NationStates Jolt Archive

Welcome to Qazox for the Fifth World Baseball Classic.

Granted most of you have been here before for the First WBC and the Fourth WBC, but this time we're hosting it all from the beginning, not assuming hosting duties due to the previous hosts being unable to host.

Anyway back to the business at hand, the Group Draw and the Schedules for each group:

The FOUR top seeds are:
1- Milchama (defending champs)
2- Az-cz (ranked #2)
3- Corneliu (ranked #3)
4- Qazox (Hosts)

Teams are shown with their WBC Ranking. The order listed is the group seeding which is used for scheduling purposes.

GROUP A
#1- Milchama
#7- Liverpool England
#16- Lovisa
UNR- Tazford
UNR- Naboombu Umbongo

GROUP B
#2- Az-cz
#9- Yafor 2
#12- Zwangzug
UNR- Delehan
UNR- Green wombat

GROUP C
#3- Corneliu
#11- Quakmybush
#14- Mallatarsland
#22- Prux
UNR- German zerabithea
UNR- Cripistan

GROUP D
#5- Qazox
#4- taeshan
#18- Kura-Pelland
UNR- Dragonicale
UNR- Miquelon and Roberto
UNR- McPsychoville

VENUES:
Pheonix Stadium- Capacity: 58,145.
http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/pheonix_stadium.jpg
National Stadium- Capacity: 37,989.
http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/national_stadium.jpg

For equality amongst the teams, the DH will be used in all games at National Stadium, while No DH will be used in games in Pheonix Stadium.

Schedules: Groups A & B have byes, while Groups C & D do not. (In Groups A and B which ever seed faces #6 has a bye)
MD1- Group A & C @ National Stadium; Group B & D @ Pheonix Stadium
1 vs 2
3 vs 5
4 vs 6 (C&D)

MD2- Group B & C @ National Stadium; Group A & D @ Pheonix Stadium
1 vs 3
4 vs 5
2 vs 6 (C&D)

MD3- Group A & B @ National Stadium; Group C & D @ Pheonix Stadium
2 vs 5
3 vs 4
1 vs 6 (C&D)

MD4- Group A & D @ National Stadium; Group B & C @ Pheonix Stadium
1 vs 4
2 vs 3
5 vs 6 (C&D)

MD5- Group B & D @ National Stadium; Group A & C @ Pheonix Stadium
1 vs 5
2 vs 4
3 vs 6 (C&D)

PLAYOFFS:
Top two teams from each group advance to Quarterfinals (Best of 3):
#8 seed vs #1 seed @ National Stadium
#7 seed vs #2 seed @ Pheonix Stadium
#6 seed vs #3 seed @ National Stadium
#5 seed vs #4 seed @ Pheonix Stadium
(please note that the lower seeds will "host" Game 1, while the higher seeds will "host" Games 2 and 3.)

SEMIFINALS (Best of 3) @ National Stadium
Best Remaining record vs. Worst Remaining Record
2nd Best Record vs 3rd Best Record
(please note that the lower seeds will "host" Game 1, while the higher seeds will "host" Games 2 and 3.)

3rd Place Game @ Pheonix Stadium
Semifinal Losers

CHAMPIONSHIP Game @ Pheonix Stadium
Semifinal Winners

RL Schedule (most scores to be posted around 12:00am EST (midnite))
Jan 24- MD1
Jan 25- MD2
Jan 26- MD3
Jan 27- MD4
Jan 28- MD5
Jan 29- OFF day
Jan 30- Qtrs Day 1
Jan 31- Qtrs Day 2
Feb 1- Qtrs Day 3 (if needed) /Semis Day 1
Feb 2- Semis day 1/2
Feb 3- OFF day (Super Bowl Sunday)
Feb 4- Semis day 2/3 (if needed)
Feb 5- Semis day 3(if needed)/ 3rd place game (if niether semifinal goes to a 3rd game)
Feb 6- Championship game/ 3rd place game (if either semifinal goes to a 3rd game)

Qazox Pheonix Roster:

ROSTER

Position Players: (Starters in Bold)
C #21- Ryan Hill
1B #25- Brian Teague
2B #14- Mark Sorrensen
SS #15- Jason Cliff
3B #20- Kyle Warren
LF #23- David Johannsen
CF #19- Henry Gibson
RF #11- Jason Biggsley
C #24- Manuel de la Vega
1B/DH #16- Neil Hermanson
SS #13- Lincoln Gradokski
INF #17- Nathan Fuller
OF #18- Nathaniel Deacon
OF #12- Brad Coppin
UTL #22- Jack Young

Pitchers (Starting Rotation in Bold, Closer in Italics)
SP #1- Frank Sanchez
SP #2- Gregory Daniels
SP #3- Samuel H. Thomspon
SP #4- Adam Kingsley
SP #5- Reggie Brady
RP #5- Mike Diaz
RP #6- Thomas Reynolds
RP #7- Paul Jones
RP #8- Kevin de Jesus
CP #10- Quentin Haddaz

The Prux Power come back to get beaten down again. (trust us it's the only way we'll learn)

Batters
SS: Goode N. Plenty
C: Mike N. Ike
RF: Baby Ruth
LF: Clark Barr
3B: Heath Barr
CF: O. H. Henry
1B: Tob Lerone
2B: Whatchamacallit

DH: Mr. Goodbar (bats 4th when DH is used)

Pitchers
SP: Ace Spade
SP: Ace Club
SP: Ace Diamond
RP: Jack Diamond
RP: Jack Spade
RP: Jack Hart
RP: Jack Club
CP: Ace Hart

Backups
OF: Jack O' Lantern
INF: Frank N. Furter

Green wombat sends the best 23 players they have at stickball to play in this tourney.

BATTING ORDER (throws/Bats)
LF- Franklin Hubbs (L/L)
SS- Ramon Sikora (R/S)
1B- Ben Kollar (R/R)
C- Cecil Krall (R/R)
CF- Duane Willman (R/S)
2B- Rafael Bizier (L/L)
RF- Raul Oestreich (L/L)
3B- Leslie Goldie (R/R)

Pitchers: (all bat the same as they throw)
SP- Elmer McGarrick (Righty)
SP- Brent Moncrief (Lefty)
SP- Elmer Alvardo (Righty)
SP- Chester Bacote (Lefty)
RP- Cecil Veatch (Righty)
RP- Brad Marcin (Righty)
RP- Tyler Shiley (Lefty)
CP- Brent Chadbourne (Righty)

Reserves: (Throws/Bats)
1B/3B- Ramon Dias (L/S)
2B/SS- Nathaniel Hayek (R/L)
C- Cecil Danford (R/R)
OF- Ramon Discher (L/L)
OF- Brad Teeple (R/R)
DH/1B- Tyler Spicher (L/L) (when DH is used Bats 3rd)
UTIL- Charlie Michalik (R/R)

Wolverines, Blue Jays well represented in national team
Patrick Beauregard, Baseball Correspondent

The voting for the McPsychovillian national baseball team has concluded, and fans of both Camrose and Bourque will have reason to be pleased with the results. The Wolverines - who defeated perennial rivals London four games to three to lift the Coleman Trophy for the second time in three years - saw pitchers Peter O'Reilly and Rudolf Horak make the cut, who were later joined by right fielder Mark Gurin; Gurin, the runner-up for this year's Larkin Award, finished second in the voting at the right field position but was promoted to the starting lineup when Fort Wayne's Ben Certik was injured in a motorcycle accident last week. O'Reilly joins an all-star starting rotation that also boasts Greg Kahodayari (Musketeers), Rex Jaeger (Huskies), Jerome LeMay (one of the three Blue Jays in the team) and Fred Hopkins Cup winner Ben Janos (Platypi), but is without two-time league MVP Oliver Legault who infamously held out on his Hellraisers team over a contract dispute before signing just over halfway into the seventy-eight-game season. That said, Legault's decision indirectly bore fruit for Hamilton, who recalled young pitcher Matt Wright from their minor league affiliate to play at closer - although he couldn't halt the team's decline, his performances were good enough to secure him the closer spot for the national side.

In addition, the Classic may well be Adam Stephens' swansong in professional baseball. The third baseman, now 36, refused to rule out the possibility that he might retire before the beginning of the upcoming domestic season in a press conference and is still debating the choice. Bourque owner Clint Casey Jr. made it clear that, whatever Stephens' decision was, he would always have a place in the Blue Jays organisation - Stephens spent all but the rookie year of his sixteen-season career with the Blue Jays despite originally being drafted by the Blitzers, his childhood favourite. He joins pitcher LeMay and shortstop Frank Porus with the Psychos, the latter of whom made the team after a prominent Bourque fan club produced a series of adverts dedicated to the man they billed as "MBL's most underrated star" - probably best known for spawning the "More-us Porus" catchphrase - and causing a late deluge of votes for the 34-year-old. There was another surprise on the coaching side of the ballot, something almost nobody expected as the three spots were filled by Ivan Dixon, Eric O'Neill and Daniel Ekroth, all of the Triela Stampede. After Triela's Cindarella-like late season run that culminated in a team touted to do nothing more than provide easy victories for the superior squads nearly upsetting the eventual champions, this is seen as a justified reward. The full team is below.


Coaching Staff
Head Coach: Ivan Dixon, 61, Triela Stampede
Assistant Coach: Eric O'Neill, 44, Triela Stampede
Pitching Coach: Daniel Ekroth, 45, Triela Stampede

Pitching Rotation
Starters: Greg Kahodayari, 27, Right, Fort Wayne Musketeers
Peter O'Reilly, 31, Right, Camrose Wolverines
Benjamin Janos, 24, Right, Blind River Platypi
Rex Jaeger, 28, Left, London Huskies
Jerome LeMay, 34, Left, Bourque Blue Jays

Bullpen: Richard Paul, 26, Right, Marbach Medics
Owen Oswald, 28, Left, Carson City Cougars
Rudolf Horak, 29, Left, Camrose Wolverines
Akikazu Otsuka, 30, Right, Selke City Samurai
Joel Regan, 21, Left, Boca Raton Redhawks

Closer: Matt Wright, 22, Hamilton Hellraisers

Batting Order
1) 2B - Rick Deadmarsh, 21, Left, Camrose Wolverines
2) LF - Mark Emerson, 24, Left, Sawchuk Blitzers
3) C - Otto Bentzer, 29, Right, Triela Stampede
4) 1B - Tristan Lozier, 31, Left, Boca Raton Redhawks
5) CF - Lyle Oates, 26, Right, Fort Wayne Musketeers
6) RF - Mark Gurin, 23, Left, Camrose Wolverines
7) SS - Frank Porus, 34, Right, Bourque Blue Jays
8) 3B - Adam Stephens, 36, Right, Bourque Blue Jays

Az-cz Scroll
Qazox
Nov-Sn

Gnomes look to recapture their championship and their fans

There was a time when the baseball squad were the kings of international sport in Az-cz. There was a time when names like Br-Bnd and Ich-Ro were famous from Mil-Bax to Port Ben-Degly. There was a time when the nation was incredibly excited to watch 9 innings of work. There was a time when the Gnomes were absolutely invincible on the diamond. And there was a time before the soccer team rose from a merely very good team to a historically great team.

But those feelings have diminished. Due to the festering incompetence of the hosts of the fourth competition and the large break between then and this competition no members from those championship squads are playing in this competition. By winning consecutive titles in the world's most competitive sport soccer has far and away established itself as the most popular non-native sport in Az-cz. Baseball's popularity has slipped to the point that there are rumors the Az-cz portions of the stadiums won't even be full, although that's just specualtion at this point.

Not all hope for the squad is lost however. While the players aren't the big names of the past there is plenty of talent on the squad. Once again the team plays a very solidly fundamental small ball in Az-cz style. The base running is brilliant with speed on the basepaths from every position, with even the pitchers being a threat to steal some bases. There's almost no power on the squad, but we've got probably the best leadoff hitter in the world still. Gojuu-Ichi has been averaging .588 in league play. And the pitching will be once again solid. So all hope is not lost for the squad as they try to reestablish the Az-cz name.

"So we're back again for another World Baseball Classic."

"& it's stil 2 rle 2 b clasik."

"Who the heck are you?"

"A pundit pron 2 finding random & ¬relevant stats."

"And I'm the one that waxes far too poetic, only not literally, about the beauty of the game and suchlike. Right. Do we have a roster, perchance?"

"Yep."

Starting Rotation:

#24, Randy Hendrikson (Mustangs)
#25, Charles McGuffin (Red-Tails)
#8, Alexei Shiomi (Worms)
#13, Al Summers (Grey Socks)

Bullpen:
#4, Colin Gutenberg (long relief) (Mustangs)
#22, Dave Clinton (long relief) (Gray Sox)
#10, Max Frederickson (long relief) (Red-Tails)
#12, Thomas Spirit (middle relief) (Worms)
#7, Larry Chicago (middle relief) (Oysters)
#53, Isaac Slova (middle relief) (Grey Socks)
#19, Mitt Amadeo (middle relief) (Aurora)
#28, Tobias Utopia (closer) (Cubs)

Starting Lineup:
#1, Pete Li, shortstop (Oysters)
#7, Bianca Thiesen, second base (Cubs)
#21, Zeke Fallopian, first base (Red-Tails)
#2, Konrad Rubin, left field (Worms)
#17, Klaus Rifkin, center field (Oysters)
#9, Clint Barry, right field (Gray Sox)
#14, Aaron Mombota, third base (Worms)
#11, Gregory Broadside, catcher (Aurora)
Pitcher

Bench:

#6, Johann Longbottom, infield (Mustangs)
#3, Rose Hanover, infield (Red-Tails)
#18, Eric Steen, catcher (Aurora)
#20, Ollie Jingle, outfield (Mustangs) (DH when used, batting fifth)
#43, Valerie Dvorak, outfield (Red-Tails)

"So we've got Az-cz, always a threat, the friendly firebugs, the...worrying, perhaps, Wombats, and an unknown. Should be fun."

[OOC notes: RPers may do whatsoever they please, although I'd appreciate it if you went from the top down in rotation. If style modifiers will be used, please make ours as negative as possible.]

Batters
SS: Taylor Winds
C: Julius Ike
RF: Edgar Forbes
LF: Heath Jones
3B: Thathcer Brooke
CF: Gary Shuffle
1B: Mike King
2B: Roger Sallam
DH: David Moxie

Pitchers
SP: James Ingles
SP: David Anglo
SP: Harison Chevy
SP: John Kent
RP: Phil McDonald
RP: Ryan Chaffer
RP: Jason Johnson
CP: Mariano River

Bench
SS: Derek Jester
CF: Ryan King
2B: Nate Ryans
C: Hans Bronan

I've never done this before, so how do you determine who wins?

After groups were drawn for taeshans 3rd World baseball classic there were riots in the main cities of atlantea, fadron and machrobat. Although there goup will defenitely be just a bit hard with hosts Qazox, and kura pelland the purple knights will probally advance do to 3 unranked national teams in there group.

Taeshan purple knights roster
Starting Rotation
LHP Anthony rielas #1 age 20 Pitches Knucler, curve, 4 seam, slider
LHP Zeke Peters #3 Age 21 Pitches slider, 2 seam, 4 seam, change, palmball
RHP Rian willemson #7 Age 23 Pitches slider, change, 4 seam, curve
RHP Coi vecxen #90 Age 19 Pitches curve, slider, palmball, knuckler

Relief Pitchers
LHP Victor frun #45 Age 30 Pitches curve, slider, 4 seam, 2 seam
LHP Goeli Hans #78 Age 31 Pitches 4 seam, slider, palmball, curve, change
RHPOhmegode Frede Age 20 Pitches curve, 4 seam, change, knucler

Starting fielders
C Freddy Myers #12 30
1B Tadihito shakiri #2 Age 22
2B Zoey menigen #22 Age 34
3B Zi Zo #8 age 30
SS Flean diageo #46 33
Lf Fier henris #66 age 27
CF Riane totalez #24 age 20
Rf Socki lewis #14 age 16 Also closing pitcher

Bench
If Sol jeeves #49 age 24
IF Yeckers flederichi #78 age 20
IF Jose diego #34 age 21
OF Jay nedved #29 age 20
OF Zack segovis #68 age 33
OF Jackelyn peters #83 age 25
OF Joel myers #41 age 23
OF Xavier Dendes #93 age 22

Manager Johny nashille
Pitching coach God aghful(former reliver)

Yaforite Firebugs Roster

Style modifier is a totally Yaforite -2 - if there is such a thing as a karelan baseball team, the Grand Democratic Duchy is that. Good, strong pitching and terrific defense give the Yaforites their victories (if they can get any!), but their lackluster hitting can lose them matches (which is why they tend to try and play small-ball). Upcoming is the twenty-five man roster:

[Yaforites play at home without a DH, in as pitcher's a park as there can be. When there is a DH, Jarifar is inserted into the fourth place in the batting line-up].

[Position] [Name] [Bats/Throws] [Description]

3B - Caris Juir (S/R). Juir is a good defensive player (he gets dirty often and a lot, and has a strong arm). He has the attributes that one looks for in a lead-off hitter; speed, a high on-base percentage, and the drive to, ever day, in and out, give 110%. If he tries to steal too often, it may be because he can get on base so much, and does so, often by bunting.

SS - Arrin Jarridan (S/R). Jarridan is the best player on the Yaforite team. Not only is he a perennial award-winner for his defense (he is quick and has a thunderous arm, especially from the whole), but he is also the best player offensively. From the left side, he is a slap-hitter, sprinting out base hits and taking walks. From the right side, he his for power, accounting for his back-to-back-to-back 50-50 seasons. He has excellent speed, as well.

1B - Tyrius Valderrana (R/R). Valderrana is a rarity - a first baseman with some amount of speed. He can run fairly well, and field his position well, as well. He is in the line-up to provide some fair amount of power. Valderrana is also something of a surprise in the way he bats, since he is almost completely an opposite-field hitter, which can be both a weakness and a strength.

LF - Rabyn Zaranez (L/L). If there is a weak link in terms of fielding, it is Zaranez, who leads the team in errors. He, despite his fourth position on the team, is not a power hitter - instead, he is batting fourth for his ability to hit in the clutch. Zaranez not only has won award after award for his RBI abilities, but Zaranez is also a league leader in Batting Average with Runners in Scoring Position (RISP). Zaranez may not catch every ball, but he makes that up for his ability to drive them in.

C - Daaklen Kirjai (S/R). Kirjai is a very good defensive catcher. His greatest strength, it is said, is his ability to call a good game, which is a prized ability in a catcher. He also is very good at getting down and blocking balls in the dirt, though he can, like anyone, mess up. Kirjai, a switch-hitting batter, also possess a strong arm, having thrown out over nine tenths of opposing hitters in his career.

RF - Nan Judaron (S/R). Judaron is anything but a defensive liability. His massive arm in the right field allows him to reach the catcher or third baseman without even a bounce, placing it perfectly for the play. However, he often hits for extra bases as a hitter, but does not have much power.

CF - Tyrius Carian (S/L). Quick and dangerous, Carian is much more of a defensive player than an offensive one. With Zaranez a bit of a weakness, Carian and his skills make up for the fault, due to his excellent range and diving ability. His arm is not suspect at all, but his hitting is, because, while he hits from both sides of the plate, only his speed is above suspicion.

2B - Haridas Jyolt (S/R) If Carian is a second number-one hitter, than Jyolt is a second number-two hitter. He has the ability to bunt a runner over, to do things with a hit and run, and other such number-two hitter abilities. He also turns two well with Jarridan, and as a result, makes up a very good double-play combination.

P - Whoever.

Bench
SS/2B - Monar Calraahim (R/R).
1B/3B/DH - Garregan Jarifar (S/R).
C - Dagor Nelias (R/R).
C - Caristan Nelias (L/L).
LF/RF - Corvan Ta'an
CF - Melius Vankirior.

