
Carlos Belt-of   4  1 0 0  0  0
C.C. Samanthia-p 4  0 0 0  0  0

Darmen hit three home runs in the opening day of the 21st World Baseball Classic. Propelled forward with a stellar performance from C.C. Samanthia, Darmen never trailed once during the game. Tim Prince had arguably the best experience of the day, as his towering home run to left field proved to be the final dagger in the game, as Darmen emerged victorious at home, 8-2. 1,800 people were forced to stand as the stadium was filled past capacity.

[Civil Citizenry]

Civil Citizenry 5, Carmadin 4
Win: Somerset Byrd
Save: Symington Roxbury

As any oversized, molasses-speed bureaucracy can attest to, oftentimes disagreement sets in over a particular issue, causing a grumpy consensus in favor of completely wiping out what is established and start anew. When the Civil Citizenry national baseball team fell short of the playoffs in the last World Baseball Classic, that was a big deal - at least in the eyes of Citiz Baseball Administration officials - and so, with the scope and path of the issue unclear, it was decided to eliminate nearly everything about the team. That meant removing nearly all the players, as well as the manager, whose name we can no longer remember.

The CBA is a collection of power-hungry tricksters, though (which you'll find in any reasonably-powerful bureaucracy). Officials reasoned that a popular, knowledgeable, yet non-authoritarian manager would appease the people and the players, while leaving major decisions in the hands of the CBA. That man was Hunter Wayne, a likable fellow from the fallow land of western Civil Citizenry. No one is entirely sure what he's done in the baseball world, nor just how many games of baseball he's watched (he claims several thousand), but he seems to know his stuff.

He likes to sit in the farthest, darkest corner of the dugout, glasses (generally bright pink or Citiz red to discourage sign-stealers) covering his eyes. When his squad takes the field, he whispers a defensive formation to a well-trained, youthful assistant coach, who executes a simple sign that may seem easy to steal for opponents, but which is followed by a planned course of actions that really determines the formation. His wealth of knowledge is expansive from his days as a hitch-hiking, cross-country journeyman with amateur ballclubs (or so he claims). Supposedly, his lifelong nickname is "Wacky Wayne", so that is what his players call him - except Carnell "No, no, suck YOUR dick" Clive, who fought him tooth-and-nail to be accepted on the team roster.

Speaking of the roster, you know when it was mentioned that the entire roster was overhauled? That was just a joke. Sort of. Every player was removed - except for two: Colton Newman and Templeton Tanner. These two, both twenty-five-year-olds, have been the future of Citiz football since they were in their mid-teens making headlines at the now-defunct Keisler Cup. So the not-so-heartless CBA accepted them. And what do you know, they each smacked home runs in the Explorers' 5-4 victory over Carmadin. Not an awful way to start a new era of Citiz baseball. Wait, what was that maniacal laugh I just heard? >_>

Today's Trick of the Trade by Wacky Wayne: THE ESREVER
It's an odd name, but it's got logic to it. When a particularly un-intelligent batter steps to the plate, Wayne likes to confuse him by reversing every player on the field - e.g., left fielder moves to right field, first baseman takes over at third base, etc. The hope is that the batter is so perplexed that he fails to put the ball in play, though generally when he does it turns out to be an inside-the-park home run (or a standing-up triple, at the very least).

Reasonable analysts say this only works with uneducated amateur softball players that Wayne used to play with when he was in his early twenties.

[Michael VII]

What did I tell you? Told you we won't get there!
-Two losses in a row pretty much sum up Michael VII's chances of actually getting to Saugeais

Okay well we didn't really expect to get there anyway, but its still sad to see two losses coming, especially in a row. This sucks, and another one will come with Lycrabon tomorrow. 0-3, let's just hope to get up to 5-5 by the end and call it a qualifying. No seriously, we suck, we won't get there. GREG STOP THINKING THAT YOU'RE RIGHT ALL THE TIME!

Anyway, Greg is just being a tosser because he still thinks that we can do it, despite being last place right now. Another tournament gone, another tournament not qualified for. Let's have a look, 2 WCOHs, 2 WBCs, 3 WCs, 1 IBC, when will we actually accomplish anything outsider of our own borders?!

But that's a story for another time, Michael VII loses again, quite badly to essentially say to us that we ain't qualifying for WBC 21 or getting to Saugeais. That's no fair, no Michael VII sportsmen have EVER been to Saugeais! C'mon Margaret, be nice and I'll give you a cookie!

[Darmen]

Darmen defeats Newland-America in a close one, 5-4

Darmen 5, Newland-America 4
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 T H E
DAR 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 0 5 8 1
NLA 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 4 7 0
Time: 3:03 Atten: Unknown

Pitching           IP  SO BB H R ER
Jack Zhu W(1-0)    7   4  2  6 4 4
Roy Oswald         1.3 1  0  1 0 0
Poe Nathan S (1-1) .6  0  0  0 0 0

Batting           AB H R 2B 3B HR
Eddy Money-1b     4  1 1 0  0  0
Kazuo Matsoy-2b   4  0 0 0  0  0
Scott Rol-3b      4  1 0 0  0  0
Tim Prince-ss     4  2 2 0  1  0
Joe Moyer-c       4  0 0 0  0  0
Mitchel Mantel-of 4  1 1 1  0  0
Bern William-of   4  2 1 1  0  0
Carlos Belt-of    4  1 0 0  0  0
Jack Zhu-p        3  0 0 0  0  0
Roy Oslawd-p      1  0 0 0  0  0
Poe Nathan-p      0  0 0 0  0  0

---------------------------------

Tournament Statistics-Pitching
Name           Rec IP  SO BB H R ER ERA  WHIP SV 
C.C. Samanthia 1-0 8   6  1  3 2 2  2.25 0.50 0
Jack Zhu       1-0 7   4  2  6 4 4  5.14 1.14 0
Roy Oswald     0-0 1.3 1  0  1 0 0  0.00 0.76 0
Poe Nathan     0-0 .6  0  0  0 0 0  0.00 0.00 1

Tournament Statistics-Batting
Name           AB H R 2B 3B HR Avg.
Eddy Money     9  2 2 0  0  1  .222
Kazuo Matsoy   9  2 1 1  0  0  .222
Scott Rol      9  3 2 0  1  1  .333
Tim Prince     8  5 3 0  1  1  .625
Joe Moyer      8  2 2 0  0  0  .250
Mitchel Mante  8  2 2 1  0  0  .250
Bern William   8  3 1 2  0  0  .375
Carlos Belt    8  2 0 0  0  0  .250
C.C. Samanthia 4  0 0 0  0  0  .000
Jack Zhu       3  0 0 0  0  0  .000
Roy Oswald     1  0 0 0  0  0  .000
Pos Nathan     0  0 0 0  0  0  .000

[Lycrabon]

CIVIL CITIZENRY - It was tough, but the jays have their first win.

