Shipman, Duffy, LPL Golf

Andy Shipman

Andy Shipman was named Northern League Relief Pitcher of the Year during the Railcats initial playoff series against his old team (KC T-Bones), which is when the press release below was written.

Since then he also saved Game 5 of that series and Game 1 of the Championship Series versus the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks. In that 6-4 victory, Shipman faced 3 batters and retired them in order - a flyout to rightfield, a grounder to short, and a fly to left field.

The Gary Railcat Press Release [Partial]

Andy Shipman Named Relief Pitcher of the Year

» Shipman Bio

GARY, Ind. — Gary SouthShore RailCats closer Andy Shipman, who led the Northern League with 14 saves during the regular season and has saved the ‘Cats first two postseason wins, has today been named the league’s Relief Pitcher of the Year.

Shipman, 27, was waived by the Kansas City T-Bones in late May and almost immediately scooped up by the RailCats. Shipman pitched in 36 games for manager Greg Tagert this summer and saved 13 of the RailCats league-leading 57 wins while posting a 1.85 ERA and holding opposing batters to a .210 average. Shipman struck out 34 in 39.0 innings with the RailCats, finishing with a minuscule WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched) of 1.03.

Named to the Chicagoland squad for the Northern League All-Star Game in July, Shipman first made his mark on the league late last year when he pitched in 10 regular season games for the T-Bones in August and was nearly perfect against the RailCats in the league finals, which Kansas City won three games to one.

This postseason, Shipman saved games one and three for the ‘Cats against his former club as the RailCats sit on the precipice of a fifth straight Championship Series berth.Hardly a stranger to success, Shipman was an All-Star closer in the Florida State League (A) in 2004 and Southern League (AA) in 2005 with the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs organizations.

Shipman spent the 2006 season at Triple-A Iowa for the Cubs and posted a 3.81 ERA before he was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the Rule Five draft after the year. Shipman worked in Double-A for the A’s in 2007 and 2008 before being released. Undrafted out of the University of Missouri, Shipman has logged more than 400.0 innings in a seven-year professional career and has 49 lifetime saves with over 350 strikeouts.

Shipman is the first RailCat to be named Relief Pitcher of the Year and the first RailCat to win an individual award this season. Starter Tony Cogan was named to the Full Season All-Star Team earlier this week as the league’s top left-handed pitcher. The Northern League’s postseason awards are voted on annually by general managers, managers, coaches, radio broadcasters and veteran players representing the league’s six teams.

The remainder of the league’s 2009 awards, including Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Manager of the Year and Organization of the Year will be announced in the coming weeks.

http://www.railcatsbaseball.com/

Danny Duffy

The Wilmington Blue Rocks are in the Carolina League Northern Division Championship against the first half Champ Lynchburg Hillcats. Danny Duffy, who was named Carolina League "Pitcher of the Week" on August 20th is slated to pitch Game 2 of the series on Thursday, September 10th (7:05 pm) at Lynchburg City Stadium. The opposing starter is expected to be LHP Rudy Owens (1-1, 3.86 ERA).

LPL Girls Golf

At Hunter Ranch [9/9/9]
Danielle Gilaspy is a very nice young lady, but she has been quite greedy lately: three tournaments - four wins !!! After winning the opener last week, she took both the individual & team titles at Santa Ynez on Tuesday, and was the Medalist again in this 4-way meet. The Pirates Maddison Shean was the runner-up.

Appropriately playing 9 holes on the 9th day of the 9th month in '09, Gillaspy carded a 36, Maddison Shean scored a 39, Ashley Levanduski,the Bearcats leader shot a 47, and Kyleigh Jensen's 51 paced the Greyhounds.

Team & Individual Scores [5 cards count]
St. Joseph : 224 - Danielle Gillaspy-36, Marissa Gutierrez- 40, Danika Cochiolo-49, Kelsey Wong-45, Chloe Dunn-(55), Megan Cruz-54

Santa Ynez : 235 - Maddison Shean-39, Kristin Henno-42, Meredith Stewart-44, Christiana Layman-53, Elena Hererra-(59), Sine Kelly-57

Paso Robles : 268 Kim Bergin-58, Tori Sepulveda-48, Ashley Levanduski-47, Kelsey Highnote-55, Niki Todaro-60, Kaitlyn Bedell-(66)

Atascadero : 288 - Danyele Rampone-59, Cynthia Shannon-60, Kyleigh Jensen-51, Joelle Clay-63, Corie Bruno-55, Candace Young-(67).