Starting Pitchers
RHP - Pedran Alvar. Alvar has an excellent fastball, with tremendous movement on his pitches. His fastball often reaches triple digits. In comparison, his slider looks wicked. When Alvar is on, he is untouchable.
LHP - Johan Rean. A "junkballer", Rean is noteworthy for the fact that he sets up his 87-mph fastball with a 64-mph curve, jamming lefties and righties alike.
RHP - Darius Hadagamerion. His fastball reaches up to 94-95 mph, but his abilities with his four off-speed pitched make up for it. He can defeat a team on his own and can always be counted on to be solid.
RHP - Davrain Karajad. His fastball hovers around 97 mph usually, and, with his quick-moving slider and dangerous curve, can be counted as the most solid starter on a very solid staff.
LHP - Raecher Harill. A left-hander with a big, breaking-curve, Harill may be the most suspect on the staff, but is probably the best number-five starter out there.

Middle Relievers/Long Relievers (come in when behind/tied)
RHP - Josain Villikan. Good long reliever with mid 90s fastball.
RHP - Corvan Macran. Stronger fastball, but weaker against lefties.
LHP - Gregan Xiarin. Good against both lefties and righties.

Set-Up Men (come in when ahead)
LHP - Maxin Cotras. Primarily a lefthanded specialist, can also get out righties.
RHP - John Stanford. Throws around 98 mph, can get out almost anybody.

Closer
RHP - Tyrius Validor. Throws around 104 mph, with three off-speed pitches as well. Has been untouchable in his career.

Milchama National News- Tribune- Sun- Times- Post- Gazette- Chronicle- Journal- Dispatch- Telegram- Star- Monitor- Enquirer

Sports Section

Defending Champions Need Another Title

After last tournament's surprising victory by the Milchama Warriors over their foes Az-cz to capture the title and finally make the nation proud instead of humiliated because the best baseball nation in the world needs to be recognized as such. Since then the Milchama league has expanded and with that a new crop of players comes to take the mantle over these veterans who have served very well. The manager the legendary Kelly Hegaboom brings out a changed lineup but still includes some core players of last time's legendary championship squad.

Outfielders:
8 Kelton Holland LF
21 Felix Sorano
17 Thomas Pfenint
23 Eric Sidelman CF
18 AJ Hunter RF
19 Ugaday Chinggist DH

Infielders:
16 Emily O'Neil 1B
14 Garrett Raritt 3B
5 Tanner Holmes
7 Marius Remant 2B
10 Endy Gonzalez SS
14 Moralis Houston

Catchers:
1 Everett Ulsan
2 Damien Hermes C
99 Wr-Ior
52 Kny-Mrrk

Starters:
15 Ferris Banner- Hard throwing pitcher with a good curveball and a plus slider. Known particularly for how good he is at changing speeds.
12 Greg Claymont- Doesn't have an overpowering fastball but has a wicked 12-6 curveball and a great assortment of random pitches that we don't even know the names of to get hitters out. Also very good at out thinking hitters.
6 Henry Remteyn- The most imposing looking pitcher of the starters actually has the worst pure stuff. He is always approximately 10 steps ahead of hitters and gets them out through pure thinking ability.
00 Jonah David- The most Jewish name on the team complete with the most eccentric personality in the game. However, as a pitcher his 95+ MPH fastball complete with devastating changeup that can go anywhere from 88 to 70 make him a force to reckoned with. To hear more about his personality either go to our website or wait for one of his starts as we will give you a story a day.

Bullpen:
25 Ole' Gomez- Where he got the nickname nobody knows but he's good. Great fastball, wicked curve, no endurance made him a reliever.
13 Oleg Channuck- Nasty screwball and knuckleball. Weird pitch selection. Second oddest player on the team.
19 Thomos Alem- Submariner gets people because they really just can't see the pitch until it's right at them. Nobody is quite sure what he throws.
1 Edgar Allen- A poet and a man with a great sense of touch on his curveball. He really only has two pitches but his curveball breaks in 5 different ways so it doesn't matter.
3 Stephenie Wyatt- Screwballer.

Starting Lineup w/o DH:
23 Eric Sidelman CF- Fast, good contact hitter. Typical Milchamian leadoff man.
8 Kelton Holland LF Fast, not as good of a contact hitter but a great power hitter.
16 Emily O'Neil 1B- Consensus best hitter Milchama has ever produced. Hits for average and power. Won 2 straight triple crows in the MBL along with leading the league every year in OPS and OPS+ since her second year in the league.
2 Damien Hermes C- Very good hitting catcher. Hits homers with surprising ease. Not particularly fast but is also very sound fundamentally.
18 AJ Hunter RF - A lot like Felix Sorano, a 5 tool player and though he hasn't reached his potential quite yet he can mash. 2 straight 30-30 seasons got him on the team.
14 Garrett Raritt 3B- Only survivor to start from the legendary WBC winning team. A little power and a little speed. Just a great gloveman. Good all around player.
7 Marius Remant 2B- Great gloveman. Not as much known for his hitting but actually hits in the .290 level which is pathetic for this squad. Not so much in general though.
<Insert Pitcher Here>- Hegaboom used this to great effect in the MBL and now brings the pitcher hitting 8th to the international level.
10 Endy Gonzalez SS- On the team for his mitt more than his stick. Though he did hit 20 HRs last year. Fluke season though.

Starting Lineup w/DH:
23 Eric Sidelman CF
8 Kelton Holland LF
16 Emily O'Neil 1B
19 Ugaday Chinggist DH- Slow, lumbering, hits 50 HRs every year with a .385 OBP. A great hitter.
2 Damien Hermes C
18 AJ Hunter RF
14 Garrett Raritt 3B
7 Marius Remant 2B
10 Endy Gonzalez SS

Notes:
-Both starters and bullpens go top down.
- Milchamian starters consider it a disgrace to be taken out before the 8th inning.
- If styles exist we're a zero.

This team will run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, etc etc, Billy is nearly uncatchable not even a putout move by Ivan Rodriquez can stop him, he can be easily picked off cause he always twitches his legs when hes about to steal. They will try to move the batter from 1B to 3B from a single by their other team and will always run.

Dragonicale National Team is mostly orientated by speed and nifty defense and also pitching, and is pretty young and lacks experience.

Still adding things...

This includes stats the 2007 season

Lineup with DH

1. CF Billy Randolph Age 22, Stats: .315 BA, 0 HR, 44 RBI, 144 R, 70 SB
2. 2B Jack Drackel Age 20, Stats: .287 BA, 10 HR, 78 RBI, 98 R, 33 SB
3. SS Chong Ming-Wang Age 25, Stats: .302 BA, 16 HR, 101 RBI, 83 R, 8 SB
4. 1B Randy Williams Age 28, Stats: .262 BA, 41 HR, 122 RBI, 62 R, 0 SB
5. 3B Iraku Zhang Age 18, Stats: .297 BA, 20 HR, 89 RBI, 78 R, 18 SB
6. C Fuzzy Rogers Age 19, Stats: .305 BA, 2 HR, 68 RBI, 86 R, 8 SB
7. LF Damian Johnson Age 24, Stats: .297 BA, 5 HR, 65 RBI, 91 R, 28 SB
8. RF Craig Johnson Age 24, Stats: .299 BA, 0 HR, 78 RBI, 97 R, 51 SB
9. DH Reed Fernandez Age 26, Stats: .188 BA, 28 HR, 61 RBI, 50 R, 6 SB

Rotation

1. Greg Johnson Wezvskyle Age 29, A very tricky pitcher with the most wicked and confusing delivery (its more weirder than Hideo Nomo! Video of him if you don't know him http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX102czYNjA) and he also has great control and movement but lacks the 95 MPH fastball (He throws an 88 MPH)
Stats: W/L: 28-0, 1.22 ERA, 233.2 IP with 156 K with 20 BB

2. Cheesy Wayne Age 16, Possibly the greatest prospect from Dragonicale, he throws a flaming 99 MPH fastball with a great change but his other two pitches, the 12-6 curve and the cutter are home run pitches but are strikeout pitching material if thrown correctly.
Stats: W/L: 18-5, 3.18 ERA, 188 IP with 266 K with 89 BB

3. Aaron Gonzalez Age 23, probably will give at LEAST 9 solid innings, he's a workhorse, if you don't find him in the gym working out or throwing pitches, you probably find him in the batting cages, he throws a nice 94 MPH fastball followed by some weird kind of pitch that looks like a slurve and a knuckler, with a deadly sinker followed by the 11-5 86 MPH curveball.
Stats: W/L: 23-2, 2.88 ERA, 311 IP with 49 K with 2 BB

4. Crazy Morrison Age 32, batters hates facing this veteran, he will go inside on you and he enjoys it and even loves it more when you charge the mound cause he's a 320 pound muscular monster, he throws a 97 MPH fastball with a cutter that breaks bats into a gazillion pieces along with the average slider and changeup. His team, the immensely horrible Eronian Rockets has caused his sad 5-15 W/L record, cause of the W/L record, he gets the 4th spot, he really deserves more.
Stats: W/L: 5-15, 2.33 ERA, 177.1 IP with 199 K with 62 BB

5. Vernon DeLamon Age 24, the most average pitcher you can find. He has the average pitching set of 90 mph fastball, 12-6 curveball, change up, and the slider. He never really tries his best but he does give a effort though...

Closer: Barry Bands, his mouth is almost as nasty as his pitching stuff, his screwball will say screw you and his fastball will say in your face and other crap like that... Stats: 2-1, 51 S, 49.2 IP, 78 K with 23 BB

SU: Kerry Weed
MRP: Dan Wheels
MRP: Justin Meeps
LRP: David CiCi
LRP: Trevor Huffer

NOT FINISHED, NO STATS FOR PITCHER YET, NO DEFENSE STATS AND NOT FINISHED WITH ROTATION, BULLPEN, AND BENCH OR STRATEGY BY DRAGONICALE

]Mallatarsland Squad

SPONSORED BY AARDVARK PREMIUM LAGER

Batters
Sally Smedley
Susan Smith
Bridgit Harrison
Emma Cosby
Julie Ware (captain)
Jackie Jones
Jenny Stottle
Petra Googlie
Fanny Voight

Throwers
Helen Harmison
Jane Tremlett
Alice Dovitt
Brenda Silverskin
Olive Green

Catchers
Kelly Handwin
Jill Goodyear

Reserves
Lily Basket
Rose Craddock
Olive Black

Frantically re-reading the rule book, managing the team and trying to remember what she did right last time.
Hermione Slange

Group 1 Group 3
Milchama 4-0 Corneliu 4-0
Liverpool england 3-1 Mallatarsland 3-1
Tazford 2-2 Quakmybush 2-2
Lovisa 1-3 Prux 1-3
Naboombu Umbongu 0-4 German zerabithea 0-4

Group 2 Group 4
Az-cz 3-1 Taeshan 5-0
Zwangzug 3-1 Qazox 4-1
Yafor 2 2-2 Kura pelland 3-2
Green wombat 1-3 Dragoncale 2-3
Delehan 1-3 Green wombat 1-4
Miquelon and roberto(you messed up here there in this group you listed german z twice)0-5

So I make my own roster?
YES you do

Miquelon and roberto(you messed up here there in this group you listed german z twice)0-5
So I did.. Sorry about that. (FIXED)

Now what to do about Cripistan.....

Although they didn't signup, Unless a significant amount of teams voice opposition, I'll throw them into the mix.

Cripistan will be placed in Group C, provided there isn't significant opposition.

Also Cripistan, please signup BEFORE the tourney starts next time. Just a friendly reminder.

DELEHAN KAAR'IIS ROSTER

Style Modifier: -1

[Position] [Name] [Description]

[B]Starters

SS, #4 - Makya Luowee (R/R). The 24 year old Luowee was undoubtedly the fastest man on the Delehan National team in the previous Regional tournaments. He stood out primarily due to his high average during the EoE Tournament of Champions, hitting .370/.380/.466 in a 32 team tournament. His high on base percentage and extreme speed pushed him to the lead off spot and one of the favorites of the Delehan supporters, mainly for his constant upbeat attitude, even in losses.

2B, #39 - Pinon Ailia (S/L). The premiere defensive star of the Delehan Black is Pinon Ailia. At 20 years old, he is extremely good at playing ground balls to his right and always throws a strike right to the chest of his first baseman. Ailia has big shoes to fill, as he recently took over for one of the best players in Dehelan baseball history, the coach of the squad, Cheveyo Ribasa. At the plate, Pinon has some, but limited, power from the right side and makes pretty good contact from the left.

CF, #15 - Ahiga Nusha (R/R). The premiere slugger and all around best player on the Delehan team, Ahiga is widely known as the "Warrior of Delehan". He holds single-season records playing for the Waapa Nepi Riders, with 74 HR and 180 RBI. Despite being 36 years old, he is still extremely quick in center field, although his glove has been less than stellar over his past couple of seasons playing for Waapa Nepi. With power beyond anything the DBL has ever seen and toting several Player of the Year awards, he is sure to be an impact in Delehan's first WBC.

LF, #20 - Songan Nukana (S/L). Nukana is the 2nd youngest player on the Delehan roster at the age of 19, but has the extreme honor batting in the 4th spot due to his ability to drive the ball deep into the gaps for extra base hits. He has plenty of power to drive the ball out of the park, but mechanic problems at his young are are present and he tends to pull the trigger a bit too early. His low on base percentage is troublesome, but with experience, he'll cut back on the strikeouts and notoriously bad at bats and become a very good power hitting left fielder.

3B, #27 - Langundo Olowee (L/L). At 3rd base, the rocket arm of Langundo Olowee waits for any ball hit sharply to his left or right, just so he can dive, snag it and whip it to first base like a laser, making it look like he was dusting off his cleats. His showmanship has brought him plenty of criticism from fans of his Wichita Cougars. While his arm and glove are above average, his ability to hit the ball out of the park isn't as great as one would wish. Despite being 27 and in the prime of his career, his power numbers have dropped instead of risen over the past 2 years. His average steadies out around .290 and his OBP is average at .330, but his clutch ability puts him in the 5 hole.

RF, #44 - Chesmu Banka (L/R). Despite being rather clumsy in right field, Banka exhibits a great eye at the plate, drawing plenty of walks(100 walks in 3 consecutive years with Waapa Nepi) and showing great bat speed when he actually does take it off of his shoulder, going the other way quite often. His speed is his biggest weakness, as he has been thrown out at first base on a single to right field 4 times in one season before, something almost unheard of in baseball.

C, #50 - Kaga Calla (R/R). The other 19 year old on the RoD National Team is just 100 days older than Songan Nukana, but is not quite as polished a player as Nukana. His arm is easily top 10 in the DBL and his ability to block balls in the dirt is tremendous, but being inexperienced, his ability to call a game isn't as great as a veteran's would be. His bat can be questionable at times, as well, as his ability to come through in the clutch has been questioned by many critics. With age, he could develop into a very good pull hitter, but his defense will be his most prized assett

1B, #24 - Nodin Pual (S/L). Pual, while being the best available option for the RoD National Team, is not quite the best 1B in the DLB. That title goes to Momuso Mojag, who was not able to participate in the first ever Delehan-involved WBC due to a concussion from a hit by pitch taken off of the helmet in a game against the Cheyenne River Walkers. Pual has a fantastic ability to scoop balls out of the dirt, but has a below-average bat, hitting .266 with 71 walks and 130 strikeouts. His fielding is the most important thing, but his bat could present a problem if he gets put in too many high pressure situations.

P - (pitcher here)

Bench

1B, #77 - Patamon Vaa (L/R). A good role player, Patamon provides some good power off of the bench, but has never quite blossomed into the player he was once expected to be due to pressure and the inability to make a lot of contact.

SS/2B, #48 - Tse Rama (S/L). Primarily used for pinch running situations, Rama stole a critical base in the 2005 Regional Semi-Finals, putting himself in scoring position for Ahiga Nusha, who promptly drove him in, winning the deciding game that sent the Delehan team to the Finals.

C, #6 - Wynono Utta (R/R). A good defensive catcher, Utta has always been the back-up type, with extremely limited offensive capability. His bat has slowed in his upper-ages, but he still is able to drive in a fair share of runs at any given time

3B, #46 - Paco Labiya (R/R). In his 2nd season wearing a Wichita Cougar uniform, many fans were lobbying for Labiya to take over in place of the increasingly cocky Langundo Olowee. However, Olowee took exception and turned on the heat, clubbing 5 home runs in 2 games and going on a 16 game hit streak, effectively making Labiya forgotten. But Labiya still supplies tremendous contact off the bench, primarily capable of going to the opposite field and hitting it where they aren't.

LF/RF/CF, #99 - Mojag Arri (L/L). The multi-talented outfielder who had one big year for the Cahokia Mounders, putting up near PotY caliber numbers with a huge average and high OBP, seemed to just deflate after that big year. His glove is still extremely valuable and will almost always make a huge catch in a close game. His bat still comes alive every once in a while, cranking a moon shot deep into the stands and watching as if it's his last.

CF, #53 - Lonato Luuda. (L/L). Another great defensive center fielder, Luuda has been the face of the Tahlequah Buffalo for 15 years. However, now at age 38, his speed has taken a dramatic turn for the worse and his bat is only occasionally good. In his last good year, 2 seasons ago, he hit .290/.366/.455, his slugging pct. far from his average.

Starting Pitchers

RHP - Manipi Alquar, #34 - The all around 2nd best player on the RoD National team and the best pitcher in the DBL, Alquar boasts a 98 mph fastball, backed with an insanely sharp breaking slider that sweeps away from right handers at the last second, leaving them completely befuddled. Posting a 1.94 ERA and striking out 240 batters last year, he earned the Pitcher of the Year award and went on to be the first pitcher in DBL history to start his career with at least 200 strikeouts and an ERA under 3.

RHP - Cha'tima Uzu, #1. - The youngest player on the RoD team at 18 years old, Uzu is another fireballing righty who's fastball hits 95-96 on the radar and possesses a nasty 12-6 curveball that starts at the eyes and ends at the ankles. In his first full season with the Sequoyah Sliders, he went 19-2, gaining Amateur of the Year honors and finishing 3rd in voting for Pitcher of the Year.

LHP - Kitchi Muaro, #39. - Famous for his ability to get batters out on the ground, Muaro is notably good for his riding cutter, that eats up right and left handed batters, shattering bats and making veteran hitters look absolutely foolish. His only downside is his tendency to elevate the ball, inducing fly balls that often cler the fences.

RHP - Mahpee Varajo, #62 - In a staff full of solid, fireballing youngsters, Varajo is the sole veteran on the staff who possesses an illustrious 17 year career with the Inchelum Hunters and Dakota Foxes. At 41 years old, he is closing in on his retirement, but has been extremely successful at getting hitters out without a powerful fastball. His big, sweeping curveball coupled with a great change up is enough to cause trouble for the average hitter.

LHP - Hesutu Catra, #80 - Lucky to be added to the staff for the RoD National Team, Catra possesses a pretty good fastball that hits 89 on a good day, Hesutu mainly relies on his off speed stuff to get hitters out.

Middle Relievers/Long Relievers

LHP - Nahele Quinla, #90. - Very good long reliever who destroys right handed batters and holds the fort very well.

RHP - Lenno Drapo, #67. - DBL Reliever of the Year, Drapo has one of the best sliders on the team and has a very good changeup to accentuate a mid-80s fastball.

LHP - Lootah Trabba, #61 - One of the 3 knuckleballers in the DBL, Trabba has trouble with righties, but makes lefties look absolutely foolish. Knuckleball is downright impossible to hit, but when it's hit, it goes far

Set-Up Men

RHP - Niyol Dyba, #78 - Good against lefties and righties, but can be very wild at times.

RHP - Gaagii Fush, #69 - The bridge to Frata, Fush is the premiere Set-Up Man in the DBL. With a changeup that falls into the 50s, he is a great side-piece to the electric stuff of Frata.

Closer

LHP - Akecheta Frata, #7. - A fastball that hits 101 and a screwball that is almost never used anywhere else in the DBL, Frata has been the best closer in DBL History, being a part of 8 Regional Championship teams and 4 National Championship teams. The very best in the league at closing out games.