Tyrone Conley didn’t pitch well, but did get seven innings of work, allowing four - not enough to get the decision. Leroy Harrison picked up the win with both luck and skill, as he struck out three in two innings.

The fireworks started early as Sean McCormick hit the first of two home runs with Cliff Mayo on third for a 2-0 Lycrabon lead. Civil Citzenry answered with three of their own in the bottom of the first. Both pitchers traded zeroes until the fifth, when CC added to their lead with one run.
Lycrabon added one in the seventh with a solo shot by McCormick, his second of the game, to cut the lead to 4-3 for CC. Civil added one in the eighth off of Harrison before the fireworks in the ninth. Andrew Osborn hit a towering three-run bomb, scoring mayo and McCormick to set the final, and Harrison did the rest.

Zachary Francis will start the home opener against 0-2 Michael VII.

In other games, Saugeais remained unbeaten with a 6-4 victory over Kytler Peninsuae in Group A; Bergnovinaia shut out Churchma 3-0 in Group B; Zwangzug pushed past Milchama 7-4 in Group C; Western cuba squeaked past The Babbage Islands 5-3 in Group D; Qazox lost to Sakurakoku 4-3 in Group E; and Tarrentum doubled up Cassadaigua 6-3 in Group F.

Maynard 1b	0-4
Price 2b	0-4
Mayo 3b    	2-4	3B
McCormick ss	2-4	2 HR, 3 RBI
Osborn lf	1-4	HR 3 RBI, K
Kramer cf	1-4
Daniels dh	0-4
Short rf	1-4
Newton c	1-3

PITCHING       IP	R	ER	K	BB
Conley		7	4	4	7	4
Harrison	2	1	1	3	0

EXTREMELY PREMATURE PLAYOFF PICTURE:
Group Winners: Thrilledge; Taeshan; Darmen; Sakurakoku; Ipeland; Altimarius; New Montreal States
Second place: Zwangzug; Western cuba; Saugeais; Camwood; Carmadin; Cosumar; Tymason
Last two: Cakistan; Milchama

[Newland-America]

THE NEWLAND TIMES
Newlands No. 1 News Source

DARMEN- The Newland national baseball team, the Rockets, have been so far struggling at keeping up in the World Baseball Classic 21. They, as of now, they have a record of 0-2 losing to Milchama and Darmen.
Tomorrow they are back at home and are ready to take on Branta Island. Manager Scott Perry spoke out in an interview with the Times today.
Perry told us that he was expecting much more of his team and that he did not expect to lose two straight games. "I don't understand what we did wrong. I thought for sure our game over Milchama would be a win. Also, I was very hyped at today's game at our lead, but when we lost it, well we lost it."
Tomorrows game against Branta Island will be back at Wright Field at will be a chance for Newland to get back on track.

EXOTIC ANIMAL ESCAPES NEWLAND CITY ZOO, A8

[Sakurakoku]

Box Score: Sakurakoku 4, Qazox 3 (10 inn.)
at Pheonix Stadium, Qazox City

Sakurakoku   0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 - 4 11 1
Qazox        2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 3  7 0

W - Tachibana (1-0)
L - Denisery (0-1)
S - Minamoto (1)

Partial Box Score:
Hitting

Hitters                  AB  R  H  RBI  BB  SO
J. Mori, CF               5  0  1    0   0   2
M. Shiraishi, 3B          4  0  0    0   1   2
G. Furukawa, 2B           5  1  2    0   0   0
T. Kaneda, RF             4  0  1    0   0   0
-> (a) A. Uemura, PR-RF   0  1  0    0   0   0
K. Maebara, DH            4  1  2    1   1   0
M. Yamagishi, LF          5  1  3    2   0   1
S. Takeda, SS             3  0  2    0   2   0
H. Uehara, C              2  0  0    1   1   0
-> (b) R. Takamori, PH-C  1  0  0    0   0   0
K. Momose, 1B             3  0  0    0   0   1

(a) Pinch ran for Kaneda in 8th
(b) Flied out for Uehara in 8th

Batting:
2B: Maebara in 4th, Maebara in 8th, Yamagishi in 10th
HR: Yamagishi in 6th
IBB: Issued by Randy to Takeda in 4th
Sacrifice Hit: Momose in 3rd, Uemura in 10th
GIDP: Yamagishi in 2nd, Momose in 4th, Uehara in 6th

Pitching

Pitchers               IP  H  R  ER  BB  SO
J. Ikeda              5.1  5  3   3   2   3
Y. Saito              1.2  2  0   0   1   1
T. Kono               1.1  0  0   0   1   1
R. Tachibana (W, 1-0) 0.2  0  0   0   0   0
N. Minamoto (S, 1)    1.0  0  0   0   0   1

Saito pitched to two batters in the 8th.

Scoring Summary
Bottom 1st: Herman homered to left-center, Teds scored. Qazox 2-0.
Top 4th: Uehara walked, Maebara scored, Yamagishi to third, Takeda to second. Qazox 2-1.
Top 6th: Yamagishi homered to right. Tied 2-2.
Bottom 6th: Mika singled to left, Herman scored, Lerhig to second. Qazox 3-2.
Top 8th: Maebara doubled to right-center, Uemura scored. Tied 3-3.
Top 10th: Yamagishi doubled to center, Furukawa scored. Sakurakoku 4-3.

[Western cuba]

Havana Tribute

The #1 Newspaper in Western Cuba

Western Cuba Wins Big Test

Jorge Ramirez

Western Cuba passed their first big test in this WBC today edging out The Babbage Islands 5-3 in a close match up today. Igor Alampiev started for Western Cuba today pitching 6 innings. In which he allowed two runs and recorded seven strikeouts. Stephan Nemecek came in to relieve Alampiev throughout the 7th and 8th innings and allowed one run. Rodger Sekera would come in to close the game posting another save to his career total.

Once again just like it was against Yesopalitha it was the offense who won the game for Western Cuba. This time instead of Roberto Ramos who struggled throughout the game it was Sasha Rogojkin who lead the offense today. Sasha went perfect in his at bats and recorded a notable triple which brought in two runs. Congrats to Sasha in his great day at the plate.

