Before last weekend's competition, Sara Larquier and Oli were tied
with Akron's Kate Robinson and Chicago's Samantha Findlay. At the Glory
game on Saturday, we saw Sara and Kate remain tied by hitting 2 each,
while Oli was shut out, so she fell out of first place.
The results from around the league are now in, and the 4th
player previously tied for the lead, Samantha Findlay of Chicago, also
hit 2. Larquier, Robinson, and Findlay are now joined by a new 4th, as
Jaime Clark of Chicago hit 3 out last week, and she now has 17 total as
well.
The totals for the manufacturers: Demarini/Wilson 85, Worth
79, Combat 49, and Mizuno 45. There will be one final round during this
final weekend of regular season play.
The winner will be
determined this way: First, take the top 3 manufacturers (currently
Wilson, Worth, and Combat). Of the 4 teams in the playoffs, take the
top 2 players representing the top 3 manufacturers. These 6 players
will have one final round. The winner will be the player with the most
throughout the entire competition, and earn $1,000. (By the way, I
think this award is chump change considering how much free publicity
these bat companies got from this.)
So if a player is leading
in HRs for her bat company, but her team doesn't go to Kimberly, she
won't participate in this final round. This could be a major factor in
the outcome.
If the players had to be chosen today, who would they be? For
argument's sake, let's say Akron makes it to the playoffs. The 6
players would be Akron's Robinson (17) and Chicago's Findlay (17)
(Demarini/Wilson), Washington's Larquier (17) and Akron's Butler (14)
(Worth), and Chicago's Stacy May or Nicole Trimboli (13) and Akron's
Angelena Mexicano (11) (Combat). (Note that Chicago's Jaime Clark (17)
would not make it unless Mizuno can make up the 4 HR difference this
weekend.)
If Mizuno stays in 4th place and Akron does not make
the playoffs, this significantly changes the lineup. The competition
would come down to Larquier and Findlay (both with 17 at this time),
plus either New England's Lindsey Angus (16) or our own Oli (15)
replacing Robinson for Demarini.
This information came from this article. Current results are here (pdf file).