Head Coach - Cheveyo Ribasa - The greatest player in Delehan baseball history coaches the National team. The man who holds the all-time homerun record with 866 HR and an unreal 2922 RBI, Ribasa is the most celebrated figure in DBL history. At the helm of the National team, Cheveyo expects nothing but the best out of his squad.

Az-cz Roster

Batting Order

1. Gojuu-Ichi CF
2. Hnk-Chi 2B
3. Nijuu-Go LF
4. Jux-Juzb 1B
5. Goz-Ag RF
6. Rub-Tooz SS
7. Caaa-Meeeoooo C
8. Nu-Ton 3B
9. (Pitcher)

Bench

OF Yu-Ko
OF Hi-Rai
IF Og-Ra
IF Ke-In
C Hi-De
IF/OF To-Three


Pitching Rotation

(Pitchers listed in starting order please follow that order)

Starters

1. O-G RHP
2. Lo-Max LHP
3. Suzil-Pie RHP
4. Shi-Ori RHP
5. Other-Giy LHP

Relief Pitchers

Long Relief Tu-Pac
Long Relief Hm-Ur
Short Relief Aiz-Aiz-Baby
Short Relief Dk-Dre
Set-up Man Snp-Dg
Closer Yng-Emsi

In case of the DH Hi-Rai starts and bats 9th.

Az-cz has a style of -1 if possible (pitching/defense oriented). The team is famous for it's baserunning, defense and fundamentals. There are no home runner hitters on the team so home runs for Az-cz should be very rare.

CORNELIU SPORTS NETWORK

Welcome back to the wonderful world of Baseball ladies and gentlemen. The groups are set and the team is ready to play but before we give a rundown of opposition, we are going to Coach Williams for the introduction of the starting lineup as well as the rest of the roster.

Thank you all for coming to this press conference. We will get started right away. First off, I'm going to introduce this years starting 8 and then we'll migrate to the Pitching rotation and relievers.

He looked over his line up card carefully before he spoke

From Liberty City University and starting in RF Thomas Robertson
From Englewood College and starting at 2B George McFarlan
From Andersonville State and playing SS David Jones
From Featherston University and Catching Jason Sheridan
From Liberty City College and playing LF Travis Clark
From McArthur City University and playing 1B Brian Smith
From Washington State and playing RF Steven Keller
And from Tropical City College and playing 3B Kevin Peterson

That is our starting lineup ladies and gentlemen and now for the Pitchers they will come out when called just like the rest did.

SP Adam Carson from Fredericksburg
SP Samuel Bush from Igloo City
SP Jacob Davidson from Thompsonville
SP Eric Jones from Andersonville
RP Charles Anderson from Pittsburgh
RP Daniel Walker from Featherstonville
RP Zack Roberts from McArthur
RP Cal Erickson from Desert City
Cl Bill Lincoln from Trenton

And now for our infielders

IF Fredrick Cornwallis from Virginiaville
IF Samson Daniels from Jacksonville
IF Michael Flint from Desert City
IF Robert Stone from Lawrenceville
IF Nathan Walker from Libertytown
IF Aaron Boone from Berlin

And our Backup Catchers:

C Clinton Black from Blackston
C Peter Carson from Iglooton

I will now take your questions!

"What do you say to people who think that your finals appearance last year was a fluke?"

Well Jeremy, baseball is a finicky game. Just because a team looks better on paper does not mean that they will necessary win. Was it a fluke? I do not believe it was with the way we play. We play with heart and soul and we played relax. Thats all we need to do and we will do the samething this year. Thank you all for coming.

So we got most of the rosters...

The 1st day scores will be up around midnight. (They will all be hopefully posted around that time for the duration.)

So for now it's RP CUTOFF TIME!

MD ONE SCORES and Standings (winners in Bold) "Home" team is listed 1st

GROUP A @ National Stadium
Milchama 8- Liverpool England 7 (11 Innings)
Lovisa 6- Naboombu Umbongo 1
BYE: Tazford

GROUP B @ Pheonix Stadium
Az-cz 7- Yafor 2 4
Zwangzug 8- Green wombat 2
BYE: Delehan

GROUP C @ National Stadium
Corneliu 12- Quakmybush 11 (10 Innings)
Mallatarsland 5- German zerabithea 4
Prux 6- Cripistan 5 (11 Innings)

GROUP D @ Pheonix Stadium
Qazox 6- taeshan 8
Kura-Pelland 7- Miquelon and Roberto 4
Dragonicale 3- McPsychoville 5

STANDINGS
GROUP A W-L .Pct RS RA RD
Lovisa 1-0 1.00 6 1 +5
Milchama 1-0 1.00 8 7 +1
Tazford 0-0 .000 0 0 --
Liverpool England 0-1 .000 7 8 -1
Naboombu Umbongo 0-1 .000 1 6 -5

GROUP B W-L .Pct RS RA RD
Zwangzug 1-0 1.00 8 2 +6
Az-cz 1-0 1.00 7 4 +3
Delehan 0-0 .000 0 0 --
Yafor 2 0-1 .000 4 7 -3
Green wombat 0-1 .000 2 8 -6

GROUP C W-L .Pct RS RA RD
Corneliu 1-0 1.00 12 11 +1
Prux 1-0 1.00 6 5 +1
Mallatarsland 1-0 1.00 5 4 +1
German zerabithea 0-1 .000 4 5 -1
Cripistan 0-1 .000 5 6 -1
Quakmybush 0-1 .000 11 12 -1

GROUP D W-L .Pct RS RA RD
Kura-Pelland 1-0 1.00 7 4 +3
taeshan 1-0 1.00 8 6 +2
McPsychoville 1-0 1.00 5 3 +2
Qazox 0-1 .000 6 8 -2
Dragonicale 0-1 .000 3 5 -2
Miquelon & Roberto 0-1 .000 4 7 -3


TIEBREAKERS:
H2H (within each group)

For seeding in the Quarterfinals (Top 2 teams in each group will advance no matter the record)
Overall Record
Run Differential
RA/9I (average runs allowed per 9 innings played)
RS/9I (average runs scored per 9 innings played)
NOTE: (Groups C & D will have the results of the game against the 6th place finisher in those groups voided to ensure fairness in seeding)

After being in contention with a 3-4 record w/2 games to go, the POWER blew it big time and wound up finishing dead last in the group at the last WBC.

But now with somany new teams, all it may take is one upset, and the POWER might get into the Quarters.

GAME ONE SUMMARY:
Cripistan scored 4 runs in the first 3 innings off of starter Ace Spade, but the bullpen, spearheaded by 6 shut-out innings by Jack Diamond kept the upstarts from extending the lead. In the 6th inning, a three-run homerun by O. H. Henry off of James Ingles cut the lead to 4-3. In the bottom of the 8th, Mike N. Ike slammed a triple to deep center and scored on Phil McDonald's wild pitch to tie it at 4-4. In the top of the 11th, a solo home-run by David Moxie made it 5-4, but a base-loaded double by Mr. Goodbar scored Goode N. Plenty and Mike N. Ike as the POWER won in thrillign fashion 6-5.

Up next is German zerabithea 4-5 losers to Mallatarsland. the game will be played at National Stadium.

Baseball is a bit different than stickball, as the Sticks, the informal nick-name the players have called themselves, lost to #12 Zwangzug 8-2 in Pheonix Stadium.

Zwangzug Scoring:

FIRST INNING- 3 hits, 4 runs, 1 error, 1 walk, 1 Homerun (GS), 2 LOB
THIRD INNING- 4 hits, 2 runs, 1 Homerun, 1 HBP, 3 LOB
SIXTH INNING- 3 hits, 2 runs, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 2 LOB

Green wombat scoring:
7th inning: Ramon Dias (PH for Cecil Veatch): struck out.
Franklin Hubbs: single to left
Ramon Sikora: double to left, Hubbs SCORED
Ben Kollar: walked
Cecil Krall: grounded out (5-3), Sikora to third, Kollar to second.
Duane Willman: single to center, Sikora SCORED, Kollar out advancing to home.


Pitching stats (Green wombat only)
Elmer McGarrick (0-1): 4 IP, 9 Hits, 6 Runs allowed, 4 BB, 6 ER, 2 K, 2 HR, 1 WP, 1 HB
Cecil Veatch: 2 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs allowed, 1 BB, 2 ER, 3 K
Tyler Shiley: 2 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 1 BB, 0 ER, 4 K


Up next is Delehan, a fellow newcomer. the game will be played in National Stadium, with the DH in play.

QSPN.com WBC Coverage

2nd straight opening match flame-out by Pheonix.

For the 2nd time in as many WBC's, Qazox got off on the wrong foot, losing to taeshan in the WBC opner for both teams, 8-6. Like last time, Qazox couldn't overcome bad starting pitching from Frank Sanchez. One may wonder if Sanchez still hasn't fully recovered from the elbow surgery he had last October. Up next is Kura-Pelland, a dangerous enough team, that the Pheonix must not overlook.

TEAMS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
taeshan 3 3 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 8 17 0
Qazox 0 0 0 0 4 0 2 0 0 6 9 2

G-K strikes out eight in victory
McPsychoville 5 - 3 Dragonicale
Patrick Beauregard, Baseball Correspondent

If throwing the first pitch in the McPsychoville Psychos' international debut caused Greg Kahodayari's nerves to jangle, he certainly didn't show it.

In a calm, measured performance against Dragonicale, the Musketeer's famed fastball perplexed the batters lining up against him as he struck out eight and gave up just three hits in total over the seven innings he was in play. Although his chances of attaining a perfect game were killed off in the second inning - opposing second basemen Jack Drackel sent a fly drive down the middle and second baseman Rich Deadmarsh committed an error that let Drackel make it to third - the solid defensive play was enough to stop anybody from making it home; Drackel was actually caught trying to steal third base in the third inning with two men already out. Although Richard Paul had a rougher time upon his entry into the game, giving up two quick runs in the eighth courtesy of Randy Williams' triple allowing both Billy Randolph and Chong Ming-Wang to get home, the Psychos had already established a commanding lead and even Randolph's home-run in the ninth against closer Matt Wright wasn't enough to deal them the loss.

Kahodayari may be the Psychos' game MVP, but some consideration must be given to left fielder Mark Emerson who, in five at-bats, had a hand in four of the Psychos' five runs. His best moment came in the fourth with the game still scoreless - with Mark Gurin on second, Rick Deadmarsh on third and two outs, he gave up two strikes before blasting a line drive hard to the right for a triple. Some fans were screaming for Emerson to try for home himself, and though he chose to stay on third, Otto Bentzer's sacrifice bunt the next at-bat let him get home to give the team a 3-0 lead. Fan favourite shortstop Frank Porus was on hand to extend the lead to four runs in the fifth inning, making up for an error that let opposing left fielder Damien Johnson make it to third base when Deadmarsh first stole second, then got home off Porus' double. The shortstop himself picked up a run courtesy of Emerson, who again came into the game with two outs.

Although there were a couple of sloppy errors, head coach Ivan Dixon attributed this to simple nerves. "It's our first game on the world stage," he said in response to a question about Rick Deadmarsh's concentration, "and Rick's a young kid. He's not made of stone, and I don't blame him for getting a little rattled." Dixon also noted that Deadmarsh had done well to twice catch Billy Randolph trying to steal second, something the second baseman later attributed to noticing that the speedy centre fielder had a tell about him when he was about to attempt a steal. "It was weird...he just seemed to twitch the first time he made it, so I kept my eye out for it and it paid off," remarked the jubilant player after the game.

---

Hitting Statistics

Player AB R H RBI AVG
Rick DEADMARSH 6 2 3 0 .500
Mark EMERSON 5 1 2 3 .400
Otto BENTZER 5 0 2 1 .400
Tristan LOZIER 4 0 1 0 .250
Lyle OATES 3 0 0 0 .000
Mark GURIN 4 1 3 0 .750
Frank PORUS 3 1 2 1 .666
Adam STEPHENS 4 0 0 0 .000
TOTAL 34 5 13 5 .382


Pitching Statistics

Player IP H R ERA
Greg KAHODAYARI 7 3 0 0.00
Richard PAUL 1 3 2 2.00*
Matt WRIGHT 1 1 1 1.00*

Scoring

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H
McPsychoville 0 0 0 3 2 0 0 0 0 5 13
Dragonicale 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 3 7

---

OK, I don't normally ask for feedback, but I figure it'd be best to do it now. I don't watch much baseball, being English, and I'm not particularly good with the lingo. With that in mind and ignoring the numbers (because I know .750 batting averages are not common), how was this? Another note, the * by the ERA figures is just to denote that our ERA is calculated as R/IP. I think American ERA is calculated differently.

OK, I don't normally ask for feedback, but I figure it'd be best to do it now. I don't watch much baseball, being English, and I'm not particularly good with the lingo. With that in mind and ignoring the numbers (because I know .750 batting averages are not common), how was this? Another note, the * by the ERA figures is just to denote that our ERA is calculated as R/IP. I think American ERA is calculated differently.


for a single game Yes a Batting avg of .750 is normal. And for ERA, it's (Earned Runs/Innings pitched)*9. So your ERA's are correct. as for the "lingo" for someone from across the pond, you did rather smashing. ;)

The only reason why I'm not using ERA is ONE- my scorinator doesn't produce errors (not anymore.. though it did in WBC 1.. still trying to figure that one out.) and TWO- even if i did include errors, they might not have lead to any of the runs scored, there by making ERA tougher to compute. also Earned runs are any runs scored that didn't involve a error, wild pitch or passed ball that eventually allowed a run to score. (yes that is a very simplified version).

Mallatarsland Ladies under 17 Rounders Team Strike First
Mallatarsland 5 German zerabithea 4

Despite hangovers and Jetlag, the Mallatarsland Ladies got off to a great start in the competition with a 5-4 win over German Zerabethia. It wasn't an easy game by any means with the ladies starting badly as their bowling let them down. In the first 3 overs, the opposition scored four times without any reply and it was only when the change of thrower happened in the 4 quarter that the ladies began to do better.

The Batters started to claw back the oppositions lead and it was a tied game by the end of the 8th innings. Sally Smedley was a real star once the Tylenol kicked in, hitting the winning Boundary in the last seconds of the match.

Good game, not bad for both of our debuts.

Also whats the scorinator you used so I can use it later on?

GROUP C @ National Stadium
Corneliu 12- Quakmybush 11 (10 Innings)
Mallatarsland 5- German zerabithea 4
Prux 6- Cripistan 5 (11 Innings)

CORNELIU SPORTS NETWORK

"Welcome back to Qazox ladies and gentlemen. We are here as you all know by now to track our beloved Pirates in the Fifth World Baseball Classic. Last year, our team made it all the way to the finals before falling but this year, it could be different."

"That's right Michael so without further adu, let us get down to today's action. It was a close one for our team today as they played Quakmybush. It was a seasaw game that had to be decided in 10 but in the end, the Pirates of Corneliu defeated Quakmybush 12-11."

[i]This was indeed no my best game. I mean, when you give up 5 runs early on? Its no wonder I got yanked in the 3rd inning. I'm just glad that our offense came through for us to earn us this hard fought victory[i]

"That was pitcher Adam Carson commenting on his performance this afternoon. Michelle?"

"Reaction from around the country was that of disappointment that we had to go 10 innings in such a high game but ecstatic that the team did indeed walk away with this victory. In other Group C action it was Mallatarsland 5- German zerabithea 4, and Prux 6- Cripistan 5 in another thrilling extra-inning game."

"Thanks for the run down Michelle. Well that does it for us folks and Remember, you can watch all the Pirates action here on CSN. Good night.

Also whats the scorinator you used so I can use it later on?

Basically it was this (at least for WBC 1):


For either team's runs:
A: Road team
B: Home team

{1/2 A's Hitting(squared)/ (B's [Starters+Relief/2]+def/2)}

IE: Team A's hitting is 8
Team B's Starters is 5 Relief is 6 and Def is 10 and plays in a Hitter's park (+1)

[(8*8)/2]/[(11/2)+(10/2)]= (64/2)/(5.5+5.0)= 32/10.5= just about 3 runs (round up or down as needed)

Hits are the above formula plus the following

*(9-stadium rating)}/3

3*8/3= 8 hits (oncea gain round up or down as needed)

For Errors:
[B's def (10)/ (A's Power*A's speed)]*9 (for innings)

10/ (7+5)= 10/12=(.8333*9) = 7.50 That number was how many innings before an error occured, so in this example, team B wouldn't commit an error until the 8th inning (Round down for below X.50 and up for equal to orabove X.50)

The RP bonus threw me off, as I just added it to either the home team or road team, (depending on who Rp'ed). I added it to the road's hitting after multipling and dividing (ie: 64-->65) and for the Home side I added it to the defense (10-->11). That's one reason I had so many realtively low scores.


The new one I use drops out the hitting and pitching stuff (which i why i don't ask for them) For the 1st couple of WBC's we had a system like this for the stats:

STARTERS: 9
RELIEF: 7
HITTING: 8
POWER: 6
SPEED: 7
DEFENSE: 8

Now I just use a slightly different system (Extremely simplified)

[Ranking home team* RP factor)/9 and (Ranking away team *RP Factor)]/9 to determine the scores. The RP bouns can add roughly 1 to 3 runs for each team depending on how i decide the RP should influence the score. every RP only factors into the next 3 games. (for MD 1, roster posts counts as an RP) for extra inning games, the formula is divided by 6 and for every inning that is still tied, I reduce 6 to 5, to 4, etc until one side has a lead.

OOC: Does this mean that an RP such as interviews, player descriptions, etc... help your score, because this is my first time ever doing sports.

OOC: Does this mean that an RP such as interviews, player descriptions, etc... help your score, because this is my first time ever doing sports.

Yes. When you RP it gives you a slight bonus that can help you win future matches. You should probably do something like a newspaper report of how your team did the first day.

OOC: Considering the first MD went by Cripistan you should jsut have a newspaper report on your first game.

"Hey dude"

"What?"

"The WBC started"

"What in the bloody hell is that?"

"The baseball cup"

"Oh why didn't you say so"

"I just did"

"No you didn't you said some sort of initial thing that nobody understands"

"World Baseball Classic, WBC, come on man"

"Yeh none of that fancy mumbo jumbo with me now"

"Oh dear god, anyway we played our first game today, it wasn't good."

"Why?"

"First off Ferris Banner sucked, he gave up 7 runs in 3 and a third innings of work"

"Yeh that's really crappy, he was so good in the MBL"

"Well not against LE."

"Then the whole game was a giant comeback bid and we couldn't get any offense off of X-man the pitcher until the 5th inning when Holland got a single and O'Neil doubled him in. Then in the 6th Chinggist pinch hit and smacked a bomb to make it 7-3."

"That's not enough"

"DUH YOU IDIOT! Sorry about that anyway the Warriors climbed back with two more in 7th and runs in the 8th and 9th innings including a run off of the closer"

"That's good, we have some resiliency"

"Yeh that's true"

"So how did we win?"

"Kelton Holland solo shot"

"That's beautiful"

"That's what she said"

"Yeh you failed with that joke"

"I realize but at least the Warriors won"

"Very true"

"Hopefully next game though they won't suck"

"Yeh"

Crowds watched as the first 2 batters for the taes, Zi zo and Flean diageo got base hits and freddy meyers hit a 3 run homer to give them an early lead. Then Antony rielas the days starting pitcher made it through the inning. Fier henris and riane totalez got on base and socki lewis hit his homer to give them a 6-0 lead. 4 innings later the suprised phoenix scored there first for runs. Totalez opened the next inning with a in the park homerun. Then the phoenix scored to late runs to the Purple knights 1. and the taes beat the host in a shootout closed out by lewis with a 8-6 score.

OOC: Does this mean that an RP such as interviews, player descriptions, etc... help your score, because this is my first time ever doing sports.

Yes it does. The amounty it helps depends usually on the quality (for the World Cup) and in here usually just posting anything helps a bit.

SPEAKING OF WHICH MD2 RP CUTOFF IS NOW!!! Scores and standings shortly.