However while the game is a big win for Western Cuba they have an even bigger test coming up against Taeshan. Who as of today proved they were contenders for now in the group stage by comfortably beating Homelands Our 8-4. Who also beat The Babbage Islands in yesterdays match day. Overall right now The Babbage Islands who I picked to finish second in Group D are in so trouble right now. Their tied for last place against what I thought was a shaky Actanana team who played well against Yesopalitha. It's only the end of the second match day and my opinion on the groups may be switched. Tomorrow's matchday will tell us a lot. Especially about the front runner in the group which currently consists of Taeshan and Western Cuba. I even read an article that was published in Lycrabon which states that in their extremely premature playoff picture they pick Taeshan to finish first in Group D. Thankfully it's extremely premature.

Elsewhere throughout the league the second match day proved to be just as interesting and entertaining as the first one. And while it didn't feature any large upsets it did show some good match ups. Which included Sakurakoku v.s. Qazox. Which I enjoyed watching the most today. Sakurakoku would win in a close one 4-3. Other interesting games to watch included Zwangzug v.s. Milchama and Cassadaigua v.s. Tarrentum. Who after missing out on the last WBC proved they were still contenders by beating Cassadaigua. Lycrabon the defending champions would also capture their first win since WBC XX by beating Civil Citizenry 6-5.

Tomorrow's game is at Western Cuba at J&M Incorporated Ballpark. Tickets for the game are sold out, just like every other home game for Western Cuba throughout the group stage but make sure to show your fan support by attending a local tailgate party or watching the game on WCSN.

[Byfugland]

After a disappointing opening loss, the Byfugland Jets were ready to make their mark in their first World Baseball Classic. With a young and inexperienced team, they were a wild card heading into the WBC, especially with teams such as Churchma in their group. However, their first victory came against a very tough West Guiana squad, showing promise for the future.

The Airfield was electric at the start of the game. Being a dome, the noise level was deafening. Hank Boudreau's Jets sent out flame-throwing right hander King Ramirez, a 23 year old with a nasty two-seamer. Ramirez was nothing short of magnificent through his 7 2/3 innings of work, out-dueling West Guiana's Ray Ninski. Ramirez struck out 10 over the course of the game, while giving up six hits and walking three. Despite a fairly high pitch count in his opening stint, Ramirez did not allow a run, shutting the opposing offense down.

"King had his good stuff today," manager Boudreau said after the game. "I think that he can even get better as the tournament progresses. He's a young kid, so he still has a lot to learn, which is a good thing."

Ramirez got support from the Jets offense in the fifth inning, as first baseman Hank Pruitt hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the inning after a Cocomo Liones double. Later in the game, the Jets tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the seventh, thanks to an Ariel Ovando RBI single that drove home Manny Calavera and an Ivey Easterly double that drove home Ovando.

"Love to see that kind of production," Hank Pruitt said of his team's performance. "We've assembled a great group of guys here. We have a tough road ahead of us, but we'll take it a game at a time, give it our best, and hopefully good things will come of it."

"It's good to establish a presence," added Boudreau. "We want to send the message that we can play to anyone's level. I have great confidence going forward."

Chase "Rocket" Ramsey came on in the bottom of the ninth to close out the game. Ramsey, with a blazing 103 mile per hour fastball, was overpowering, getting the two batters he faced at the end to weakly pop out and strike out, respectively.

It's easy to gain confidence from this solid win. However, one must remember that this is simply the second game of the team's first World Baseball Classic. They are young and inexperienced. No one expects the Jets to win any trophies this year. Hopefully, though, with the way this team is structured, even better days are on the horizon.

Byfugland faces Ipeland tomorrow. Boudreau will send out righty Duke Tomlin to tangle with Jaden Marshall.

Box Score: West Guiana 0, Byfugland 4
West Guiana
Name AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB/SBA
Willis Bani 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0/0
Jeff Fish 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0/1
Quin Ali-Vesch 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0/0
Andrew Sims 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0/0
Geroge Dani 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1/1
Tim Danielis 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0/0
Allen Hindenwo. 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0/0
Jay Louis 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0/0
Lou Lee 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0/0

Pitching:
(L) Ray Ninski- 8IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 2BBs, 7 Ks, 1 HRA


Byfugland:
Name.....................AB..H..2B..3B..HR..RBI..R...BB..K...SB/SBA
Salvador Limones-2B....4...1...0...0....0....0....0....0...1.....1/1
Ariel Ovando-CF.........4....2...0...0....0....1....1....0...0.....0/0
Cocomo Liones-SS.......4....1...1...0....0....0....1....0...2.....0/0
Hank Pruitt-1B...........4....2...0...0....1...2.....1....0...0......0/0
Ivey Easterly-DH.........4....1....1...0...0....1....0....0...1.....0/0
Buddy Koback-LF.........4....0...0....0...0....0...0....0...0.....0/0
Rocco Brunelli-C..........3....0...0....0...0....0....0...1....1....0/0
Brooks Davis-RF..........4....1...0....0...0....0....0...0....1....0/0
Manny Calavera-3B.......3....0...0....0...0....0....1....1...1...1/1

Pitching
(W) King Ramirez- 7.2 IP, 0R, 6 H, 10 Ks, 4 BBs
(H) Matt Bryant- .1 IP, 0R, 0H
(H) Joel Humphries- 1.1 IP, 0R, 1 H, 1 BB
(S) Chase Ramsey- .2 IP, 0R, 0 H, 1 K

[Qazox]

WBC XXI

It was a back-and-forth affair, as Qazox jusmped out to an early 2-0 lead, but the bullpen once again struggled as Sakurakoku won in 10 innings dropping the Eagles to 1-1. John Randy struckout only 6 batters in 8 innings, but gave up a game-tying double to Maebara with 1 out to tie the game at 3-all. Eric Denisery pitched a scoreless 9th, but allowed a double to Yamagishi in the 10th to allow the winning run to score. George Herman hit a 2-run HR in the 1st off of Juntaro Ikeda, and Pizza Mika drove in, at the time, the go-ahead run in the 6th.

Up next Qazox will host Tymason who beat Mangolana 2-1 today.

QZX  2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 3  7 0
SAK  0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 - 4 11 1

2 outs when winning run scored.

Scoring summary

Qazox 1st- Rickson flied out to left. Teds singled to right. Mitt struck out. Herman 405 ft HR to left-center, Teds and Herman scored. Lehrig grounded out to short. 2 runs on 2 hits, 0 LOB. 2-0 Qazox.

