ORWBL: New Carlisle-La Porte World Series Anyone's Ball Game

The World Series of the Old Republic Whiffleball League is going to be everything that it should be.

It’s the founding town of New Carlisle, Indiana. It’s Indiana’s baseball capital of La Porte. It’s the Home Town Days Tournament Champion New Carlisle Newts. It’s the undefeated La Porte White Sox. It’s even the New Prairie Cougars and the La Porte Slicers all over again. But there are two things it won’t be – boring and predictable.

The fact is that you’ve got two really good teams that have never played each other meeting up in a seven-game slug fest that is sure to get your blood pumping.

The White Sox (24-0) have made history going undefeated in regular season of their inaugural year. However they aren’t immortal. They were sent into extra innings in each of their first two series against their American League foes. They also haven’t played competitive whiffleball in almost a month, winning their last two series by forfeit.

The power of the Sox is unmistakable though. In the short-lived stat keeping era, the Sox leading two players put up a combined 17 home runs in a single series against the second-place Lakers. How can you argue against talent like that?

Sox manager Neil Ludwig brought four teammates with him to the All-Star game including Joel Matheney, Keith Ludwig, Greg Shannon and Andrew Faher. The Sox put on quite a hitting clinic there.

The Newts (20-4) are a completely different team. They’re much more subtle of a team than the White Sox, going for line drives and ground balls more than long balls. They played in a National League that, in my opinion, is much stronger than the American League and they had more difficulty with their opponents.

You could call the Newts the comeback kids, because after seeing these guys play a number of times I just don’t think you can put them in a hole big enough so that they can’t possibly dig themselves out. They don’t make many fielding mistakes, mental or physical.

What’s more, they’re fresh off of a sixteen-team tournament championship after beating Speedy’s Chickenheads in a Home Town Days thriller this past weekend. Five of the seven Newts, Garrett Curless, Matt Flagg, Kaylor Keck, Koby Keck and Marc Lindsey were All-Stars this season.

2008 La Porte White Sox Regular Season Results (24-0)
at New Lydick             W 15-10 (7 inn)
at New Lydick             W 15-6
at New Lydick             W 16-3
vs. Pterodactyls            W 20-19
vs. Pterodactyls            W 16-12
vs. Pterodactyls            W 13-11 (7 inn)
at Team Stank              W Forfeit
at Team Stank              W Forfeit
at Team Stank              W Forfeit
at Phat Dong                W Forfeit
at Phat Dong                W Forfeit
at Phat Dong                W Forfeit
vs. Phat Dong               W Forfeit
vs. Phat Dong               W Forfeit
vs. Phat Dong               W Forfeit
vs. New Lydick              W 15-11
vs. New Lydick              W 10-6
vs. New Lydick              W 9-2
at Pterodactyls              W Forfeit
at Pterodactyls              W Forfeit
at Pterodactyls              W Forfeit
vs. Team Stank              W Forfeit
vs. Team Stank            W Forfeit
vs. Team Stank            W Forfeit

2008 New Carlisle Newts Regular Season Results (20-4)
vs. Lil’ Saints                W 5-2
vs. Lil’ Saints                W 20-3
vs. Lil’ Saints                W 3-0
at Phat Dong                W 17-1 (5 inn)
at Phat Dong                W 11-4
at Phat Dong                W 22-0
at 1-2-3 Swat               W 11-10
at 1-2-3 Swat               W 10-8
at 1-2-3 Swat               L 13-4
vs. Pterodactyls            L 26-20
vs. Pterodactyls            W 12-9
vs. Pterodactyls            W 29-27
at Pterodactyls              L 10-6
at Pterodactyls              W 16-4
at Pterodactyls              W 13-11
at Lil’ Saints                 W 9-8
at Lil’ Saints                 W 5-1
at Lil’ Saints                 L 4-3
vs. Phat Dong               W 14-9
vs. Phat Dong               W 11-5
vs. Phat Dong               W 11-3
vs. 1-2-3 Swat             W 11-4
vs. 1-2-3 Swat             W 12-5
vs. 1-2-3 Swat             W 3-0