MD TWO SCORES and Standings (winners in Bold) "Home" team is listed 1st

GROUP A @ Pheonix Stadium
Lovisa 3- Milchama 6
Tazford 7- Naboombu Umbongo 5 (10 innings)
BYE: Liverpool England

GROUP B @ National Stadium
Zwangzug 9- Az-cz 6
Delehan 3- Green wombat 5
BYE: Yafor 2

GROUP C @ National Stadium
Mallatarsland 6- Corneliu 12
Prux 6- German zerabithea 3
Quakmybush 10- Cripistan 4

GROUP D @ Pheonix Stadium
Kura-Pelland 7- Qazox 9
Dragonicale 6- Miquelon and Roberto 4 (10 innings)
taeshan 7- McPsychoville 5

STANDINGS
GROUP A W-L .Pct RS RA RD
Milchama 2-0 1.00 14 10 +4
Tazford 1-0 1.00 7 5 +2
Lovisa 1-1 .500 9 7 +2
Liverpool England 0-1 .000 7 8 -1
Naboombu Umbongo 0-2 .000 6 13 -7

GROUP B W-L .Pct RS RA RD
Zwangzug 2-0 1.00 17 8 +11
Az-cz 1-1 .500 13 13 --
Green wombat 1-1 .500 7 11 -4
Delehan 0-1 .000 3 5 -2
Yafor 2 0-1 .000 4 7 -3

GROUP C W-L .Pct RS RA RD
Corneliu 2-0 1.00 24 17 +7
Prux 2-0 1.00 12 8 +4
Quakmybush 1-1 .500 21 16 +5
Mallatarsland 1-1 .500 11 16 -5
German zerabithea 0-2 .000 7 12 -5
Cripistan 0-2 .000 9 16 -7

GROUP D W-L .Pct RS RA RD
taeshan 2-0 1.00 15 11 +4
Kura-Pelland 1-1 .500 14 13 +1
Qazox 1-1 .500 15 15 --
McPsychoville 1-1 .500 10 10 --
Dragonicale 1-1 .500 9 9 --
Miquelon & Roberto 0-2 .000 9 13 -5

QSPN.com WBC Coverage

Pheonix hold off tough K-P squad.

After getting 6 runs on the board thru the first 4 innings, and leading 7-0 with 2 outs in the bottom of the 6th, Kura-Pelland staged a 6-run rally, knocking starter Gregory Daniels out. But Daniels managed to pick up the win, despite allowing those 6 runs, as Qazox held off K-P to win 9-7, with Quentin Haddaz pitching a perfect 9th for the save. Up next for the Pheonix is McPsychoville once again in Pheonix Stadium.

TEAMS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Qazox 0 3 0 3 0 1 1 0 1 9 20 0
Kura-P 0 0 0 0 0 6 1 0 0 7 13 1

Looks like I missed out on signups. Please tell me when the next one starts.

The Sticks pick up their first win over Delehan 5-3. Brent Moncrief only allowed a solo home-run to the first batter he faced, until he ran into trouble in the 7th. But the bullpen held Delehan scoreless for 2 1/3 innings, moving the Sticks into a 2nd place tie with Az-cz for the moment.

DELEHAN Scoring:
First inning: 1 run, 1 hit, 1 HR, 0 LOB
Seventh inning: 2 runs, 4 hits, 1 double, 1 BB, 2 LOB

Green wombat scoring:
3rd inning: Rafael Bizier: singles to center.
Bizier: Steals 2nd (no throw).
Raul Oestreich: Flies out to left.
Leslie Goldie: singles to left, Bizier SCORES, Goldie to 2nd on throw.
Franklin Hubbs: walked.
Ramon Sikora: doubles to left-center, Goldie and Hubbs SCORE.
Tyler Spicher:groundsout (6-3).
Ben Kollar: strikes out.
5th inning:
Leslie Goldie: Pops-out to catcher.
Franklin Hubbs HOMERUN to Right (348 ft).
Ramon Sikora: strikesout.
Tyler Spicher: HOMERUN to left center (413 ft).
Ben Kollar: Hit by pitch.
Cecil Krall: fielder choice (6-4).



Pitching stats (Green wombat only)
Brent Moncrief (1-0): 6.2 IP, 5 Hits, 3 Runs allowed, 1 BB, 3 ER, 5 K, 1 HR
Brad Marcin: 0.1 IP, 0 hits, 0 Runs allowed, 0 BB, 0 ER, 1 K
Cecil Veatch: 1 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs allowed, 1 BB, 0 ER, 1 K
Brent Chadbourne (Sv1): 1 IP, 0 hit, 0 runs, 0 BB, 0 ER, 2 K


Up next is Yafor 2, who is 0-1 so far in the tournement. The game will be played in National Stadium, with the DH in play.

Delehan Black
Post-Game Press Conference
Pheonix Stadium

Reporter: Coach Ribasa, how do you feel about the way tonight went down?

Cheveyo Ribasa: Obviously, tonight didn't go exactly how we wanted. You know, we went over this in the pre-game. You get ahead, whether it be by 1, 2 or even 10, your pitching has to come through. You can't automatically assume anything. We had a great shot at winning in this game in the very first inning. Luowee hits a shot to left field, puts us up and we can't do anything else. That kind of thing cripples you.

Reporter: What happened with starting pitcher Manipi Alquar?

Cheveyo Ribasa: I think it's obvious what happened. No qualms about it. We were up 1-0 in the very first inning. Bottom of the inning rolls around, he gives up a hit, didn't look the runner back on first. Couldn't keep the ball on the infield 2 at bats later and they capitalized on it. Got wild a bit later and they capitalized on it. That's the difference. They made something out of our mistakes and we didn't.

Reporter: Any comment on that 7th inning?

Cheveyo Ribasa: It all comes back to the same thing. You put yourself in prime position to start a comeback and you just don't take advantage. If you constantly start your engine up and turn it off, you don't get anywhere but in the spot you were sitting 5 minutes before. You have to turn the key, put it in drive and go. You can't just stall. We had a huge double in that inning that put us down 3 and then the walk, the stolen base and the single that put us down 2. Got two more on and grounded right into a double play. No excuses. We had a shot to go ahead and we didn't take it.

Reporter: Next up for you is Zwangzug. Anything you plan to change?

Cheveyo Ribasa: I don't know about change, but we're definitely going to learn from what we did here tonight. I'm proud of my club. I'm proud that we went out there and gave one hell of an effort. If this game was won based on passion, we may be 1-0 right now. But it's based on executing and scoring runs. So we're 0-1. Plenty of games left to be played. We'll see. Zwangzug is a good team. They beat the team we played tonight 8-2 in their first game. They're not gonna lay down and die.

With that, Cheveyo would scan the room with his dark brown eyes, checking if there was anything more. Satisfied that there was nothing else, he gave a tired smile and stood up, exiting the press room.

2-0 a great start for the POWER, but the last 3 games are against the 3 highest seeds in the group. But a win in any of those 3 games, could propel the team into the Quarterfinals.

GAME TWO SUMMARY:
A 5-run 1st inning got the POWER off to a great start, as Baby Ruth hit a 437-ft homerun to dead centerfield and two batters later Clark Barr slapped a 325-ft homerun down the leftfield line to make it 5-0. German zerabithea answered back with 2 runs in the 3rd inning and a lone run in the 5th to make it 5-3, but Clark Barr's 2nd homerun of the game in the 7th ended any chance for a comeback. Ace Club went 7 and 1/3 innings allowing 3 runs on only 5 hits, striking out 9. Ace Hart retired all 5 batters he faced for his 1st save of the tourney.

Up next is Mallatarsland who lost 6-12 to Corneliu.
The game will be played at Pheonix Stadium, so no DH will be used.

[Yay. Someone who doesn't appear to be able to string two words together without making a spelling error and puts about a fraction of zero effort in wins.]

---

Horak's late comeback falls short
McPsychoville 5 - 7 Taeshan
Patrick Beauregard, Baseball Correspondent

Down by seven in the fifth inning against a ranked team, nobody would have even given the Psychos a shot at coming back. Five runs and four innings later, Rudolf Horak was in a retrospective mood.

"Well, what can you do? Ranked team against unranked team..." he said to the press afterwards, "...it was never going to end well for us." The Camrose pitcher came into the game with Taeshan up 6-0 after Ben Janos had succumbed to an attack of the yips and, aided by a composed performance by first baseman Tristan Lozier, made the scoreline at least respectable for the Psychos. Although Taeshan's Rian Willemson was somewhat off his game, giving up plenty of hits, he was bailed out time and time again by his defense, particularly 34-year-old second baseman Zoey Menigen; along with left fielder Fier Henris, Menigen spearheaded the offensive rush.

The comeback was first initiated by Rick Deadmarsh - off the back of his three-hit, two-run performance against Dragonicale, the second baseman was first up in the sixth inning and immediately broke Willemson's bid for a shutout with a spectacular home-run, made even more so by Deadmarsh's reputation of being a finesse hitter. Although nobody else made it onto the scoresheet that inning, Lozier upped the ante by coming to the plate with the bases loaded and hammering home a double that allowed Mark Emerson, Lyle Oates and Frank Porus to all score - Porus made it with a dramatic slide that forced a instant replay to judge whether he'd made it home or not. Although he managed to steal third, Willemson and Tadihito Shakiri made short work of the three remaining outs to send the game into the final inning 7-4. Otto Bentzer's triple gave Psycho fans some hope, and Mark Gurin let him get home despite being caught out by Shakiri to reduce the deficit to two, but opposing closer Socki Lewis was solid enough to deal McPsychoville the loss.

Although the team lost, the biggest positive to be taken from the game was the continued good performance from the individual pitchers; while Janos' third-inning meltdown was a terrible performance, Horak gave up just five hits and one run in six innings, the run coming off first baseman Shakiri's homer.

Hitting Statistics

Player AB R H RBI AVG
Rick DEADMARSH 5 1 2 1 .400
Mark EMERSON 4 1 4 0 1.00
Otto BENTZER 6 1 1 0 .166
Tristan LOZIER 6 0 3 3 .500
Lyle OATES 5 1 2 0 .400
Mark GURIN 4 0 1 1 .250
Frank PORUS 4 1 2 0 .500
Adam STEPHENS 3 0 2 0 .666
TOTAL 37 5 17 5 .459


Pitching Statistics

Player IP H R ERA
Benjamin JANOS 3 12 6 2.00
Rudolf HORAK 6 5 1 0.17
Matt WRIGHT 0 0 0 0.00

Scoring

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H
McPsychoville 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 1 5 17
Taeshan 0 0 6 0 0 1 0 0 X 7 17

Player IP H R ERA
Benjamin JANOS 3 12 6 2.00
Rudolf HORAK 6 5 1 0.17
Matt WRIGHT 0 0 0 0.00



just a point of contention, but Janos' ERA, based on what you've written should be 18.00 not 2.00. Other than that, Good job so far.

[Under American calculations it would be, but that's the point I made before, we calculate it differently by just removing the "*9" portion of the formula.]

[Under American calculations it would be, but that's the point I made before, we calculate it differently by just removing the "*9" portion of the formula.]

gotchya ;)

Arlington Moon-Tribune
National baseball team takes group lead

After two games out of four, the Zwangzug Zebras find themselves on top of group B in the World Baseball Classic. Pete Li led off the first game, against the Green Wombat Sticks, with a soft single over shortstop Ramon Sikora's head. Bianca Thiesen drew a walk, and Zeke Fallopian got an infield single. The bases were loaded for Konrad Rubin, who struck out, but Klaus Rifkin hit a grand slam to take the lead.

Zwangzug never let up, adding four more runs throughout the game, with a home run from Fallopian and triple from Li being key in the offense. The Sticks' two runs came in the seventh inning, with Isaac Slova on the mound. Randy Hendrikson got the win for Zwangzug, and Elmer McGarrick took the loss for Green Wombat.

A win over Green Wombat was nothing to sneeze at, to be sure, but the task ahead was far greater: the Zebras took on Az-cz, winners of the first three tournaments. The gnomes took the lead, with a bunt from Nu-Ton scoring Rub-Tooz in the second, but Zwangzug eventually won. Aaron Mombota scored the game-winning run off a double from Rifkin: Larry Chicago and Dk-Dre were the pitchers of record.

The performance of designated "hitter" Hi-Rai, batting ninth, encapsulated the game fairly well from Az-cz's perspective: he drew a walk after Nu-Ton's successful bunt, but was stranded when Hnk-Chi popped to Aaron Mombota at third; grounded out twice, was hit by a Dave Clinton pitch, and struck out looking. The fundamentals were there, but Zwangzug's offense was simply superior.

Ahead for Zwangzug is Delehan, a team whose inexperience belies competitive skill, in what promises to be an entertaining game.

CORNELIU SPORTS NETWORK

"Welcome back to Qazox where our beloved Pirates are tied for the lead with Prux for the group lead at 2-0."

"That's right Michelle. Earlier today, the Pirates of Corneliu defeated Mallatarsland 12-6 in a 9 inning thriller. In the 3rd inning, Steven Keller led off the inning with a solo blast over the center field wall. After a Kevin Peterson walk and Samuel Bush striking out, Thomas Robertson blasted a 2 run blast to left field. This made the score 3-0. The Pirates scored 5 runs in the 3rd inning before being retired. In the 5th, the Pirates scored 2 more runs to make the score 7-2. In the 7th, Mallatarsland attempted a comeback when Samuel Bush gave up a grand slam homer run to Mallatarsland's best hitter thus prompting a quick pitching change in favor of Zack Roberts who closed out the inning with two straight strike outs."

"We will move on to the eighth inning and the Pirates exploded quickly with a three run homerun off the bat of Travis Clark. After another strikeout, the Pirates put two more men on base and the Pitcher Zack Roberts hit a two run double into the gap. This made the score 12-6 at the end of 8. The ninth inning went by quietly with closer Bill Lincoln shutting them down with three straight strikeouts."

"Thanks for the close out Michelle. We will now look at the rest of the action from Group C here at National Stadium! Prux defeated German zerabithea 6-3 and Quakmybush defeated Cripistan 10-4.

"The next game for for our Pirates will be against Cripistan who is currently 0-2. The game will be played at Pheonix Stadium. You can view the game right here on the Corneliu Sports Network. Join us next time as we recap all the days action."

Taeshan WINS and takes over the group lead. Fier henris and menigen bale out pitcher rian willemson to a win over unrenked mcpsychoville. YEAHHHHHHHHHHHH

*Two random Milchamians after watching the game against Lovisa*

"Those are the world champions!?"

"I know that was some of the worst baseball I have ever seen from the Warriors baseball team"

"How the hell did that just happen?"

"I have no idea we were outplayed the whole time, I mean just look at the hits we had 15 and they had 10"

"I know man giving up that many hits just begs for more runs to be scored"

"They pitched better, hit better, were more ready for us than we were for them"

"Holland couldn't drive anybody in on base, O'Neil didn't look like herself at all and Claymont my god how did he make the team?"

"He was really good in the MBL but tonight just wasn't his night. 3 runs in 9 innings? That's awful, unacceptable by anybody's standards"

"Yeh I know what you mean. We really need to play better to keep up with the rest of the teams in cup"

"Two bad games that's ridiculous"

"Yep"

*Another person overhearing the conversation jumps in*

"So I take it we lost?"

"No it was a 6-3 victory, Hermes hit a grand slam in 4th and scored 2 more runs in the 6th. We were on top the entire time"

"Then why was it a bad game?"

"You just had to see it man. Trust me"

"Ok"

*He walks away*

"What an idiot"

"I know, they weren't good at all"

Rested Tazford Wins in 10
An unlikely hero gets the homer
by Les Rose

The Tazford Tabby Cats almost blew their rest-given advantage but pulled out the win, 7-5 in an extra inning against Naboomu Umbongo. Tazford's starter, Lanny Fast, the hero of the Chelsea Cows, was rocked for 4 runs without getting out of the second inning. Luckily, the Cats had a strong bullpen effort, with All-Star Herb Jennings, showing no signs of being angry at his starting spot snub, coming in to pitch the majority of the game.

Holding the other team to a mere 1 additional run over five and two-thirds innings, he was lifted for pinch hitter Howie Thomas in the top of the 8th. Thomas suicide squeezed in speedy right fielder Herman Young to tie up the game.

Paul Wells and Rob Quirk put in 1 scoreless inning each as the managers made several defensive changes. It was one such change, to lift power hitting but light fielding shortstop Ozzie Jones at the top of the 9th that led many to believe all was lost for Tazford.

However, with one out and left fielder Randy Milton on first, Jones got one just over the short porch in left field. Cheers erupted from the Tazford faithful and Jones smiles, exposing his missing teeth lost last season when making what commentators called the play of the year. "I wear them--or rather, I don't wear them--as a sign of pride," he was quoted as saying his first game back.

Tabby Cats closer and all-time saves leader in his home league Dan Plain pitched a scoreless 10th for the save.

MD Three RP Cutoff.. scores, standings and overall standings shortly

MD THREE SCORES and Standings (winners in Bold) "Home" team is listed 1st

GROUP A @ National Stadium
Naboombu Umbongo 0- Liverpool England 9
Tazford 4- Lovisa 5 (12 innings)
Bye: Milchama

GROUP B @ National Stadium
Green wombat 2- Yafor 2 3
Delehan 5- Zwangzug 8
BYE: Az-cz

GROUP C @ Pheonix Stadium
German zerabithea 5- Quakmybush 7
Prux 6- Mallatarsland 7 (10 innings)
Corneliu 10- Cripistan 1

GROUP D @ Pheonix Stadium
Miquelon and Roberto 4- taeshan 8
Dragonicale 3- Kura-Pelland 5
Qazox 5- McPsychoville 6 (10 innings)

STANDINGS
GROUP A W-L .Pct RS RA RD
Milchama 2-0 1.00 14 10 +4
Lovisa 2-1 .667 14 11 +3
Liverpool England 1-1 .500 16 8 +8
Tazford 1-1 .500 11 10 +1
Naboombu Umbongo 0-3 .000 6 22 -16

GROUP B W-L .Pct RS RA RD
Zwangzug 3-0 1.00 25 11 +14
Az-cz 1-1 .500 13 13 --
Yafor 2 1-1 .500 6 9 -3
Green wombat 1-2 .333 9 14 -5
Delehan 0-2 .000 8 14 -6

GROUP C W-L .Pct RS RA RD
Corneliu 3-0 1.00 34 18 +16
Quakmybush 2-1 .667 28 21 +7
Prux 2-1 .667 18 15 +3
Mallatarsland 2-1 .667 19 22 -3
German zerabithea 0-3 .000 12 19 -7
Cripistan 0-3 .000 10 26 -16

GROUP D W-L .Pct RS RA RD
taeshan 3-0 1.00 23 15 +8
Kura-Pelland 2-1 .667 19 16 +3
McPsychoville 2-1 .667 16 15 +1
Qazox 1-2 .333 20 21 -1
Dragonicale 1-2 .333 12 14 -2
Miquelon & Roberto 0-3 .000 13 22 -9


OVERALL STANDINGS (sorted by record then by tiebreakers)
(RS/9I and RA/9I in Blue are best, RS/9I and RA/9I in red are worst.)

W-L .Pct RS/9I RA/9I RD
Corneliu 3-0 1.00 10.93 5.79 +16
Zwangzug 3-0 1.00 8.33 3.67 +14
taeshan 3-0 1.00 7.67 5.00 +8
Milchama 2-0 1.00 6.30 4.50 +4
Quakmybush 2-1 .667 9.00 6.75 +7
Lovisa 2-1 .667 4.20 3.30 +3
Prux 2-1 .667 5.40 4.50 +3
Kura-Pelland 2-1 .667 6.33 5.33 +3
McPsychoville 2-1 .667 5.14 4.82 +1
Mallatarsland 2-1 .667 6.11 7.07 -3
Liverpool England 1-1 .500 7.20 3.60 +8
Tazford 1-1 .500 4.50 4.09 +1
Az-cz 1-1 .500 6.50 6.50 --
Yafor 2 1-1 .500 3.00 4.50 -3
Qazox 1-2 .333 6.43 6.75 -1
Dragonicale 1-2 .333 3.86 4.50 -2
Green wombat 1-2 .333 3.00 4.67 -5
Delehan 0-2 .000 4.00 6.50 -6
German zerabithea 0-3 .000 4.00 6.33 -7
Miquelon & Roberto 0-3 .000 4.18 7.07 -9
Naboombu Umbongo 0-3 .000 1.93 7.07 -16
Cripistan 0-3 .000 3.41 8.07 -16

Please note that the Overall Standings do not factor in group tiebreakers, and therefore should not be used as a playoff predictor.