Sakurakoku 4th-Kaneda flied out to right. Maebara doubled to right. Yamagishi singled to center, Maebara to third. Takeda intentionally walked, Yamagishi to second. Uehara walked, Maebara scored, Yamagishi to third, Takeda to second. Momose grounded into 5-2-3 double-play, Yamagishi out at home. 1 run on 1 hit, 2 LOB. 2-1 Qazox.

Qazox 6th- Mitt flied out to left. Herman singled to right. Lehrig singled to center, Herman to second. <<PITCHING CHANGE: Ikeda out, Saito in>> Robertente flied out to center. Mika singled to left, Herman scored, Lehrig to second. Ripcal grounded out to second. 1 run on 3 hits, 1 LOB. 3-1 Qazox.

Sakurakoku 6th-Maebara flied out to center. Yamagishi 389 ft HR to right, Yamagishi scored. Takeda singled to left. Uehara grounded into 4-6-3 double play, Takeda out at second. 1 run on 2 hits, 0 LOB. 3-2 Qazox.

Sakurakoku 8th- Furukawa popped out to catcher. Kaneda singled to left. <<PINCH-RUNNER: Uemura in for Kaneda>>. Maebara doubled to right-center, Uemura scored. Yamagishi struckout looking. Takeda singled to right, Maebara to third. <<PINCH-HITTER: Takamori batting for Uehara.>> Takamori flied out to left. 1 run on 3 hits, 2 LOB. 3-3.

Sakurakoku 10th- Furukawa singled to right. Uemura sacrificed to pitcher, Furukawa to second. Kaneda grounded out to first. Yamagishi doubled to center, Furukawa scored 1 run on 2 hits, 1 LOB. 4-3 Sakurakoku.

[Milchama]

"Hey the WBC is back!"

"Woo!"

"Though that loss to Zwangzug really sucked"

"Yes it did"

"Giving up 6 runs in the 8th inning like that is so typical Warriors"

"It really is, we finally face some good competition and the young'uns just get dominated"

"Yeah, now that they're not against noobs like Newland-America and things just don't turn out the same"

"Pretty poor"

"Yep"

"So do you trust this team?"

"No"

"Why not?"

"Because if we can't win a game like this how the hell are we supposed to compete with the big boys?"

"That's a good point, but it's early soon we will dominate"

"I somehow doubt this"

"10-0 was perfect and for 8 innings we were in control of this game"

"Yes but 6 runs in the 8th is just asking for trouble"

"I guess but for 17 of 18 total innings so far the Warriors have looked like the best team in the tournament"

"And then they gave up 6 runs in the 8th"

"Ok so Jorgenson ain't that great, he'll just be moved down. I think Loten is a competent enough manager to see that"

"I agree, but it wasn't just Jorgenson, Clyde had an error, Tipikowski gave up a 3 run jack. The whole team just messed up."

"Sure but 7 solid innings out of Itamar Klein, I didn't see that neither did you"

"Truth"

"And all our competition after this will only be easier"

"So we'll worry about this in outrounds"

"Exactly, until then Come on You Warriors!"

"Let's Go Milchama!"

[THRILLEDGE]

Twice is Nice

In their home opener, Thrilledge did not disappoint, producing more offense and better pitching than the first win with a 13-2 victory over Mizialand. It was definitely an offensive showing as Thrilledge exploded with 5 home runs, two by captain Blastings Thrilledge, and one each by Sanderson Alvarez, Harold Flowers, and Alfredo Colon. Thrilledge had 6 RBI and gunned a Mizialand runner out at the plate. Mizialand struck first with a two RBI double in the first inning but Alvarez led off the bottom of the inning with a home run and after a single by Tony Van Voerstenboesch, Thrilledge hit a bomb into the left-centerfield bleachers. With one out, Jeff Swarley hit a double and then Jeremiah MacDougal singled him home. In the third inning, Alfredo Colon hit a solo shot and in the fourth inning the offense went crazy. MacDougal led off with a double and then Flowers homered to deep right. Then with one out Jayhawk Edmonson walked, stole second and Alvarez tripled, plating Edmonson. After another walk Thrilledge went deep again, this time a three run dinger. With two outs Swarley hit a single, followed by a Macdougal sinlge and two RBI double by Flowers. The last of Thrilledge's runs came in the eighth when Kevin Gally led off with a single, Edmonson doubled him in, and following two strike outs, Blastings Thrilledge hit a triple to deep right center scoring Gally.

The pitching was great too. After his shaky first inning, Mark Hamburger pitched another six shutout innings with 5 strikeouts, really getting hitters with the high cheese. The fans really got into it and started to chant "Cheeseburger! Cheeseburger!" When asked of his team's performance, head coach Matthew Haering replied, "It's always nice to treat your home crowd with a win like this. It sure is a confidence booster to have such a convincing win. I feel really good heading in the rest of group play after this, but the test hasn't even begun yet." He's right. Thrilledge heads to Saugeais tomorrow and not in the good way. They will be the away team facing a terrific Saugeais squad who beat the Kytler Peninsulae today by a score of 6-4. The other score in Group A had Cakistan taking down Occupy Nationstates 9-1.

MIZ- 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0-----2 4 1
THR-4 0 1 6 0 0 0 2 X----13 20 0

[Karditan]

_-=Neighpon Post=-_

In a hard-fought game, Camwood managed to come out on top of our Kards. Money Ball pitched well, giving up 3 runs in 7 innings, a quality start- and left in position to be the winning pitcher. In the third inning the Kard's bottom and top hitters played pepper with the ball, dropping it everywhere the fielders weren't. Hormuz drove in Stop, Skard knocked in Wind and Jones. As Skard was on second and Hormuz was on third, the Camwood pitcher felt safe to go back to his rather lengthy windup- Hormuz swiped home for the fourth run. However, Feliciaro botched the eight. Badly. 4 earned runs, no outs, and a loss were chalked up to him as Camwood just got his number and crank called like no tomorrow. Jasmine Carr was able to stop the bleeding, but the damage was already done.

KRD 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 --- 4 10 1
CMW 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 4 0 --- 7 15 0

Next week the Kards will be hosting division leader Altimarius. Sting Jackson will be on the mound trying to rein them in.

[Yesopalitha]

Diary of Jimmy Hertz

Ah. I'm still ticked. I wanted to travel with the Flames team to the nation of Acatanana for their next game, but the visa didn't come through. So, I was stuck at home, following this team via Television.

What a game by the Flames' pitchers! I can't remember their names at this moment, but the starter today went seven innings and only gave up three singles! It was amazing to see him mow down the batters one after another, just like a bowler with some bowling pins. I found that oddly satisfying. The bad part? We couldn't get hits either. If it wasn't for Xavier Hammond hitting single shot to right field in the fifth, this game could've had a different ending.

Holding Western Cuba to five runs and then shutting out another team? It seems that this team can pitch. Can they hit, though? Being held to one run by a team like Acatanana isn't a good sign, no, not at all... I guess it's a bit too early to tell.

Next up is a game against The Babbage Islands, who are ranked the second highest in our group. However, they are reeling after two losses to begin their campaign. Can the Flames put the nail in the coffin early? Or will they fall to give the Islanders new hope? There really are too many storylines to ponder in every game...

I read the article read by Fire the Elemental Demon today, and felt ashamed that I had thought bad of the soccer team before. They have been doing the best that they could under the circumstances, and no one can say that they haven't given enough effort. I only hope that results can show, because no one remembers if you played your heart out or not; all people will remember is rather you won or not.

Still, kudos to the Elemental Demon for reminding us what truly matters...

C'mon Flames against TBI! Go get'em! And it's home, so I'll be in the stands!

Yesopalitha Flames 1W 1L 4F 6A -2D

[Zwangzug]

"And so we enter the eighth, still four-one Warriors. Been a quiet afternoon for Zwangzug, with Hamweigh the only run."

"Thaddeus Arnarre will lead it off for the Zebras, hoping for a little spark..."

"...That'll be all for Jorgenson."

"Yep, they look set to bring in Eres Tipikowski."

"I'm a what now?"

"What?"

"Eres means you are. In Spanish. So what are you calling me, a cow-tipper? I live in an urban environment, there aren't any cows to be tipped."

"You know what? Just shut up."

"Hey, we have to do something to fill this break."

"Well. For those of you just joining us—"

"You've been missing a good half-inning."

"Well, Zwangzug could go ahead now!"

"Yeah, but, all the excitement! Pinch-hitter Thaddeus Arnarre walked, and an Ariana Juriand double brought him in."

"Then Alexander Hamweigh hit a seemingly easy fly ball to Aryan Clyde, who somehow dropped it. Instead of having one on and one away, the Zebras instead had two on and nobody out."

"I wonder why Milchama have a player named Aryan, just from what I've heard in Yeaun that seems like it could be trouble."

"See that's the problem with these religious weirdos, they justify discrimination based on—"

"Discrimination?! I'm just saying out of all the people in Milchama, I'm sure there are a lot of athletes and—"

"Why are you even listening to people from Yeaun anyway? Roderick Sultoshdan was from Yeaun, he didn't get very far."

"No, but we are going to disperse the curse!"

"Riiight. Anyway. Bixler, who had driven in our only other run of the game, struck out but then Michelle Dessmeyer singled to drive in Juriand. And Asa Shadden brought in Hamweigh to tie the game."

"And that would be all for Jorgenson, with Eres Tipikowski coming in instead."

"Indeed. Here we are. The pitch to Yarowicz, fouled away."

"Zwangzug's win expectancy has climbed fifty-two percentage points since the start of this half-inning."

"You only look it up when there's a comeback, most of the time things go as expected. Ball one."

"Most of the time? Have you seen our bullpen?"

""Bullpen." And yes, most of our games are group stage games that we handle fine."

"What percentage?"

"Oh for goodness sakes, we're in the middle of an exciting half-inning or whatever. Ball two."

"I'm just saying."

"This one will be hit in the air, drifting back is Torrent—and it's gone! A three-run homer gives the Zebras the lead..."

[Tarrentum]

Tarrentum Falcons Sporting News

After a sobering defeat to Karditan in the Falcons' "Welcome Back" to international competition. The Falcons were able to dismantle the Pink Dagans. Many think that the Karditan game was a very rare dip in the normally strong play of the Falcons. Even though they haven't competed in International Baseball in quite some time, the Falcons are being looked at as the darkhorse candidate from Atlantian Oceania. With Sarzonia falling into anarchy, the Orange-and-Blue are one of the last bastion's of baseball dominance in the AO.

Following Fironte Sareb's poor showing yesterday, superstar Liona Marrada went 7 solid innings for the Falcons and gave up only two runs to Cassadaigua. Her strong performance, after using the dissolution of the IBL as a way to finally start a family, is one of the top trending stories among ".tar" search engines. "Strong drive, strong workouts and a strong performance all make this one of the happier days of my baseball playing career," Marrada told reporters in the post-game press conference. "I am happy to see that Tarrentum still has something left in the tanks for this beautiful game." On the bases, the Falcons were led by Dessea "The Dream" Vallena who had a solo home run and three RBIs in the game.

[Saugeais]

I can see it off in the distance! Is it a bird, is it a plane? No, it's A MATCHDAY CUTOFF!

Matchday 3
Group A
The Kytler Peninsulae (TKP) 3–2 Occupy Nationstates (ONS)
Thrilledge (THR) 4–3 Saugeais (SAU)
Cakistan (CAK) 6–9 Mizialand (MIZ)

- Group A                      Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD 
1 Thrilledge                     3    3   0    25    8  +17
2 Saugeais                       3    2   1    11    8   +3
3 The Kytler Peninsulae          3    2   1    13   10   +3
4 Mizialand                      3    1   2    13   25  −12
5 Cakistan                       3    1   2    18   18    0
6 Occupy Nationstates            3    0   3     3   14  −11

Group B
Bergnovinaia (BER) 10–0 West Guiana (WGA)
Cosumar (COS) 1–3 Churchma (CHR)
Byfugland (BYF) 3–9 Ipeland (IPE)

- Group B                      Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD 
1 Ipeland                        3    3   0    21    7  +14
2 Bergnovinaia                   3    2   1    17    7  +10
3 Cosumar                        3    1   2     9    8   +1
4 Churchma                       3    1   2     5    7   −2
5 West Guiana                    3    1   2     3   16  −13
6 Byfugland                      3    1   2     7   17  −10

Group C
Milchama (MIL) 7–2 Soviet Canuckistan (SCN)
Darmen (DAR) 7–5 Zwangzug (ZWG)
Branta Island (BRI) 1–6 Newland-America (NLA)

-  Group C                      Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD 
1 Darmen                         3    3   0    20   11   +9
2 Zwangzug                       3    2   1    18   16   +2
3 Milchama                       3    2   1    21    9  +12
4 Soviet Canuckistan             3    1   2    11   14   −3
5 Newland-America                3    1   2    10   16   −6
6 Branta Island                  3    0   3     4   18  −14