QSPN.com WBC Coverage

Pheonix error-prone in loss to McPsychoville.

3 costly errors in the 7th inning chased Samuel H. Thomspon, and Thomas Reynolds allowed the winning run to score on a balk in the 10th, as the Pheonix fall to 1-2 and now face must-win situations in each of the last two remaining games. Qazox got out to a 5-0 lead after 6 innings, on a pair of Homeruns from Kyle Warren, a 3-run shot to right-center field in the 4th and a 2-run blast that cleared the outer fence in right, in the 6th. Up next is a trip to National Stadium in Fromburg to take on Dragonicale. The loser of that game is most likely to be eliminated from contention.

TEAMS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
McPsy 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 1 6 9 0
Qazox 0 0 0 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 5 12 3

The comeback came up a bit short, as the POWER ran out of gas in the 10th, allowing Mallatarsland to score 3 runs in the top of that inning, while Prux could only manage 2 runs, stranding the tying run on 3rd.

GAME THREE SUMMARY:
Mallatarsland jumped on Ace Diamond, scoring 2 runs in each of the 1st two innings, but Ace Diamond recovered enough to hold them scoreless for the next 6 inings. In the 7th, down 4-0, Heath Barr lead off with a triple that clanged off the left field wall, and O. H. Henry knocked him home with a single. After a double play, Whatchamacallit, Goode N. Plenty and Mike N. Ike each hit doubles, cutting the lead to 4-3, and Baby Ruth tied it a 4-all with a single to left. The 8th and 9th saw each side go down in order, setting up the thrilling 10th. Mallatatsland knocked around Jack Club for 5 hits, scoring 3 times, until Jack Spade shut them down ending the threat. In the bottom of the 10th, Clark Barr, Heath Barr and O. H. Henry all reached on singles, loading the bases with no-one out. Tob Lerone promptly singled to center, scoring the Barr brothers, and leaving men on 1st and 3rd. But after a strike-out of Whatchamacallit, Goode N. Plenty grounded into a game-ending double play, with Plenty out by a half-step at first.


Up next is Corneliu 10-1 winners over Cripistan. A loss here puts the POWER's chances at almost nil to advance, as they would have to beat Quakmybush and hope Mallatarsland loses its next 2 games.
The game will be played at Pheonix Stadium, so no DH will be used.

The Sticks put up a great fight, but Yafor made the plays they had to and the Sticks didn't in a 3-2 loss. The Sticks are still in contention for a quarterfinal berth, but with with only 1 game remaining on the schedule, it is doubtful that they will make it.

YAFOR 2 Scoring:
Fourth inning: 2 runs, 4 hits, 2 doubles, 2 LOB
Eighth inning: 1 run, 2 hits, 1 walk, 2 LOB

Green wombat scoring:
Sixth inning:
Nathaniel Hayek (Pinch-hitting for Elmer Alvardo): Struck out.
Franklin Hubbs: Doubled to left-center.
Ramon Sikora: flied out to left.
Hubbs to third on wild pitch.
Ben Kollar: single to right (Hubbs SCORES).
Cecil Danford: single to right-center, Kollar to third.
Duane Willman: double to left, (Kollar SCORES), Danford to third.
PITCHING CHANGE
Rafael Bizier: stuck out.


Pitching stats (Green wombat only)
Elmer Alvardo (ND): 6.0 IP, 7 Hits, 2 Runs allowed, 0 BB, 2 ER, 8 K
Tyler Shiley (0-1): 3.0 IP, 4 Hits, 1 Run allowed, 2 BB, 1 ER, 3 K, 1 Balk

The Sticks have tommorrow off, as they prepare to take on 3-time champs Az-cz on the final day.

Delehan National
Sports - Baseball
Sports Commentator, Yaana Liua

Another hard fought game, another blow up for the relievers of the Delehan Black. The National team, in it's second World Baseball Classic game, went ahead 2-0 in the first inning on Friday, things being kick started by an opening at bat by short stop Makya Luowee, who fought off 10 pitches before smacking a BP fast ball down the right field line for a double to lead the game off. The next batter, 2nd baseman Pinon Ailia would promptly lace a single past the Zwangzug shortstop, putting Delehan up 1-0. Two batters later, left fielder Songan Nukana would put a ball off of the left field fence to double in Ailia, making it 2-0.

However, Zwangzug pitcher Charles McGuffin would hold Delehan down long enough for Zwangzug to strike in the 6th inning. With two on, one out, Zwangzug center fielder Klaus Rifin hit a moon shot, 3 run homerun off of Delehan's youngest pitcher and youngest player, Cha'tima Uzu. Uzu would give up a double to the next batter Clint Barry and Aaron Mombota would drive him in with a hard single. That would be it for Uzu, who gave up 4 runs and 7 hits, all 4 runs coming in the 6th inning.

Delehan wasn't going down easy, though. In the bottom of the 7th, an inning that almost brought Delehan to a victory against the Sticks in their previous game, with 2 on and 1 out, first baseman Nodin Pual would hit a towering drive to left that was just over the glove of Konrad Rubin, hitting the wall and bouncing around for a 2 run double, tying the game up. Two batters later, Makya Luowee came through again, hitting a ball up the middle to score Pual from 2nd on a close play at the plate that could have easily gone either way.

With a 5-4 lead going into the 8th, Delehan brought on their electric set up man Gaagii Fush. But he was lacking electric on this night. Giving up two straight walks, he'd be pulled without recording an out. The next pitcher on, righty Niyol Dyba would throw a wild pitch, advancing the runners to 2nd and 3rd. The next pitch would be hit back up the middle to score two, making it 6-5. The very next batter would crank a 2 run homerun, making it 8-5, which would end up being the final score.

"We did everything right up until the 8th inning. We flat out blew it," said Head Coach Cheveyo Ribasa. "I don't know what happened. Everything was looking good. Then the 8th rolled around and we got hit like an atom bomb." Ribasa wasn't the only confused one, however. The right hander who put the two men on, Fush, declined to comment on the game, saying he needed time to clear his head.

The schedule gets no easier from here, as Delehan next has to face 2-0 powerhouse Milchama. The #1 seed.

TEAMS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Zwangzug 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 4 0 8 11 0
Delehan 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 5 9 2

Pitchers:
Cha'tima Uzu - 6 2/3, 4 R, 4 ER, 7 H, 3 BB
Gaagii Fush - 0 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 H, 2 BB
Niyol Dyba - 2 1/3, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 H, 1 BB

Notable Hitters:
Makya Luowee, SS - 2/3, 2 RBI, BB
Pinon Ailia, 2B - 2/4, RBI
Songan Nukana, LF - 1/4, 2B, RBI
Nodin Pual, 1B - 3/4, 2 2B, 2 RBI

Mallatarsland Ladies Win Again

Prux 6- Mallatarsland 7 (10 innings)

In an amazing match which saw both teams play some magnificent ball, the Mallatarsland Ladies under 17 Rounders team finally came good with a winning score in the first overtime of the game. It was a fantastic start for the Ladies as they led 4-0 after the first two ends, but the Prux team came back with some excellent batting and at the end it came down to which team could hold its nerve best. The Ladies by this point were fired up, having drunk a few cans supplied by their sponsors Aardvark premium Lager. The winning run was scored by the Captain Julie Ware and it was a very tired and emotional team that left the stadium some time later.

In her after match interview the Team Coach, Hermione Slange, told us that she was proud of the girls who despite the heavy defeat in the previous game had come back strongly and she was hopeful that they could qualify for the next stage of the competition.

Come on Ladies, your whole nation is behind you.

Purple knights beat upstart team
By somer andum dude
The purple knights went into last nights game against unranked team miquelon and roberto expecting a win. On the mound today was lefty Zeke peters, who is known for his strikeout slider. Zeke let only for runs in on the game while Relievers Victor frun and goeli hans kept the knight lead. Tadihito shakiri scored 2 of the knights runs as did Socki lewis and Floean diageo. Finnaly zi zo and riane totalez both hit homers in the last iinig to complete the knights 8-6 win.

GROUP C @ Pheonix Stadium
German zerabithea 5- Quakmybush 7
Prux 6- Mallatarsland 7 (10 innings)
Corneliu 10- Cripistan 1

STANDINGS
GROUP C W-L .Pct RS RA RD
Corneliu 3-0 1.00 34 18 +16
Quakmybush 2-1 .667 28 21 +7
Prux 2-1 .667 18 15 +3
Mallatarsland 2-1 .667 19 22 -3
German zerabithea 0-3 .000 12 19 -7
Cripistan 0-3 .000 10 26 -16

CORNELIU SPORTS NETWORK

"Welcome back to Qazox as we give the run down of all of Group C's actions. Today an one of the early games, we had an upset. We'll leave you in suspense on which team got upset in Group C just for the moment. Ok moment is up. The team that was upset earlier today was Prux as they dropped a close one to Mallatarsland 7-6 in 10 Innings. The game was very close all throughout but in the 10th inning, Mallatarsland scored three quick runs and held on to that lead for a hard fought victory. Now, we'll go to Michelle for the Pirates game against Cripistan. Michelle?"

"Thanks Mike. In the late game, the 2-0 Pirates played the 0-2 Cripistan in what Cripistan was hoping to be a close game. This game was nowhere near close except in the first inning when Cripistan went up 1-0 on a double by Heath Jones. That was the last time they took the lead, in fact the last time they even got someone across the pate. The Pirates exploded again in the 3rd inning with 3 runs, two of them on a double by Jason Sheridan. In the 6th inning, David Jones hammered it over the Left Field wall to clear the bases on his first career grand slam to make it 7-1. In the 7th, Thomas Robertson brought home another run on an error by Cripistan's 3B Thatcher Brooke that scored Steven Keller. In the 8th, Brian Smith hit a 2 run homer to bring the score to 10-1. From there, the game rested on the shoulders of our ace closer Bill Lincoln who walked the first batter but the next batter hit into a 6-4-3 double play and struck out the very next hitter to end the game. This runs our record up to 3-0 and drops Cripistan to 0-3 and nearly eliminates them from the playoffs. Next up for our Pirates is 2-1 Prux and a win there garuntees our team a playoff birth. Back to you Mike!"

"Thanks Michelle. In other Group C action, as was mentioned earlier, Prux lost to Mallatarsland 7-6 in 10. In other game of the day, Quakmybush defeated German zerabithea 7-5. Remember to tune in tomorrow as the Pirates play Prux and then watch the Group C rundown report later in the day for all of Group C action. Thanks for tuning in and Go Pirates."

"And we're live in Fromburg."

"Top of the 8th here, 5-4 Delehan."

"Konrad Rubin to lead it off for the Zebras, one of the few forces keeping the Worms in contention."

"But ¬thar's sezun going on."

"You're right: without anywhere to post the results, the league's gone on hiatus. Anyhow, Gaagii Fush to Rubin, winds and delivers...ball, high..."
Several plays occur. The ellipses preceding and following this segue are meant to denote time elapsing, but it was decided that there are too many ellipses denoting a comment vaguely trailing off into the distance to be clear what these mean.
"...Zwangzug taks the led with that hit from Barry."

"Which brings up...Aaron Mombota, one of the few forces keeping the Worms in contention."

"U just sed that."

"So I did. There aren't very many good players in Spenson...which makes me wonder why two of them are in the starting lineup..."

"With onle 2 Bassabook players in the hol tem."

"It's probably the intangibles-the Worms have a lot of standouts, but can't bond as a team."

"(That wuz tru)->(na10l tems wud suk)."

"...Whatever...anyhow, the pitch from Dyba, Mombota chases it, contact. This one's back, way back-outta here! 388 feet out to left-center field!"

"Lik I sed. Intangibles r miths."

QSPN Baseball Today

After 3 games, the approximate half-way point of the opening round has been concluded, and we take a look back on the 5 best games of the tourney, so far:

#5- MD1 Milchama 8- Liverpool England 7 (11 Innings)

Two top ranked teams battled tooth-and-nail for 9 innings and in the end it wasn't enough as they had to play 2 extra innings until Milchama won it in the 11th.

#4- MD 2 Dragonicale 6- Miquelon and Roberto 4 (10 innings)

Two newcomers, and a pitching classic for 7 innings, as each team scores all of its runs in the 8th and 9th, and Dragonicale wins on a walk off.

#3- MD3 Green wombat 2- Yafor 2 3

A pitching duel that lasts until the final out in the 9th. Yafor 2 wins on a balk in the 8th inning.

#2- MD3 Tazford 4- Lovisa 5 (12 innings)

The longest game, so far of the tourney, as both teams pitching carry the day until the 12th.

#1- MD1 Corneliu 12- Quakmybush 11 (10 Innings)

Both teams pitching was in trouble early, as each team scored 8 runs by the 5th, but Corneliu managed to scrape with win out on a 2-out sinle in the 10th, in the highest scoring game so far.

WORST GAME: MD3 Naboombu Umbongo 0- Liverpool England 9

Naboombu Umbongo just got obliterated, and LE was gracious enough not to score 20 on them.

Mid-Pool Play predictions: (predicted record then current record)

Group A
Milchama 4-0 (2-0)
Liverpool England 3-1 (1-1)
Lovisa 2-2 (2-1)
Tazford 1-3 (1-1)
Naboombu Umbongo 0-4 (0-3)

Group B
Zwangzug 4-0 (3-0)
Az-cz 3-1 (1-1)
Yafor 2 2-2 (1-1)
Green wombat 1-3 (1-2)
Delehan 0-4 (0-2)

Group C
Corneliu 5-0 (3-0)
Quakmybush 4-1 (2-1)
Mallatarsland 3-2 (2-1)
Prux 2-3 (2-1)
German zerabithea 1-4 (0-3)
Cripistan 0-5 (0-3)

Group D
Kura-Pelland 4-1 (2-1)
taeshan 4-1 (3-0)
McPsychoville 2-3 (2-1)
Qazox 3-2 (1-2)
Dragonicale 1-4 (1-2)
Miquelon & Roberto 1-4 (0-3)

(OOC: After tonight's games are done, I'll put up qualifing senarios for each team, that hasn't been eliminated)

Opportunity Lost: Tazford Strands 3 in the 12th to Lose
Slips to 1-1, prospects dim
by Les Rose

No one was speaking in the Tabby Cats locker room after three men were stranded with no one out, giving Lovisa the chance to win against a tired Dan Plain. The usually unflappable closer was in his third inning of work when he gave up the winning run, allowing a single over second baseman Johnny Laser's head that came through just out of Plain's reach.

The first few innings were eventful, with a lead change every other inning, but starter Jeremy Typton just couldn't hold the leads given to him. He gave way to a series of lefty-rightie switches until Rob Quirk held down the fort in the 8th and 9th innings. The game remained tied until the 12th, however, when it was clear an angry Plain was out of gas and the manager oddly opted not to warm anyone up.

"I got no comment," said Plain after the game. "He's the boss. Go ask him." Reporters tried, but were unsuccessful, as the manager had slipped out, not even staying for post-game handshakes.

All might not have been lost, however, had Tazford managed anything with their great set up. Laser was hit by a pitch, then stole second. Lionel Jones, playing in right after a late-inning switch was walked, and then catcher Peter King hit a smoked liner that should have scored the tying run, but Lovisa's shortshop knocked it down to leave the bases loaded.

Babe Young struck out looking. Up came pinch hitter Howie Thomas, who promptly fouled to the catcher. It was up to leadoff hitter George Groat. Known as a good slap hitter, the outfield played in. Groat fouled off about five pitches, took a ball, fouled off another pitch. He then got just a piece of a high fastball for what in normal circumstances would have been a bloop hit. But the defense was ready, and he flied meekly to left to end it.

Tazford's road gets harder from here, with an early exit predicted.

McPsychoville 2-3 (2-1)

[OK, hang on a second I'm confused. Last time I checked we were 2-1, where did the 2-3 come from?]

[OK, hang on a second I'm confused. Last time I checked we were 2-1, where did the 2-3 come from?]

OOC: Its a prediction. Notice in paranthesis that your 2-1 record is in? That is your current record:

Mid-Pool Play predictions: (predicted record then current record)

As you can see from the above statement, the predicted record comes first (that is the 2-3 record) followed by the current record (which is in paranthasis and is at 2-1):

McPsychoville 2-3 (2-1)

Hope this helps :)

[My bad, wasn't looking.]

RP DAY 4 CUTOFF:

Scores, Standings, and Playoff Senarios to follow shortly.

MD FOUR SCORES and Standings (winners in Bold) "Home" team is listed 1st

GROUP A @ National Stadium
Milchama 2- Tazford 1
Liverpool England 7- Lovisa 2
BYE: Naboombu Umbongo

GROUP B @ Pheonix Stadium
Az-cz 9- Delehan 3
Yafor 2 10- Zwangzug 8
BYE: Green wombat

GROUP C @ Pheonix Stadium
Corneliu 9- Prux 5
Quakmybush 4- Mallatarsland 5 (11 innings)
German zerabithea 3- Cripistan 4 (10 innings)

GROUP D @ National Stadium
Qazox 8- Dragonicale 4
taeshan 9- Kura-Pelland 7
Miquelon and Roberto 1- McPsychoville 2

STANDINGS (teams that are eliminated are in Red, Teams in Blue have clinched a Quarterfinal berth.

GROUP A W-L .Pct RS RA RD
Milchama 3-0 1.00 16 11 +5
Liverpool England 2-1 .667 23 10 +13
Lovisa 2-2 .500 16 18 -2
Tazford 1-2 .333 12 12 --
Naboombu Umbongo 0-3 .000 6 22 -16

GROUP B W-L .Pct RS RA RD
Zwangzug 3-1 .750 33 21 +12
Az-cz 2-1 .667 22 16 +6
Yafor 2 2-1 .667 16 17 -1
Green wombat 1-2 .333 9 14 -5
Delehan 0-3 .000 11 23 -12

GROUP C W-L .Pct RS RA RD
Corneliu 4-0 1.00 43 23 +20
Mallatarsland 3-1 .750 24 26 -2
Quakmybush 2-2 .750 32 26 +6
Prux 2-2 .500 23 24 -1
Cripistan 1-3 .250 14 29 -15
German zerabithea 0-4 .000 15 23 -8

GROUP D W-L .Pct RS RA RD
taeshan 4-0 1.00 32 22 +10
McPsychoville 3-1 .750 18 16 +2
Kura-Pelland 2-2 .500 26 25 +1
Qazox 2-2 .500 28 25 +3
Dragonicale 1-3 .250 16 22 -6
Miquelon & Roberto 0-4 .000 14 24 -10


PLAYOFF SCENARIOS:
GROUP A:
Milchama: has clinched Quarterfinal berth. Can clinch group with a win or a Liverpool England loss.
Liverpool England: Clinches Quarterfinal berth with a win or a loss to Tazford by less than 7 runs.
Tazford: Clinches Quarterfinal berth with a win by 7 or more runs over Liverpool England.
Lovisa and Naboombu Umbongo are eliminated.