Group D
The Babbage Islands (TBI) 5–4 Yesopalitha (YSP)
Taeshan (TAE) 1–5 Western Cuba (WSC)
Actanana (ACT) 4–2 Homelands Our (HLO)

- Group D                      Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD 
1 Western Cuba                   3    3   0    15    7   +8
2 Taeshan                        3    2   1    15    9   +6
3 Actanana                       3    1   2     4    9   −5
4 Yesopalitha                    3    1   2     8   10   −2
5 Homelands Our                  3    1   2    11   15   −4
6 The Babbage Islands            3    1   2    11   14   −3

Group E
Qazox (QZX) 5–7 Tymason (TYM)
Carasatoga (CAR) 7–8 Sakurakoku (SAK)
Mangolana (MAN) 2–5 Hodagia (HOD)

- Group E                      Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD 
1 Sakurakoku                     3    3   0    20   11   +9
2 Tymason                        3    2   1    10   14   −4
3 Qazox                          3    1   2    14   16   −2
4 Hodagia                        3    1   2    16   15   +1
5 Mangolana                      3    1   2     7    9   −2
6 Carasatoga                     3    1   2    16   18   −2

Group F
Tarrentum (TAR) 10–4 Orhrzhov (ORH)
Camwood (CMW) 2–1 Cassadaigua (CAS)
Altimarius (ALT) 4–9 Karditan (KRD)

- Group F                      Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD 
1 Karditan                       3    2   1    15   11   +4
2 Camwood                        3    2   1    11    8   +3
3 Tarrentum                      3    2   1    16    9   +7
4 Altimarius                     3    2   1    16   16    0
5 Cassadaigua                    3    1   2     6    9   −3
6 Orhrzhov                       3    0   3    10   21  −11

Group G
Civil Citizenry (CVC) 4–3 Soviet Quebexico (SQB)
Michael VII (MIC) 1–0 Lycrabon (LYC)
New Montreal States (NMS) 10–1 Carmadin (CMD)

- Group G                      Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD 
1 New Montreal States            3    3   0    21    5  +16
2 Civil Citizenry                3    2   1    14   13   +1
3 Carmadin                       3    1   2    10   17   −7
4 Soviet Quebexico               3    1   2     4    9   −5
5 Michael VII                    3    1   2     7   11   −4
6 Lycrabon                       3    1   2     6    7   −1

[Qazox]

WBC XXI

Can anyone spare a decent reliever? For the third straight game, a good outing by a Qazox starter was wasted by a very porous bullpen as Tymason rallied from a 5-1 deficit in the 8th and 9th innings to get a 7-5 win that drops the Eagles to 1-2 in qualifying. Hal Royday threw 7.1 innings of 5 hit ball, but left after allowing back-to-back doubles in the 8th and Qazox leading 5-2. Frank Johns came in and promptly allowed a 2-run HR to Aaqil Lopez to cut the lead to 5-4. Johns would allow three more hits and 2 more runs before he was replaced Ed Williams. Williams retired 5 of the 6 batters he faced, excepting a solo shot by Lopez in the 9th.

Qazox needs to win their next game or else, the odds of them reaching the playoffs will be slim. Fortunately the next game is at home v. (1-2) Carasatoga. If Qazox loses this game, then you might as well stick a fork in the Eagles, as 4 of their next 5, after tommorrow's game, are on the road.

TYM  1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 1 - 7 10 0
QZX  0 3 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 - 5 11 0

Scoring summary

Tymason 1st- Ghia tripled to center. Lopez flied out to right. Ghia scored. Lin singled to right. Indigo struckout. Segal grounded into force (6-4), Lin out at second. 1 runs on 2 hits, 1 LOB. 1-0 Tymason.

Qazox 2nd-Lerhig walked. Robertente singled to right, Lerhig to second. Mika flied out to right. Ripcal doubled to right, Lerhig and Robertente scored. Joseph flied out to center. Rickson infield single to third, Ripcal to third. Teds singled to center, Ripcal scored, Rickson to second. Mitt struckout. 3 runs on 4 hits, 2 LOB. 3-1 Qazox.

Qazox 5th- Herman struck out. Lerhig singled to left. Robertente 374 ft. HR to left, Lerhig and Robertente scored. <<PITCHING CHANGE: Adil out; vas Santana in>> Mika struck out. Ripcal grounded out to third. 2 runs on 2 hits, 0 LOB. 5-1 Qazox.

Tymason 8th- Daniel flied out to center. Retoto doubled to center. Ghia doubled to left, Retoto scored. <<PITCHING CHANGE: Royday out, Johns in>> Lopez 410ft HR to left-center, Ghia and Lopez score. Lin singled to left. Indigo doubled to center, Lin to third. Segal grounded out to second, Lin scored, Indigo to third. Inman singled to center, Indigo scored. Farman walked. <<PITCHING CHANGE: Johns out, Williams in>> Daniel struck out. 5 runs on 6 hits, 2 LOB. 6-5 Tymason.

Tymason 9th- Retoto flied out to left. Ghia grounded out to pitcher. Lopez 395 ft HR to left-center, Lopez scored. Lin flied out to right. 1 run on 1 hit, 0 LOB. 7-5 Tymason.

[Newland-America]

THE NEWLAND TIMES
Newlands No. 1 News Source

NEWLAND- Newland takes the win today over the Branta Island national baseball team. Their overall record as of now is 1-2 and they have taken 5th place in their group. The team has defenitely shown some improvement.
Manager Perry was very estatic about todays win. "I knew we had this game in our reach," manager told us. "Once we had won, I took all the boys out to dinner to celebrate."
Tickets have already sold out to tomorrows home game against Soviet Canuckstan, but you can all the action on The Newland Sports Network channel 177.

SCORING SUMMARY
2ND INNING
Branta player on 3rd. Ball hit to leftfield. One run scored. BRANTA LEADS 1-0
5TH INNING
Newland player on first and second. 3 run home run scores. NEWLAND LEADS 3-1
8TH INNING
Newland player on second and third. Ball hit towards right center field. 2 runs scored. NEWLAND LEADS 5-1
Newland player on third. Ball hit to second base. Man out at first. 1 runs scored. NEWLAND WINS 6-1

CARJACKINGS AT ALL TIME HIGH, MORE ON A4

[Sakurakoku]

Box Score: Sakurakoku 8, Carasatoga 7
at Central Bay Stadium, Kugamachi

Carasatoga   3 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 - 7 13 2
Sakurakoku   2 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 3 - 8 12 1

W - Tachibana (2-0)
L - *smudge*

Partial Box Score:
Hitting

Hitters                   AB  R  H  RBI  BB  SO
J. Mori, CF                4  3  1    0   1   0
M. Shiraishi, 3B           5  2  4    2   0   0
G. Furukawa, 2B            4  0  1    2   1   0
-> (b) A. Uemura, PR       0  1  0    0   0   0
T. Kaneda, RF              4  1  2    3   0   1
K. Maebara, DH             4  1  1    1   0   1
M. Yamagishi, LF           4  0  1    0   0   2
S. Takeda, SS              3  0  1    0   1   1
H. Uehara, C               4  0  0    0   0   0
K. Momose, 1B              2  0  0    0   0   2
-> (a) R. Takamori, PH-1B  2  0  1    0   0   0

(a) Singled for Momose in 7th
(b) Pinch ran for Furukawa in 9th

Two outs when winning run scored.

Batting:
2B: M. Shiraishi in 1st, Furukawa in 5th, T. Kaneda in 8th
HR: K. Maebara in 6th, T. Kaneda in 9th
Sac Fly: T. Kaneda in 1st

Baserunning:
SB: J. Mori (2nd base) in 1st

Fielding:
E: K. Momose in 7th
Outfield Assist: J.Mori (Banatay at 3rd base) in 6th

Pitching

Pitchers               IP  H  R  ER  BB  SO
K. Kunimoto           4.1  8  7   7   4   2
M. Hashimoto          2.1  3  0   0   2   1
K. Okuzaki            1.2  2  0   0   1   1
R. Tachibana (W, 2-0) 0.2  0  0   0   0   2

HBP: Silent by Kunimoto in 1st
Inherited Runners Scored: 1 (Hashimoto in 5th)

Scoring Summary
Top 1st: Filimino homered to center, Phaller scored, Banatay scored. Carasatoga, 3-0.
Bottom 1st: Shiraishi doubled to left-center, Mori scored. Carasatoga, 3-1.
Bottom 1st: Kaneda sacrifice flies out to right, Shiraishi scored. Carasatoga, 3-2.
Top 3rd: Silent singled to right, Ohrel scored. Carasatoga, 4-2.
Top 5th: Oakland doubled to right-center, Ohrel scored, Silent scored. Carasatoga, 6-2.
Top 5th: Williams sacrifice flies out to left, Oakland scored. Carasatoga, 7-2.
Bottom 5th: Furukawa doubled to right, Shiraishi scored. Carasatoga, 7-3.
Bottom 6th: Maebara homered to left. Carasatoga, 7-4.
Bottom 7th: Shiraishi singled to right, Mori scored. Carasatoga, 7-5.
Bottom 9th: Furukawa grounded in fielder's choice, third baseman Phaller to second baseman Banatay, Shiraishi out at second, Furukawa safe at first on throwing error by second baseman Banatay, Mori scored. Carasatoga, 7-6.
Bottom 9th: Kaneda homered to left-center, Uemura scored. Sakurakoku, 8-7.

[Darmen]

Darmen secures improbable win, 7-5 versus Zwangzug

Darmen 7, Zwangzug 5
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 T H  E
ZWG 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 5 8  0 
DAR 1 2 0 0 3 0 1 0 x 7 12 0
Time: 2:47 Atten:5,400

Pitching           IP  So BB H R ER
Ben Shmeets W(1-0) 7.6 5  2  6 4 4
Livan Ondeedge     .3  1  1  2 1 1
Poe Nathan S(2-2)  1   2  0  0 0 0

Batting          AB H R 2B 3B HR
Eddy Money-1b    4  1 1 0  1  0
Kazuo Matsoy-2b  4  2 0 0  0  0
Scott Rol-3b     3  1 2 1  0  0
Tim Prince-ss    4  2 2 1  0  1
Joe Moyer-c      4  1 1 0  0  0
Mitchel Mante-of 4  2 1 0  0  1
Bern William-of  4  2 0 0  0  0
Carlos Belt-of   4  1 0 0  0  0
Ben Shmeets-p    4  0 0 0  0  0
Chip Jons-3b     1  0 0 0  0  0
Livan Ondeedge-p 0  0 0 0  0  0
Poe Nathan-p     0  0 0 0  0  0

------------------------------------

Tournament Statistics-Pitching
Name           Rec IP   SO BB H R ER ERA   WHIP  SV 
C.C. Samanthia 1-0 8    6  1  3 2 2   2.25  0.50 0
Ben Shmeets    1-0 7.6  5  2  6 4 4   4.73  1.05 0
Jack Zhu       1-0 7    4  2  6 4 4   5.14  1.14 0
Roy Oswald     0-0 1.3  1  0  1 0 0   0.00  0.76 0
Poe Nathan     0-0 1.6  2  0  0 0 0   0.00  0.00 2
Livan Ondeedge 0-0  .3  1  1  2 1 1  30.00 10.00 0

Tournament Statistics-Batting
Name           AB  H R 2B 3B HR Avg.
Eddy Money     13  3 3 0  1  1  .230
Kazuo Matsoy   13  4 1 1  0  0  .307
Scott Rol      12  4 4 1  1  1  .333
Tim Prince     12  7 5 1  1  2  .583
Joe Moyer      12  3 3 0  0  0  .230
Mitchel Mante  12  4 3 1  0  1  .333
Bern William   12  5 1 2  0  0  .416
Carlos Belt    12  3 0 0  0  0  .250
C.C. Samanthia  4  0 0 0  0  0  .000
Jack Zhu        3  0 0 0  0  0  .000
Roy Oswald      1  0 0 0  0  0  .000
Pos Nathan      0  0 0 0  0  0  .000
Ben Shmeets     4  0 0 0  0  0  .000
Chip Jons       1  0 0 0  0  0  .000

[Karditan]

_-=Neighpon Post=-_

Today, the Wild Kards knocked Altimarius off top spot in the Group F, which is currently a four-way tie. Sting Jackson lasted eight innings giving up only two runs, both resulting from a badly hung curveball in the sixth. The Alts scored two more runs in the 9th off Jhonny Pearseed, but they were both unearned. Hormuz bobbled a ball badly to let a runner on, and Jefferson was chasing a dropped ball out in that huge left field so long that the runner and the batter scored. Ricky Ledée has confirmed that Jefferson and Wind will be trading places from now on, with the speedy and athletic Wind being better suited to cover the huge expanse of National Stadium's left field.