GROUP B:
Zwangzug: Clinches group with losses by both Az-cz and Yafor 2 or a Yafor 2 loss. Clinches quarterfinal berth with a loss by either Az-cz or Yafor 2, or if Yafor 2 wins tie-breaker over Az-cz, or if Az-cz, Yafor 2 and Green wombat all finish with 2-2 records (this last scenario would also clinch the Group title). Can only be eliminated if Yafor 2 wins by more than 13 runs and Az-cz wins by more than 7 runs.
Az-cz: Clinches group with a win over Green wombat by more than 7 runs and a Yafor 2 loss or Yafor 2 win by fewer than 15 runs. Clinches quarterfinal berth with a win over Green wombat and a Yafor 2 loss or if Yafor 2 loses and Az-cz loses by fewer than 6 runs. Can also clinch quarterfinal berth if they win a 3-way tie breaker with Yafor 2 and Green wombat.
Yafor 2:Clinches group and quarterfinal berth with a win and a Az-cz loss to Green wombat. Can clinch quarterfinal berth, if they win 3-way tiebreaker over Az-cz and Green wombat.
Green wombat: clinches Quarterfinal berth with a win over Az-cz by more than 6 runs and a Yafor 2 loss.
Delehan is eliminated.

GROUP C:
Corneliu: Has Clinched quarterfinal berth and Group (due to H2H win over Mallatarsland).
Mallatarsland: Has clinched quarterfinal berth. (due to H2H wins over Quakmybush and Prux)
All other teams have been eliminated.

GROUP D:
taeshan: Has clinched Quarterfinal berth and Group (due to H2H win over McPsychoville).
McPsychoville: Can clinch Quarterfinal berth with a win over Kura-Pelland.
Kura-Pelland: Clinches quarterfinal berth with a win over McPsychoville and a loss by Qazox.
Qazox: Clinches Quarterfinal berth with a win and a Kura-Pelland win over McPsychoville.
Dragonicale and Miquelon & Roberto are eliminated.

Please note if 3 teams are tied for a playoff spot, then the following tie-breakers will be used:

Run Differential
RA/9I
RS/9I

QSPN.com WBC Coverage

Pheonix stay alive with 8-4 win over Dragonicale.

David Johannsen hit 2 homeruns, in the 4th and 6th, knocking in 4 runs, leading the Pheonix to a huge win, keeping them alive for the quarterfinals. Adam Kingsley scatterd 8 hits in 7 1/3 innings, allowing 4 runs, but Quentin Haddaz came in and got the last 5 outs, preserving the win. The last game is against Miquelon and Roberto, and should be a win, but even then Qazox would need for Kura-Pelland to beat McPsychoville to advance.

TEAMS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Dragon 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 4 9 2
Qazox 2 0 0 5 0 1 0 0 x 8 15 0

Green wombat's hopes in the 5th WBC are still alive, despite Yafor 2 knocking of Zwangzug. IF, and that's a big if, the Sticks win by 6 or more runs against Az-cz, and Yafor 2 loses to Delehan, then improbably, Green wombat will make the Quarterfinals. But first things first, the 3-time champs await at National Stadium in Fromburg.

The POWER got outpowered and are eliminated from contention by Corneliu.

GAME FOUR SUMMARY:
Ace Spade only lasted 2/3's of an innign as Corneliu score 7 times in the bottom of the first, and cruised to a 9-5 win. The bullpen held the best WBC offense to only 2 runs over the next 7 1/3 innings, but the damage was done. The lone bright spot was back-to-back-to-back homeruns in the 8th by Baby Ruth, Clark Barr and Heath Barr, the first being a 3-run job.

The loss drops the POWER to 2-2, with only a match against Quakmybush left on the schedule. The game will determine 3rd place in the group and will take place in Pheonix Stadium once again.

GROUP D:
Corneliu: Has clinched Quarterfinal berth and Group (due to H2H win over McPsychoville.

Due you mean taeshan has clinched a Quarterfinal berth and Group for Group D? I'm in group C :D

A Press Release from the Tazford Delegation:

It seems rather odd to use runs scored as a tie-breaker in baseball. For instance, let's say Tazford is winning 9-6 in the ninth. If they're the home team, they don't get a bottom of the 9th to try and score 4 more runs to break the spread. In baseball, you either win or lose in nine innings. Both teams are not given an equal "time clock" on which to score runs.

That's why most baseball leagues across the world use head-to-head records instead, in which case beating the team they're tied with should be enough. If there is a tie in that regard, further head-to-head matchups are compared.

We realize this may seem self-interested but Tazford believes the purity of the game should not be tampered with to reflect other sports' use of runs to determine rankings.

Should this remain in place, Tazford forfeits the final game in protest of rules not in the spirit of the great game as the goal set is not a fair one for its players. We urge the other teams in the tournament to also question this determination of tie-breaking.

Thank you.

Where's the Bats? Tazford Falls Again, 2-1
Elimination All But Certain Under Odd Tie-Breaking Rules
By Les Rose

Ozzie Jones hit a homer to deep center in the top of the second inning, providing the only offense on the day for a Tazford team that hasn't been able to get much of anything going in the tournament. Managing only two other hits and a walk, the fine, 8 inning pitching effort of Lee Standish was wasted.

"We suck," said a player who wished to be anonymous.

Standish had twelve strikeouts on the day, giving up one run in the third off a triple and a sacrifice fly, then a solo homer in the bottom of the seventh.

"It wasn't his fault," a dejected George Groat noted. "You can't pitch much better than he did today without throwing a no-hitter. Given how we played, he might have still lost."

Tazford is not technically eliminated but due to the unusual tie-breaking rules for a baseball tournament, must not only win but win big in their final game. There is a report that the delegation has complained about the tie-breaking rules and is opting to forfeit the game instead.

Milchama 2- Tazford 1

It was a jolly good day at the park today for the purple knights of taeshan thay beat the young team from kura-pelland yet again and have advanced past the group stage with one games to go. The #4 ranked knights who had been unamously predicted by the sportswriters of taeshan to win group d have done it. The knights have went for and oh beating the hosts, miquelon and roberto, kura pelland, and mcsychoville. Today the knights strived to a win agaist kura-pelland a rival. Socki lewis hit two home runs on the game, both grand slams. Finnaly Zi zo scored the finnaly run on a zoey menigen double. All scorers for kura were mysteriously drugged and did not score again. The knights won 9-7. I pitty the dragoncale team who has to face the wrath of the purple knights in there last game of group play.

Due you mean taeshan has clinched a Quarterfinal berth and Group for Group D? I'm in group C :D

OOC: this is why you don't try to figure out scenarios at 12:30am.

OOC: this is why you don't try to figure out scenarios at 12:30am.

Its ok Qazox. I found it funny.

A Press Release from the Tazford Delegation:

It seems rather odd to use runs scored as a tie-breaker in baseball. For instance, let's say Tazford is winning 9-6 in the ninth. If they're the home team, they don't get a bottom of the 9th to try and score 4 more runs to break the spread. In baseball, you either win or lose in nine innings. Both teams are not given an equal "time clock" on which to score runs.

That's why most baseball leagues across the world use head-to-head records instead, in which case beating the team they're tied with should be enough. If there is a tie in that regard, further head-to-head matchups are compared.

We realize this may seem self-interested but Tazford believes the purity of the game should not be tampered with to reflect other sports' use of runs to determine rankings.

Should this remain in place, Tazford forfeits the final game in protest of rules not in the spirit of the great game as the goal set is not a fair one for its players. We urge the other teams in the tournament to also question this determination of tie-breaking.

Thank you.


Tazford the only reason why you need to win by that many runs is IF you win, Liverpool England, Lovisa and Tazford will all have indentical 2-2 records. The H2H tiebreaker wouldn't work to break the tie as all three teams lost to Milchama, and all three beat Naboombu Umbongo, maning that all three teams went 1-1 vs. each other. So the next tiebreaker is Run differential. Since you are currently 13 runs "behind" LE, you MUST win by 7 or more to have a better differential. (IE Tazford wins 7-0. LE's Differential will then be +6, and Tazford's will be +7, and then Tazford qualifies.) Lovisa is eliminated due to the fact they CANNOT finish ahead of LE or Tazford in Differential no matter if Tazford wins.

I hope that this cleared it up for you.

OOC: Hooray for having this start over the weekend while I was gone. :(

The Az-cz Robbers faced a very important third game of the tournament against Delehan. While a loss wouldn't see them eliminated it would be very damaging to their chances to advance to the next round and to their reputation. So they were very excited about the game and hoping that their play would be enough to get by and that they'd get good fan support to do so.
However when they game out of the locker room for the national anthems they were stunned by what they saw in the crowds. There was not a single bit of Pink & Green to be found anywhere in the stadium. For a nation as famous for it's fan support as Az-cz this was a stunning turn of events. The Gnomes fan sections hadn't been sold out but there had been a decent fan sections for the first two games. The lack of fans was really disappointing to the young squad and they came out very poorly, seemingly due to it.
Suzil-Pie came out and didn't pitch remotely well. She gave up a walk, and a hit before getting one out, but on her second pitch to the cleanup hitter she gave up a three run homerun that put the Gnomes in a big hole.
And on the other side of the coin the offense was absolutely pathetic the first time through the rotation. It took a mere 26 pitches to get through the rotation, less than 3 pitches a batter. They were swinging aggresively and driving it right to defensive players, mostly in the infield.
Thankfully Suzil-Pie calmed down and at least held the the Delehan offense in check giving up hits here and there but just a single walk and more importantly no runs in her remaining five and 2/3 innings of work allowing the Gnomes to stay close despite just two hits through seven innings.
Finally when it seemed like it might be too late one single fan showed up in the crowds and lifted a pink & green banner high in the sky. This lifted the spirit of the Az-cz batters who drove in 9 runs in the 8th inning to steal a game they should have lost.
While the team is glad to have won they are quite confused as why most of the fans who had tickets failed to show up for the third match. That's something to keep an eye on as the team progresses forwards.

(OOC: I respect Qazox' right, as host, to determine tiebreaker scenarios, and wouldn't suggest changing anything that's already been established. However, for the future, I would discourage the use of run differential as a tiebreaker: it doesn't seem like a very baseball-ish thing. :p

Remaining OOC, Tazford's objection is indeed an important issue, but the formula in use (post 31 in this thread) makes no provisions for extra innings, so run differential would actually be a fair tiebreaker.)

"Wow"

"Yeh, finally a pitcher didn't suck"

"Too bad our we couldn't hit a softball today"

"Pretty much"

"2 runs, what the hell is that?"

"Yeh, we need to score more, we have one of the worst run differentials of the winning teams in the tournament"

"But we are 3-0 and qualified for the quarterfinals"

"Thanks heavens for that or else we'd be royally fucked because there is no way we could have done any better otherwise"

"Yep, but man did Henry Remteyn play brilliantly today"

"Yeh, 8 innings 3 hits, his only problem was that bloody homer in the 2nd inning"

"Man did he make it look bad though, it seemed like every inning they were going to score, though they weren't even close"

"I think it more had to do with the 3-2 counts he seemingly kept on facing or maybe the announcers seemed overly negative"

"Whatever, the offense still sucked, being struck out 12 times that is a disgrace."

"Dude that pitcher is incredible, Lee Standish, I bet there are 5 MBL teams trying to sign him right now"

"That would be a great deal, bet you the Dodgers will be the first"

"Nah probably the Hornets"

"Yeh they need pitching badly"

"You bet"

"Anywhoo it's been a good tournament so far, I'm only hoping it can continue in this fashion"

"Same"

Arlington Moon-Tribune
Firebuggy fireworks

Pheonix [sic] Stadium, Qazox. One of two stadiums hosting the World Baseball Classic. The only stadium in which the "designated hitter"-a concept used to forcibly introduce offense into the game, like it or not-was in play.

The opponents? Yafor 2 and Zwangzug, teams that have more in common than initials at the end of the alphabet. Both rosters extol all-out defense. Both came in undefeated. It was set to be a pitcher's duel, with the brilliant Darius Hadagamerion opposing Alexei Shiomi.

And, oh yes, the wind was blowing out.

Neither starter lasted past the fourth inning, by which time the score was 5-3 Zwangzug. Shiomi was removed after a wild pitch to Daaklen Kirjai allowed Tyrius Valderrana to score, having been erratic and tiring early. Although Zwangzug pitchers often adapt to pitching several innings in various parts of games, the move from middle relief to starter may have thrown Shiomi off (perhaps that's why Spenson can't win). Hadagamerion, for his part, was injured on a sharp single by Konrad Rubin, but not badly enough to preclude him from starting in the playoffs should the Firebugs advance. (See below.)

And so it went. Arrin Jarridan had a home run and a double; Klaus Rifkin a pair of two-baggers; and with the score tied at eight in the ninth, Rabyn Zaranez smoked a sharp single to score Valderrana in what turned out to be the game-winning run. The Yaforite tenth was scored when Nan Judaron drove in Zaranez. Gregan Xiarin and Larry Chicago were the pitchers of record.

The Zebras have their bye day next. In keeping with the spirit of it (whatever it is) not being over until it is over, their group's qualification scenarios are the most verbose. Simply put (if the Qazoxian statisticians are to be trusted), Zwangzug will qualify unless Az-cz and Yafor 2 both win by many runs, due to "run differential" being used as a tiebreaker. Whatever the scenario, a strong team will be left on the outside.

CORNELIU SPORTS NETWORK

"Welcome back to Qazox ladies and gentlemen. I am Michael Jones along with Michelle Jenkins bringing you all the action from Group C which includes our beloved Pirates. Let us get to the highlights. Michelle?"

"Thank you Mike. Today has been a glorious day for the Corneliu Pirates as the offense once again powers the team to a 9-5 victory. In the first inning, it was all Pirates. After shutting down the power with a 1-2-3 inning, it was the offense's turn and it was a bang. Clean up man Jason Sheridan pounded a 500 foot shot over the right-center field wall for a grand slam. Later in the inning, Thomas Robertson hit a two run double to make it 6-0 and then was brought home on a 2 out single by George MacFarlan.

"Over the course of the next 7 innings, the offense was pretty much quiet though there were many instances for both teams to score, and in the case of the Pirates, to cause more damage with the bases loaded and 1 out in the 5th but the next two hitters struck out to end the threat.

"The 8th inning, the Power broke through the scoreboard with a 3 run shot by Baby Ruth. This was followed up by two solo shots by Clark Barr and Heath Barr. After Heath Barr crossed homeplate, Coach Williams pulled Daniel Walker in favor of ace closer Bill Lincoln who got the final two outs of the inning. In the Bottom of the inning, two of the five runs were answered when Brian Smith blasted a two out, two run double into the left field gap. This mad the score 9-5 at the end of 8 and that turns out to be the final.

"When the final out was recorded by a 4-6-3 double play, the players rushed out onto the field in celebration because the victory not only clinched them a playoff birth but also the Group C title. Mike?"

"Thanks Michelle. In other action around the group today, Quakmybush lost to Mallatarsland 5-4 in 11 innings and Cripstan finally won a game as they send German zerabithea to another defeat with a 4-3 victory in 10 innings.

"There is one game left to play and we'll have it right here live. Until then, have a good night."

MD FIVE CUTOFF (Scores, Group and Overall Standings and Quarterfinal match-ups to be posted post-haste.)

MD FIVE SCORES and Standings (winners in Bold) "Home" team is listed 1st

GROUP A @ Pheonix Stadium
Milchama 8- Naboombu Umbongo 2
*Liverpool England 9- Tazford 0
BYE: Lovisa
*- This game was forfeited by Tazford, but the paperwork didn't clear until after the match. The result will be OFFICALLY recorded as a 9-0 LE win, but the stats from the game, will reflect the 10-8 LE win.


GROUP B @ National Stadium
Green wombat 5- Az-cz 8
Delehan 2- Yafor 2 5
BYE: Zwangzug

GROUP C @ Pheonix Stadium
Corneliu 6- German zerabithea 5 (10 innings)
Quakmybush 6- Prux 8
Mallatarsland 9- Cripistan 1

GROUP D @ National Stadium
Miquelon and Roberto 4- Qazox 9
Dragonicale 4- taeshan 5 (10 innings)
McPsychoville 10- Kura-Pelland 9 (14 innings)

STANDINGS (Teams in Blue have clinched a Quarterfinal berth.)

GROUP A W-L .Pct RS RA RD
Milchama 4-0 1.00 24 13 +11
Liverpool England 3-1 .750 33 18 +15
Lovisa 2-2 .500 16 18 -2
Tazford 1-3 .250 20 22 -2
Naboombu Umbongo 0-4 .000 8 30 -22


GROUP B W-L .Pct RS RA RD
Zwangzug 3-1 .750 33 21 +12
Az-cz 3-1 .750 30 21 +9
*Yafor 2 3-1 .750 21 19 +2
Green wombat 1-3 .250 14 22 -8
Delehan 0-4 .000 13 28 -15
*Yafor 2 is eliminated due to Run Differential
Zwangzug wins Group on H2H win over Az-cz.

**GROUP C W-L .Pct RS RA RD
Corneliu 5-0 1.00 49 28 +21
Mallatarsland 4-1 .800 33 27 +6
Prux 3-2 .600 31 30 +1
Quakmybush 2-3 .400 38 34 +4
Cripistan 1-4 .200 15 38 -23
German zerabithea 0-5 .000 20 29 -9


***GROUP D W-L .Pct RS RA RD
taeshan 5-0 1.00 37 26 +11
McPsychoville 4-1 .800 28 25 +3
Qazox 3-2 .600 37 29 +8
Kura-Pelland 2-3 .400 35 35 --
Dragonicale 1-4 .200 20 27 -7
Miquelon & Roberto 0-5 .000 18 33 -15

**For playoff seeding purposes, Corneliu's record is 4-0, with a RD of +20 (43/23)
For playoff seeding purposes, Mallatarsland's record is 3-1 with a RD of +5 (28/23)
***For playoff seeding purposes, taeshan's record is 4-0, with a RD of +7 (29/22)
For playoff seeding purposes, McPsychoville's record is 3-1, with a RD of +2 (26/24)

PLAYOFF Matchups:
@ National Stadium
#1 Seed- Corneliu (5-0)
#8 Seed- McPsychoville (4-1)

#3 Seed- Taeshan (5-0)
#6 Seed- Az-cz (3-1)

@ Pheonix Stadium
#4 Seed- Zwangzug (3-1)
#5 Seed- Liverpool England (3-1)

#2 Seed- Milchama (4-0)
#7 Seed- Mallatarsland (4-1)

FINAL OVERALL STANDINGS (these standings do not include Group Tiebreakers) BLUE colored is BEST, RED colored is Worst. teams in BOLD are Quarterfinalists.