At bat, the Kards didn't disappoint. Hormuz and Smith lined balls into the outfield for singles, and Skard (the only player on Karditan's national team taken from Neighpon's own team, making him experienced with National Park) banked a shot right off the right foul pole for three runs off the bat. In the fifth Stop doubled to left, Wind dropped a sinking liner directly into the right-center hole to beat out a triple and bring Stop in, and Jones hit a sac fly to score Wind. Jefferson and Snider hit back-to-backers in the sixth (Jefferson's drove in Skard, as well), and Hormuz doubled home Wind in the seventh.

ALT 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 --- 4 3 1
KRD 3 0 0 0 2 3 1 0 0 --- 9 16 4

Tomorrow Firmer Delmar starts against the Orhrzhov team. Frankly, I'll be disappointed with anything less than a solid win. They're 0-3, for Luna's sake.

[New West Guiana]

Metro Sports
Ouch!
Liz Sith

Well hey folks what did I tell you I saw this coming, nothing says welcome to the WBC than a 10-0 blow out loss, and at lest it came from a well respected team like Bergnovinaia. Did I go an watch this game, well since this is my job and I was chosen as the official WG team reporter, well duh. The good thing at lest there is still seven more games left, the bad part well it's already told the WG Redhawk team needs to find improvement it we don't want to be blown out of the ball park again.

Now the home game against Byfugland which we lost 4-0, was very laughable to see, imagine sitting in a beautiful indoor stadium that for baseball can hold 55,700 people only to go to a game in which the crowd numbers around 12,000, pitiful none the less. I was sitting righ behind home plate and looking around ATD Park one could barely hear the crowd cheer or boo, I can say with in a 50 seat radius of me there was maybe around 15 other fans that seemed some what enthused.
Well I can tell you by the fifth inning in that game we were down 3-0 at this time with no hope of a comeback, out of the 12,000 some what loyal fans that came to see the game, maybe 3,000 were left in the stands. Now this is very saddening to see, 3,000 people stuck around to watch the game out of 12,000! That is some very poor sportsmanship right there I can tell you.

SCORE SUMMERY:

BER  2 0 0 3 1 3 0 0 1--  10
WG 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0--   0

[THRILLEDGE]

Extra Inning Excitement

No (insert expletive here) way! This is unreal. In the biggest win in Thrilledge baseball history, the Thrilledge Dreadlocks defeated Saugeais 4-3 on an tenth inning home run by captain Blastings Thrilledge. It wasn't all just offense. Until the seventh inning it was a pure pitchers' duel between the Saugeais lefty Randy blackman and Thrilledge's righty Jeff "The Ice Man" Freese. They were mowing down batters and dominating the lineups. Saugeais struck first when in the bottom of the seventh after a walk to Marek Atteberry, Pierre Gardin, Shawn Hamilton and Cristophe Lind hit back to back to back doubles resulting in three runs. After another walk to Paul Roland, Freese was pulled and manager Matthew haering called on lefty specialist Romeo Gagliardi to take out Jose Rodriguez. In the top of the eighth, Thrilledge scored a run on a sacrifice fly by Alfredo Colon scoring Sanderson Alvarez. After a scoreless bottom inning, Terry Kazmierczak was called on for the save. He gave up back to back walks to Jeremiah MacDougal and Harold Flowers, struck out the next two batters and then Sanderson Alvarez drilled a triple to deep right-center, scoring MacDougal and Flowers. It was 3-3 headed into the bottom of the ninth and after a one out double by Gardin, Karl Frankrich shut down Saugeais for the inning. The top of the tenth had Gervais Buday pitted against the heart of the Thrilledge order. He didn't have a chance. On the first pitch, Blastings Thrilledge crushed a towering shot into the upperdeck in left field giving Thrilledge the upset win.

It was pandemonium in the clubhouse, but we managed to catch the game's hero for some words: "I can't believe it! We did it! Oh man what a way to end it. We better get comfortable here in Saugeais if we keep playing this way. If we keep this up, nobody's gonna beat us." Let's hope not. Thrilledge takes on The Kytler Peninsulae next who took out Ocuupy Nationstates 3-2. Thrilledge will have rooke Israel Armenson on the hill for the game. It will be his first international test and we'll see how he fares against a quality Kytler team. The other score in Group A had Cakistan being defeated by Mizialand 9-6.

THR- 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 1----4 7 1
SAU- 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0----3 9 0

[Zwangzug]

The Kerlagrad Courier
Fans unsure who we're playing

About 67% of fans surveyed weren't sure who the Zebras were stymied by, as the baseball team fell to a 7-5 defeat on the road. "They were a tough nut to crack, boy," said Bernadette Nagastman. "Totally shut us down in the ninth. Thought we were gonna have something but no. [Pinch-hitter] Altobaum-Maroy struck out, [Ariana] Juriand grounded to short or wherever, and [Hamweigh] goes down looking to end the bleeping game. Oh well."

"That was Poe Nathan on the mound for them? Are you sure that wasn't Milchama again?"

Upon being formed that the peerless reliever and poet, Edgar Allen, had not played since World Baseball Classic 7, Nagastman asked us to get off of the welcome mat to her apartment.

"I was excited that we'd gotten off to such a good start," said George Malow. "When [Michelle] Dessmeyer drove in those two in the first I was all ready to be like "[starting pitcher Ben] Shmeets, schmeets," but then...they...took the lead an inning later. So that didn't work. Are Darmen even good? You'd think by the way I've kind of heard of some of them they would be but maybe I've just heard of them because I listened to the game. We have actually sort of good announcers this time. And from last time, obviously." Malow then proceeded to knock on wood.

"When their cleanup hitter hit that home run," he sighed, "I was a little frustrated. Especially, you know, when I saw he was actually the shortstop. Bigger build than usual for middle infield, I guess, but I don't know. I mean, obviously their strategy is working out for them. Putting the shortstop fourth when your outfielders are sixth through eighth...huh, almost sounds like something Milchama would do. Whatever."

In contrast, Susie Chrikson recognized Darmen's skill, and players. "It was a great game. The fans really turned out, very much a standing-room crowd. Exceeded their capacity by, what, 40%? And so what if the names sound kind of familiar. Shmeets plays for the Bears, well, so does Juriand."

"Not the same Bears," Chrikson rushed to amend. "That'd just be weird."

At press time, Nagastman was realizing that the closer might have been Pos Nathan after all, in which case it was totally okay that Zwangzug couldn't scratch him.