W-L .Pct RS/9I RA/9I RD
Corneliu 5-0 1.00 9.38 5.36 +21
taeshan 5-0 1.00 7.24 5.09 +11
Milchama 4-0 1.00 5.68 3.08 +11
Mallatarsland 4-1 .800 6.19 5.06 +6
McPsychoville 4-1 .800 4.94 4.41 +3
Liverpool England 3-1 .500 7.82 4.26 +15
Zwangzug 3-1 .750 8.25 5.25 +12
Az-cz 3-1 .750 7.50 5.25 +9
Yafor 2 3-1 .750 5.25 4.75 +2
Qazox 3-2 .600 7.24 5.67 +8
Prux 3-2 .600 5.81 5.63 +1
Lovisa 2-2 .500 3.69 4.15 -2
Quakmybush 2-3 .400 7.12 6.37 +4
Kura-Pelland 2-3 .400 6.30 6.30 --
Tazford 1-3 .250 4.50 4.95 -2
Green wombat 1-3 .250 3.50 5.50 -8
Dragonicale 1-4 .200 3.83 5.17 -7
Cripistan 1-4 .200 2.81 7.12 -23
Delehan 0-4 .000 3.25 7.00 -15
Naboombu Umbongo 0-4 .000 1.95 7.30 -22
German zerabithea 0-5 .000 3.83 5.55 -9
Miquelon & Roberto 0-5 .000 3.52 6.46 -15


AWARDS:
GOLDEN SPOON- Best Record (tie): Corneliu and taeshan (5-0)
SILVER SLUGGER- Most RS/9I: Corneliu (9.38)
CY YOUNG AWARD- Best RA/9I: Milchama (3.08)

WOODEN SPOON- Worst Record: (tie) German zerabithea &
Miquelon and Roberto (0-5)
TIN SLUGGER- Worst RS/9I: Naboombu Umbongo (1.95)
DIE OLD AWARD- Worst RA/9I: Naboombu Umbongo (7.30)

Comparisions of the 5 WBC's (BOLD is WBC RECORD)

GOLDEN SPOON(S) (Best Record): (Pool Play only)
WBC1: Az-cz (5-1)
WBC2: *Az-cz, Zwangzug and Kampfers (8-0)
WBC3: Qazox and Ambrose-Douglas (5-0)
WBC4: Milchama (7-2)
WBC5: Corneliu and taeshan (5-0) **
*Note: Az-cz finished 17-0, the only team to be unbeaten in a WBC to date.
**Note: Milchama went (4-0)

WOODEN SPOON(S) (worst record): (Pool Play Only)
WBC1: Iansisle, Braveria, Lovisa, Poltical Cartoons, Cookesland, and Okielahoma (2-4)
WBC2: Angry Chimpanzees and Scotchpinestan (0-8)
WBC3: Vanek Drury Brieres (0-5)
WBC4: New New Nebraska (1-8)
WBC5: German zerabithea & Miquelon and Roberto (0-5)***
***Note: Delehan and Naboombu Umbongo went (0-4)

CY YOUNG AWARDS (Best RA/9I)
WBC1: Assegai Developments (2.29)
WBC2: Ianisle (2.22)
WBC3: Ambrose-Douglas (1.17)
WBC4: Quakmybush (4.12)
WBC5: Milchama (3.08)

DIE OLD AWARDS (Worst RA/9I)
WBC1: Political Cartoons (5.83)
WBC2: Vephrall (7.83)
WBC3: Grotewohl (3.83)
WBC4: New New Nebraska (8.24)
WBC5: Naboombu Umbongo (7.30)

SILVER SLUGGER (Best RS/9I)
WBC1: West Pasco (4.71) (was known as GOLDEN SPIKES)
WBC2: Az-cz (10.37)
WBC3: Milchama (5.48)
WBC4: Quakmybush (6.72)
WBC5: Corneliu (9.38)

TIN SLUGGER (Worst RS/9I)
WBC1: Lovisa (2.55) (was known as WOODEN SPIKES)
WBC2: Demot (0.78)
WBC3: Grotewohl (1.15)
WBC4: New New Nebraska (2.49)
WBC5: Naboombu Umbongo (1.95)

Quakmybush is the only team to have won a Sliver Slugger and a Cy Young in same WBC.

No team has won the "Triple Crown" in pool play (Best Record, Best RA/9I and Best RS/9I)

Naboombu Umbongo, New New Nebraska and Grotewohl have all won the Tin Slugger and Die Old awards in same WBC, but only New New Nebraska has won the "triple crown" of finishing last in all 3 catergories.

The Sticks were eliminated before they even played, as Yafor 2 beat Delehan 5-2 in the 1st game of the day. After the thrilling taeshan-Dragonicale game, the 3rd game at National Stadium saw the Sticks taking on Az-cz, who needed to win to advance. For an inning at least, Green wombat had a 3-0lead, but Az-cz broke it open in the 2nd chasing starter Chester Bacote. Az-cz held on to win 8-5, sending the Sticks home early. Overall the Sticks finished 16th of 22 teams. With somemore baseball experience, Green wombat could do well, but it reamins to be seen if they even qualify next time.

AZ-CZ Scoring:
Second inning: 7 runs, 9 hits, 4 doubles, 1 triple, 1 Homerun, 1 BB, 3 LOB
Fifth inning: 1 run, 1 hits, 1 Homerun, 0 LOB

Green wombat scoring:
First inning:
Franklin Hubbs: singled to left.
Ramon Sikora: singled to right, Hubbs to third.
Tyler Spicher: Struck out
Ramon Dias: doubled to left-center, (Hubbs and Sikora SCORED)
Cecil Krall: walked
Duane Willman: singled to center, Dias to third, Krall to second.
Nathaniel Hayek: Singled to left, (Dias SCORED), Krall to third, Willman to second.
Raul Oestreich: grounded into 4-6-3 double play.

Fifth inning:
Cecil Krall: Singled to center.
Duane Willman: HOMERUN to LEFT (345ft), (Krall and Willman SCORED)
PITCHING CHANGE
Nathaniel Hayek: grounded out (5-3).
Raul Oestreich: Struck out
Leslie Goldie: flied out to center.


Pitching stats (Green wombat only)
Chester Bacote (0-1): 1.1 IP, 8 Hits, 6 Runs allowed, 1 BB, 7 ER, 0 K, 1 HR
Brad Marcin: 1.2 IP, 3 hits, 1 run allowed, 1 BB, 0 ER, 2 K
Elmer McGarrick: 4.0 IP, 5 hits, 1 run allowed, 1 ER, 5 K, 1 HR
Brent Chadbourne: 2.0 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs allowed, 0 ER, 2 K

The POWER finish with a 3-2 record, beating Quakmybush 8-6.

GAME FIVE SUMMARY:
Lead by Mike N. Ike's 5-5 game, the POWER jumped out to a 7-2 lead after 7 innings, but the bullpen almost choked in the 8th allowing 4 runs to cross, before Ace Hart stopped the momentum. A solo Homerun to right, measured at 415 ft by Jack O' Lantern, pinch-hitting for O. H. Henry, gave to final margin. Ike just missed a Cycle, as he hit 2 doubles, a triple and 2 singles. One of his doubles just missed being a homerun by 2 feet.

QSPN.com WBC Coverage

Pheonix hopes dashed thanks to Kura-Pelland.

Reggie Brady had a perfect game through 4 1/3 innings and a no-hitter through 6 1/3 innings until M&R hit a homerun which ended Brady's day. Qazox had a 8-1 lead by then and despite a shaky 8th, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits, Kevin de Jesus managed to pick up the save. But despite Qazox's win in the 4th of 5 games at National Stadium, the final game of the day saw McPsychoville beat Kura-Pelland 10-9 in 14 innings, eliminating the Hosts.

Ever since they made the finals of WBC 3, the Pheonix have not advanced to the quarters, and rumor is that many changes are overdue and at WBC 6 we'll see if the changes will work.


TEAMS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Qazox 3 1 0 0 0 4 0 0 1 9 22 0
M & R 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 4 7 0

CORNELIU SPORTS NETWORK

"Welcome back to Qazox my friends as we break down the last day of regular season play. I am Michael Jones along with Michelle Jenkins. So let us begin by looking at the game between our beloved Pirates and German zerabithea. It was a nail biter the entire game but in the end, our Pirates defeated zerabithea 6-5 in 10 innings. Michelle, tell us about the game."

"Thanks Mike. As our viewers saw, our Pirates had to go to extras to settle a perfect 5-0 season. In the first inning though, it was all zerabithea as they pummeled the pitcher for 3 runs, one of them a solo shot to right field. In the bottom half of the inning, the Pirates managed to get something going early but Travis Clark hit into an inning ending 5-4-3 double play and could not get a run across. In the second inning though, it was different. Zerabithea went down 1-2-3 and the Pirates hit a two run homerun off the bat of Kevin Peterson to make it 3-2 at the end of two.

"Both teams went scoreless in the 3rd and fourth innings and in the fifth, it was all Pirates. In the bottom half, Brian Smith delivered a 532 foot shot over the Right center field wall to start it off. This was followed by a double off the bat of Kevin Peterson who was brought home on a 2 out 2 run homerun by Thomas Robertson. This made the score 5-3 at the end of 5.

"In the Sixth inning, Adam Carson gave up another solo shot that made it 5-4. Shortly after that, he hit the next batter and the umpire warned both benches. This brought about a quick pitching change as Charles Anderson entered the game to close out the inning and did so with help from the infield.

"In the seventh, Jason Sheridan hit a 1 out Triple down the line but he could not be brought home as the next two batters struck out. In the eighth, things turned sour for the Pirates. With 1 out and a runner on first and third, zerabithea hit a slow roller back to the mound. Anderson scoped it up and fired it to MacFarlan for the first out who threw a perfect strike to Smith for two but the runner barely beat the throw thus allowing the game to be tied. Smith argued hard that he caught it before the runner got there but the ump disagreed and Smith was ultimately tossed from the game. He would be replaced by Nathan Walker but the damage was already done as the score was tied at 5 all.

"In the ninth, neither side could get a runner to second base and the game moved into extra innings. To start the 10th, closer Bill Lincoln came into the game to shut down zerabithea and did so with the help of a 1-4-3 double play and then a strike out. In the bottom half of the tenth, Steven Keller hit it squarely into left field for a single and on the very next pitch, stole second base to put them in scoring position to win the game. In a bold move though, the manager pulls Keller and inserts Michael Flint as a pitch runner. On a 2-1 count, Flint takes off for third base as Kevin Peterson takes a whack and smashes it into right field. As Flint rounded third, the zerabithean fielder throws it to the plate but the throw was not in time as Flint slid safely into home to score the winning run. When the umpire called him safe, the Pirates jumped onto the field to celebrate a perfect season.

This is what we have been working towards all year. We wanted to start this tournament off strong and that is what we did and now we just capped the regular season with a 6-5 victory for a perfect record. All of this was made possible by the hard working members of this team. They are all good ball players and we are hoping to take this momentum into the playoffs and hopefully to our first ever international title.

"That was Coach Williams after the victory. With this victory, they have qualified as the number 1 seed and will be playing the 8th seeded team McPsychoville at National Stadium. Mike?"

"Thanks for that wonderful run down of the highlights Michelle. In other group C action today, Prux defeated Quakmybush 8-6 and 2nd place Mallatarsland defeated Cripstan 9-1. Good luck to Mallatarsland in the playoffs as they will be playing the defending champions and 2nd seed Milchama at Pheonix Stadium. With the playoffs next, you will be able to catch both games in the bracket that the Pirates are in right here on the Corneliuan Sports Network. Thanks for tuning in and GO PIRATES!"

QSPN.com WBC Coverage

Despite the Hosts flaming out in the opening rounds, once again, the Quarterfinals are all sold-out and few tickets remain for the Semifinals and the 3rd Place match. 15,000 Tickets for the Finals will not be sold until after the Quarterfinals are completed. 30,000 of the other 43,145 tickets have already been sold, and the remaining tickets will be available to the finalists after the semifinals are completed.

Now for our 50% chance Playoff Predictions:

#1 Corneliu (5-0) vs #8 McPsychoville (4-1)- McPsychoville in its debut, becomes (not including WBC 1) the 5th team to make the 2nd round in its debut, with wins over Qazox and Kura-Pelland. Corneliu, winners of its 3rd straight Group in group play, looks to advance to the finals again, and to win this time. PREDICTION: Corneliu in 2

#3 Taeshan (5-0) vs #6 Az-cz (3-1)- The three time champs look to regain their title after WBC4's flameout against Vephrall. They will take on Taeshan, the third place finishers from WBC4, who look to get to the finals for the 1st time. PREDICTION: Taeshan in 3

#4 Zwangzug (3-1) vs #5 Liverpool England (3-1)- Zwangzug, making its first quarterfinal appearance since WBC2, looks to re-assert themselves as one of the best teams in the world. LE looks to do better than WBC4's quarterfinal appearance, a loss to eventual champs Milchama. PREDICTION: Liverpool England in 3

#2 Milchama (4-0) vs #7 Mallatarsland (4-1)- Mallatarsland after an impressive debut at WBC4, advances to the Quarterfinals for the first time, but they face the defending champs. Milchama, is seeking to join Az-cz as back-to-back champions, are the heavy favorite, but favorites don't always win in the WBC. PREDICTION: Milchama in 3

Taeshans favorite team the purple knights baseball Team faced of against Dragoncale last night. The undefeated knights were 100-1 favorites and they proved why coming back down 4-0 in the last inning. Dragoncale was so close to beating the knights, but yet again the knights proved there world ranking. Zoey menigen lead off with a triple. The next pitch to zi zo was high and ove the dragoncale catchers glove. Menigen scored easily. Then the pitcher walked Zo. Then walked Riane totalez and Backup catcher Yeckers fledericci. Finnaly in all out fashion Socki lewis the team leader at 16 hit the ball deep into phoenix stadium or qazox stadium wherever we were. Well anyways he scored a grand slam walk offer.
The next 3 games are derbies in which the knights will face old rivals from are first world baseball classic. The dreaded a-cz team who we beat in the first game and lost to in the second. The knights are predicted winners.

Mallatarsland Ladies under 17 Rounders Team Qualify for Quarterfinals

Well that is a big surprise for our readers, as the Ladies preparation for this event was not as good as it should have been. After they failed to get past the first round of their debut tournament, the Ladies seemed to lose heart and the fire had gone out of their game. It was a joy to see the way they came back and performed above expectations and we are hoping that their progress in the Tournament continues. However, we must be cautious as the Quarter Final match is against Milchama who are the favourites and expected to win quite easily.

Sometimes however, the underdog comes good.................

"Did you see Qasox disrespectin?"

"Yeh man why they hatin?"

"It's not our fault we can't play 5 games, you know we would have won them too"

"They just scared, they know we too good, we better than them"

"Fo' sho'"

"Yeh let's ditch that ghetto accent"

"Ah man that was so fun"

"True but it's annoying"

"Fine"

"Anyway wasn't today brilliant"

"Yeh, David with a complete game 7 hitter, 2 runs against and we scored 8 runs"

"Everything went perfect, we are more than ready to beat Mattarsland in the quarters"

"Yeh I really can't wait"

"You know we need to start following the footie now, the World Cup is about to start"

"Oh yeh man"

"Did you see Vephrall disrepectin us?"

"No what did they do?"

"They said that we are not what are KPB rank says we are, they say we are worse than it"

"Why? We have the worst generation of Milchamian youngsters ever coming up complete with a nation's increasing apathy toward football what could have given them that idea"

"No idea"

"So we have no idea why the hatin"

"Yep"

"Cool well then let's root for the Warriors in both sports"

"Sounds good"

OOC: Please adjust the scoring. Tazford did not change its protest stance to to play the game out implies that they did. Please change this for the record, thank you.

OOC: Please adjust the scoring. Tazford did not change its protest stance to to play the game out implies that they did. Please change this for the record, thank you.

OOC: either way you lost, but if that is how you want it, then ok with me.

IC: In a shocking turn of events, that affects nothing at all, the Tazford delegation, despite being forced to play its final match against Liverpool England, had its forfeiture of the game granted. Offically, the score fo the LE-Tazford match will be 9-0, however the WBC President, Myles Fuller, has ruled that all of the statistics of the game played will still be declared valid and in the record books.

OOC2: Since the forfeit isn't going to change the Group A standings or the playoff seedings, the results of the LE-Tazford match, as far as the RS/RA and RD will stand.

RP CUTOFF for Quarterfinals Game ONE, Results shortly

QUARTERFINALS
(home team is listed first)

Games at National Stadium
McPsychoville vs Corneliu
McPsychoville 4-2 McPsychoville leads series 1-0

Az-cz vs taeshan
taeshan 1-0 (11 innings) taeshan leads series 1-0

Games at Pheonix Stadium
Liverpool England vs Zwangzug
Liverpool England 4-3 Liverpool England leads series 1-0

Mallatarsland vs Milchama
Milchama 4-1 Milchama leads series 1-0

"...... and that's why I think they'll win the world cup."

"Interesting prediction Chuk-Chuk. Now me on to coverage of the World Baseball Classic in Qazox. Rut-Gt?"

"It was not a good day here in Qazox as the Gnomes lost a heartbreaker 1-0 in 11 innings. The bats just simply failed to produce leaving runners stranded in 9 different innings. And the continuing story of the missing fans continues to befuddle Az-czzers. Relatives of those who purchased tickets have began to file missing person reports and our demanding an explanation from the Qazox authorities as to how so many Az-czzers could turn up missing. The reports are now that people who already have tickets are furiously trying to scalp them to avoid whatever is causing the abductions amongst the Az-czzers."

"That's horrible Rut-Gt. Any word from the Az-cz authorities?"

"No, they definitely suspect foul play, but don't have any leads on who as of yet. The matter is being investigated, but for now no one knows."

"Well here's hoping those fans all turn and the Gnomes can come back in their series against Taeshan."

wow so this is what happens when i forget to check this form.

Taeshan needs one win tommorow and there in the semis. They played az-cz there Biggest rivals today and won 1-0. They didnt let a single run in as pitcher Zeke peters was firing on all cylinders. The knights would win on a last inning first pitch swinging home run by Zi zo. Go knights.

"After the long road back to the knockouts, Zwangzug loses its first quarterfinal game against Liverpool England. Game highlights are coming up after these messages."

"Thar ¬r mesajes."

"Oh. In that case, we'll have the highlights for you right now."

"Two on, two away."

"1 run alrede in her in the 3rd."

"The pitch from Hendrikson...strike! Got him looking, and that'll retire Liverpool England. The score one-nil in their favor, but things could have been a lot worse...

Konrad Rubin stepping up to the plate, hoping to make good."

"He struk out last tim up."

"The pitch comes in, Rubin chasing it but contact's made-he'll blast that to the opposite field and Li will come into score! 3-2 Zwangzug."

"Y do u us the fuchur 10s talking abowt the gam^. He alrede hit it..."

"...Score tied here: two on, no out.. Spirit winds and delivers, popped softly towards Thiesen. She settles under it, makes the grab, and fires back to first to get the out, but the runner from third comes in, so that'll make it 4-3 Liverpool England."

"How do you think the series will turn out?"

"I'm ¬guna mak a predik10, I mit be rong."

"Fine then. I'll say we take the next one, but Liverpool England win the third. Until then, stay tuned."

ok then who do i play now?

ok then who do i play now?

No one. YOu've been eliminated

IC: "We lost alwell. That's the way the game is played. We'll do better in the next game."

That was Coach Williams after their first loss to their playoff opponet.

RP CUTOFF for Quarterfinals Game Two, Results shortly

(OOC: yes i know the scores are up a bit earlier than normal.. can't be helped.)



QUARTERFINALS Game two
(home team is listed first)

Games at National Stadium
Corneliu vs McPsychoville
Corneliu 5-4 (10 innings) Series Tied 1-1

taeshan vs Az-cz
Az-cz 8-3 Series Tied 1-1

Games at Pheonix Stadium
Zwangzug vs Liverpool England
Zwangzug 5-4 (15 innings) Series Tied 1-1

Milchama vs Mallatarsland
Milchama 5-2 Milchama WINS series 2-0

CORNELIU SPORTS NETWORK

Welcome back to Qazox for the quarterfinals. Yesterday we did not bring much of an update because of technical difficulties as well as most of the staff getting sick but we are back on the air whole, hale, and hearty.

Yesterday, we witnessed a stunning upset as McPsychoville defeated the Pirates 4-2. That means that this game was a must win game for our beloved team and they stepped up to the challenge. Let us get to the highlights.

In the first inning, McPsychoville got off to an early lead when their second hitter pounded out a double that scored the runner from first. He was later brought in on a single to right to make the score 2-0. In the bottom half of the first inning, Thomas Robertson led off with an infield single that should have been an out but the first baseman's foot was off the bag. Some say it should have gone down as an error but the official score keeper called it a hit. Later in the inning with 2 outs and Roberston on 3rd, Jason Sheridan hits the ball to right-center that scored Robertson and he wound up on 2nd with a double. However, that's as far as he got because Travis Clark struckout on a 1-2 curveball in the dirt.

We move to the bottom of the fourth with the same score. Brian Smith led off the inning with a blast to deep center field. It looks like the center fielder has a beed on the ball but when he leaped to catch it, the ball caught the outer ribbing of his glove and stayed over the fench for a solo homerun to tie the game at 2. Later in the inning with two outs and Kevin Peterson on 2nd, Thomas Robertson hits a two out double to give the Pirates their first lead in the playoffs. It nearly was 4-2 but Robertson was tagged out at home when he tried to score on McFarlan's single to left field.

In the fifth, it turned ugly for Jacob Davidson. He gave up a single to the lead off man and then the very next hitter belted a 3-2 fastball over the left field fence for a 2 run homer that made the score 4-3. After he crossed home plate, Coach Williams replaced Davidson with Zack Robets who mowed down the rest of the hitters to keep the score 4-3.

We move now to the bottom of the seventh, David Jones led off the inning but grounded out to second base for the first out. Sheridan was up next and you can see he was determined to come through for the team and boy did he ever. On the second pitch to him, he crushes the ball over the right field wall to tie the game at 4. This prompted McPsychoville to change pitchers. With the change in pitchers, both Clark and Smith grounded out to Short and First respectively to retire the side.

With that we move to the eighth inning and neither side could get anything going. Both sides were retired with 1-2-3 innings and the story was little different in the ninth though both teams managed to get runners into scoring position but no one was able to score which forces extra innings.

In the 10th, McPsychoville managed to rough up Carl Erickson early with two quick singles that put runners on the corners with 1 out. This prompted Williams to do step out of the dougout and calls on Bill Lincoln to close out the inning. The first batter he faced he struck out on three pitches but the second hitter he had trouble with. On the 7 pitch of the at bat, the batter hits one to left field that looks like was heading for the gap but Travis Clark dives for the ball and makes a circus catch and rolls back up with the ball in his hand for the third out of the inning. This catch brought a roar from the crowd as it was one of the more spectacular catches in the tournament.

In the bottom half of the inning, Travis Clark, the hero last inning, took his place in the batters box. The first pitch he saw he hammered off the wall in left center for a stand up double. He was followed by Brian Smith. On a 2-1 count, Smith lifts the ball into left field that drops in front of the fielder. Clark rounds third heading for home as the left fielder fires it to the plate. Though the ball beat the runner, the catcher could not hang on to the ball as Clark plows into the catcher which forces the ball out of the glove as Clark's left foot steps on home plate. When the umpire ruled him safe at home, the team went nuts as they stormed the field.

They will have to play one more game and you can watch it all right here. Thanks for joining us.

So, we are out then?

Yep, out, but not down.

So does this mean we don't get the free lager any more. You know, from the sponsors?

I guess so.

Damn.

But, there is some good news.

Whats that?

I liberated 20 crates before they came and took it all back.

You did?

Yup. But don't tell the girls, if they get a sniff of it, we won't get any.

Ok, we'll drink it while they lose their 3rd game.

Roll on Baseball Classic 6.

Yeah, do you think we could get Heineken as a sponsor. Heh Heh!!!

It was a bad day today in qazox for taeshans mighty purple knights baseball team. There bitter foes the az-cz ers beat em up. But there was one bright spot as socki lewis hit all three of the teams hits over the wall for three homers. The series is tied 1-1 after 2 games.

The game had started early. Maybe that was a sign. Maybe fate, in one of its ironic twists, didn't want to interfere with the Milchama vs. Mallatarsland game, and needed to prolong its predecessor instead.

Or maybe Zwangzug and Liverpool England were just very, very evenly matched.

Regardless, the bottom of the fifteenth rolled around, and Pundit #1 switched off his mike. "Wake up. Zwangzug's up."

They had established the pattern in the middle of the eleventh. "...Alrede^."

"Yeah, Utopia was perfect."

"Utopia's in? Wen did we tak the-w8-we ¬can hav the led, we'r the hom tem."

"Reynolds is out of pitchers."

"Oh. Hu's Reynolds^."

"Red-Tails manger, coaching the national team."

"Ah."

"Now let me sleep."

"Ok, it's the bottom of the 15th here, 4-4...

...Dvorak flis to rit, Mombota stil on 3rd. And Reynolds-he's the manager of the Red-Tails-stil owt of pitchers, so Utopia bats 4 himself.

Tal lefte, not that it maters but ppel lik me 2 includ random fax.

Taks the 1st pitch 4 a ball.

Another pitch cums in, that's in the zon, Utopia ¬duz muv his bat. 1 & 1.

The Liverpool England pitcher gets the sin, winds and delivers. Rit in the midul of the strik zon, Utopia swings l8.

1 bal, 2 striks. Runers on 1st and 3rd, 1 owt.

The pitch on the way, Utopia just barly maks contact. Hit on the ground 2 2nd, he's runing hard al the wa-?? The 2nd basman bobls it and Mombota scors! Zwangzug ma be ful of zs but this is no drem-the seres is tid!"

At this impassioned yell, on the fast track to radio lore, Pundit #1 awakes. "Not already..."

"Zwangzug just 1."

"Oh...Cool."

"Well that was easy?"

"What was easy?"

"Staples"

"Are you capitalist?"

"What?"

"Well you just sponsored a capitalist corporation"

"Oh sorry, my bad, you can hit me"

"Ok"

*Slaps him*

"So what was actually so easy?"

"We advanced through the quarterfinals"

"Good to hear, in 2 games?"

"Yep"

"Excellent"

"So why was it so easy?"

"Simple the pitching started to do good, both Banner and Claymont had complete games and gave up only 3 runs between the two of them"

"That's excellent, this bodes well for the semis doesn't it"

"You bet. If nothing else we have a rested bullpen for the semis and our pitchers look quite fresh. I'd have to say that even without last time's results we would be the favorite"

"Yeh, we're undefeated and have done everything called upon us to win games"

"Exactly"

"You know what else was impressive?"

"What?"

"Both games weren't even close, in the first game we got out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back winning 4-1 then in the second game we scored 3 in the second and 2 in the fourth and never looked back winning 5-2"

"That is awesome. That is exactly what we need from these Warriors, this is the baseball they are capable of playing. I don't think anybody can stop us now"

"Agreed"

RP CUTOFF for Quarterfinal Game 3's.. Scores and Semifinal Matchups shortly.

QUARTERFINALS Game Three
(home team is listed first)

Games at National Stadium
Corneliu vs McPsychoville
Corneliu 4-2 Corneliu Wins Series 2-1

taeshan vs Az-cz
taeshan 7-6 taeshan Wins Series 2-1

Games at Pheonix Stadium
Zwangzug vs Liverpool England
Zwangzug 5-4 Zwangzug Wins Series 2-1

Milchama vs Mallatarsland
Milchama WON series 2-0


SEMIFINAL MATCHUPS (@ National Stadium)
#1 Corneliu (7-1) vs #4 Zwangzug (5-2)

#2 Milchama (6-0) vs #3 taeshan (7-1)

Arlington Moon-Tribune
Same old scoreline

It had the makings of an anticlimax.

After a call that echoed into the Qazox night-or was it early morning?-Zwangzug were winners, tying up the quarterfinal series versus Liverpool England at a game apiece. They'd finally gotten into the knockouts, Utopia had pitched a perfect inning and proved he was more than some random guy, and everything had finally come together. Just in time for a bittersweet footnote.

Except that the Zebras did something else. They won. Again.

5-4 was the final, this time in a more reasonable timespan. In fact, Zwangzug left eight runners on base, in contrast to Liverpool England's three, so perhaps the scoreline (not to be confused with the line score, below), doesn't quite do the game justice. Zwangzug were out to win.

Zeke Fallopian led the offensive spurt, with a double and a single that scored Pete Li from second. Zwangzug never trailed, and took the lead for good off a sacrifice fly from Konrad Rubin. Alexei Shiomi went six innings and got the win.

Next up is top seed Corneliu; Zwangzug is the lowest seed of the four remaining teams. Nevertheless, this is the farthest they've progressed, matching their appearance in the second tournament. Anything beyond this might be a nice bonus from a team pleased to make the knockouts, but don't think that they'll let their guard down. Even in the winter, there's a lot of baseball left.

Liverpool England 001 101 010
Zwangzug 010 110 210

CORNELIU SPORTS NETWORK

Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome back to Qazox as we rap up the quaterfinals coverage. Earlier today, you witnessed our beloved Pirates defeat McPsychoville 4-2 to win the series 2 games to 1.

We'll have hightlights of the game coming up shortly.

Another win over az-cz today put the 7-1 purple knights into a new level of play. The game was one by Riane totales 3 homers and 6 rbis. Socki lewis who scored once hit a homer also as the knights beat up the az-czers 7-6.

CORNELIU SPORTS NETWOR

Hello all and welcome back. As promised, we will go to the highlights of today's match against McPsychoville.

This game did not start well for Pitcher Eric Jones. In the top half of the first inning, he gave a single and a double to put runners in scoring position with 1 out and gave up a single that scored one. The runner on second tried to score as well but the throw was in time and Catcher Jason Sheridan held on to the ball as the runner collided with him for the first out. This moved the runner to second with two outs. Jones settled down after that and struck the next batter out to contain the damage to one run.

In the bottom of the second with the score still at 1-0, Sheridan led off the inning with a single to right field. On the next pitch, he stole second base to put the Pirates in scoring position. With 1 out and Sheridan at third, Brian Smith slapped it deep into Right field. The Right fielder caught up with the ball for the 2nd out but it was deep enough to score Sheridan to tie the score at 1 all. With two outs, Steven Keller stepped up to the plate and the pitcher through a slider over the heart of the plate. Keller made him pay for that mistake with a solo shot over the left center field wall to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead at the end of two.

The score stayed that way till the sixth inning when Sheridan belted another solo shot over the right field wall to make it 3-1. It was nearly 4-1 but the center fielder made a leaping catch to rob Brian Smith of a homerun to end the inning.

The seventh inning saw McPsychoville attempt a comeback. The first batter that Jones faced walked on four pitches and then moved to second on an overthrow. Williams steps out to settle him down before pitching again. The very next pitch was blasted off the left field wall that scored one and the batter wounded up on 3rd with a triple with 0 outs. After that, Jones was pulled for Carl Erickson. With a new pitcher in, Erickson handcuffed the rest of the lineup to keep the score 3-2. In the bottom half of the inning, Steven Keller hit a double and was brought in by a single to left off the bat of Peterson. This was followed by a strike out and an inning ending double play off the bat of Thomas Robertson.

The eight inning went by quietly as both teams were shut down with 1-2-3 innings. In the ninth, Bill Lincoln was called on to save the game for them and he did with a walk, a strike out and 2 ground outs.

As the last out was recorded, the team leaped out of the dougout in celebration as they have clinched a spot in the semi-finals. The team they will be facing is Zwangzug who eliminated Liverpool England.

That's all for now and remember to watch all the semi final games here on CSN. Until next time, good night.

RP CUTOFF for Semifinal Game Ones

SEMIFINAL GAME ONE SCORES ("Home" Team Listed first, winners in bold)

All games at National Stadium

Corneliu vs Zwangzug
Zwangzug 7- Corneliu 8 Corneliu leads Series 1-0

Milchama vs taeshan
taeshan 6- Milchama 5 (12 innings) taeshan leads Series 1-0

The game today in qazox between the purple knights of taeshan and the milchamans was a really long one. The game went into the twelf inning tied 4-4. Earlier in the game riane totalez and socki lewis of the knights hit two two run homers with the latter on base for theres. The milchaman team opened up the top of the inning with a slo homer and they gave the ball to there closer with a single run lead. He wasn't able to save it Totalez hit a double with a man on third and zi zo on second for the taeshani win. Game two is tommorrow.

"And let's meet the opposition, the Corneliu Pirates."

"Y wud tha b cald πr8s^."

"Because they overbid other teams to sign players?"

"Enuf with the ISM on thez brodcasts...& besides, it's a na10l tem."

"So what...Oh. I get it. Anyhow, let's meet the Pirates. Leading off is right fielder Thomas Robertson."

"The rit felder is don her."

"He-so he is. Apparently the Pirates have two right fielders and no center fielder. Some sort of shift?"

"Lots of ritis hit 2 the oposit feld in the Corneliu leg, I ges, or leftes pul."

"They don't have any backup outfielders, either..."

"...leaving the embarrassingly outclassed Zebras behind 7-4 by the stretch."

"Let's ¬4get the rale tha cam up with, tho, 2 only luz 9-8."

"I suppose not. Daniel Walker fails to live up with his name, striking out Rubin in a tricky spot for the win. Mitt Amadeo the loser of record-that came out wrong-and Bill Lincoln with the save for Corneliu. Time of the game three hours, thirty-three minutes, attendance thirty-you don't even care, let's skip to the replay of the winning run as that seems to have been accepted as our default."

"Y ¬u subjectivle evalu8 al the runs and dcid which shud b repl8 du 2 its hi level of "intangibles"^" satirically suggested Pundit #2.

"Hey, that's a good idea actually!"

Pundit #2 rolled his eyes.

"It's the bottom of the seventh here, Zwangzug not seizing their home field advantage so much as it is, desperate to get a rally."

"Ha, filing in random bakstore stuf is my job."

"Yes, but you're failing miserably at it. No offense. The pitch from Zack Roberts: Mombota connects! Pulled into the unsurprisingly vacant center field, Barry will come in to score! 7-5 Zwangzug."

"Luks lik the Zebras hav finle figured out how to exploit Corneliu's setup, but is it 2 l8^"

"Never! This is baseball!"

"That was a retorical kwes10."

"Aw that sucks"

"I know man, a loss now!"

"Yeh in the 12th inning"

"And we blew that lead in the 9th inning"

"Just what we needed"

"Yeh Ole' Gomez to blow it"

"What the hell?! the rest of the tournament he is nailing down those saves like a hammer"

"That's a great analogy right there"

"Thanks"

"I also agree with you analysis, Ole's been great unfortunately he couldn't do the job today"

"Yeh but the offense also needs to do better, we had opportunities to score in the 10th and 11th innings and couldn't convert"

"That was bad but by far the worst part was the 12th when AFTER TAKING A LEAD we lost the game"

"That was the worst, our pitching is usually so much better than that"

"I know, it's like they haven't pitched"

"Ugh"

"Yeh man"

"I hate this team"

"Agreed, they're about to fail after going undefeated until the semis"

"Goddamnit it all"

"Yep"

RP CUTOFF for Semifinal Game Twos

CORNELIU SPORTS NETWORK

A thrilling game today as the Pirates defeated Zwangzug 8-7.

It was close all the way through it but Zwangzug could not tie the score late in the 9th. Tomorrow will be game two and if the Pirates, it is off to their 2nd straight final.

SEMIFINAL GAME TWO SCORES ("Home" Team Listed first, winners in bold)

All games at National Stadium

Corneliu vs Zwangzug
Corneliu 6- Zwangzug 8 Series Tied 1-1

Milchama vs taeshan
Milchama 10- taeshan 5 Series Tied 1-1

Game THREES will be on Monday, due to Super Bowl.

My Prediction, BTW, is PATRIOTS 31- Giants 23.

GO
PATRIOTS!!!!!

Taeshan lost its second second game of the wbc playoffs today. The knights really werent even close as the chmans beat us up 10-5. Socki lewis and zoey menigen each had 2 rbis and so did zi zo.

In other news the super bowl is today and this pennslyvanian boy picks the giants to win 24-21

(ooc: DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN)

(OOC2: Scores for Semis Game three will be up Monday Afternoon, and the last matchday will be Tuesday night)

RP CUTOFF for Semifinal Game Threes

SEMIFINAL GAME THREE SCORES ("Home" Team Listed first, winners in bold)

All games at National Stadium

Corneliu vs Zwangzug
Corneliu 7- Zwangzug 8 Zwangzug Wins Series 2-1

Milchama vs taeshan
Milchama 7- taeshan 6 (11 innings) Milchama Wins Series 2-1

THIRD PLACE MATCH @ PHEONIX STADIUM

Corneliu (8-3) vs. taeshan (8-3)

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
@ PHEONIX STADIUM

Milchama (8-1) vs. Zwangzug (7-3)

For the second classic in a row the purple knights lost in the quater-finals. The knights almost mounted a comeback in the ninth, but they lost there second game in a row. They play for the second classic in a row for third pplace and as usual they play the pirates of corneliu. The knights hope to keep there third place rankings.

Arlington Moon-Tribune
The final barrier

Nobody ever said tying the series would be easy.

After dropping their first game in both three-game knockout series so far, the national baseball team took the second again. This at least came in a convincing style, with the fourteen runs the teams scored between them being largely provided by designated hitters who lived up to their title. Corneliu's coach Williams seemed to take a while to find one, which perhaps shouldn't be a surprise given the distinct nature of the Pirates' roster. Nevertheless, he hit a bases-clearing double to give Corneliu half of their runs, scoring George McFarlan, Jason Sheridan, and Travis Clark. Ollie Jingle, for his part, hit a triple that gave Zwangzug its fourth and fifth runs as Pete Li and Zeke Fallopian came in.

Colin Gutenberg and Cal Erickson were the pitchers of record, with Tobias Utopia sticking to a slightly more routine job of picking up the save. And Zwangzug had evened up the semifinal series with Corneliu at a game apiece.

The decisive game ended 8-7, like the first, but this was a victory for Zwangzug. Indeed as close as it looked, the lead changed hands several times. Zwangzug's third run was a controversial unearned one that came without a hit: Li reached on an error, stole second, was bunted over to third by Bianca Thiesen, and slid into home on a hit from Fallopian. The catcher, Sheridan, protested, but to no avail, and the score stood at three runs apiece.

David Jones hit a solo homer to give the Pirates a 6-5 lead, but that was the last they'd have as Klaus Rifkin came through in the clutch once again. His double brought in the lumbering Jingle from third, and an Aaron Mombota blooper saw him score the go-ahead run. Charles Anderson was on the mound at that point, with Larry Chicago having gotten the win for Zwangzug.

So it's onto the final, one game versus Milchama, defending champions. Milchama won the teams' previous encounter last tournament, but previous records, Reynolds stresses, count for nothing.

"What are the odds we'd be here? I don't know. I don't care. And I'm not talking about the Oysters' old double-play combination, that was just weird. Is this our best team? Maybe. No, I don't believe in rebuilding years. Did we get shortchanged whenever whatever-no, I don't remember, I wasn't there. Do you people ask the Mustangs' manager this many questions?" (The task of managing the national team apparently falls to the manager of the previous league champions.)

In the end, he has a point: all we can do is watch and see how the final plays out. This is the Zebras' most impressive accomplishment yet, but there's no need for it to stay there.

"Did you see what those soccer hooligans did?"

"No"

"They bloody sacrificed to Margaret"

"So soon, they have no confidence in our sides, it's unbelievable"

"I know, they really need to sit back and watch the action unfold"

"Much like we did today"

"Yep"

"That was clutch, scoring 2 runs in the 9th to come back like that"

"Yeh Sorano showing his experience with that double then the steal"

"Man that was incredible"

"Yeh that was great"

"So then we are in the final with one loss, the favorite and the juggernaut"

"That's really really cool you know that"

"I know, we should win the title and then the World Baseball Classic"

"Yeh!"

"So then in solidarity let us say..."

"COME ON YOU WARRIORS!!!"

THIRD PLACE MATCH @ PHEONIX STADIUM

Corneliu 4-0 taeshan

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
@ PHEONIX STADIUM

Milchama 10-8 Zwangzug (10 Innings)

CONGRATS to Milchama for defending its title.

FINAL OVERALL STANDINGS (quarterfinalists only)
1- MILCHAMA (9-1)
2- Zwangzug (7-4)
3- Corneliu (9-3)
4- taeshan (8-4)
5- McPsychoville (5-3)
6- Liverpool England (4-3)
7- Az-cz (4-3)
8- Mallatarsland (4-3)

"Bodum of the 10th, 2 out."

"Sidelman dancing off second, Amadeo gets the sign from Broadside."

"He's ¬dansing."

"It's a figure of speech."

"Enuf w/this?! Figurs r #s. #s ¬r stupid frases mad up 2 fil artim."

"All right then. In that case, I'll quote from Milchaman reliever Edgar Allen, who pitched the top of the inning. Once within an extra inning, while the Warriors were winning-"

"But ¬thar."

"Not yet."

"I thot u wanted Zwangzug 2 win."

"I do, but this doesn't look good. The pitch from Amadeo, and O'Neil connects. Driven far and deep-it's over the fence. Milchama wins on a walk-off home run from Emily O'Neil."

"The tem is mobing her &...is she going 2 get arownd the bases^"

"Eventually, probably. But Sidelman's already in, so the game is over, and so is the World Baseball Classic. Congratulations to Milchama."