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Nine players, 125 fans in Zion

Lake County FieldersLast night’s Lake County Fielders-Kenosha County Fielders game in Zion was a matchup of minimums, with 125 fans on hand to cheer on nine players in home uniforms.

The game was billed as a replacement for the regularly scheduled Lake County-Maui North American League matchup, scrapped after Na Koa Ikaika Maui shut down for the remainder of the 2011 season. With ticket prices at $7 and $15, fans received a game where a Fielders squad with nine players took on what was billed as the Kenosha County Fielders wearing the uniforms of the semipro Kenosha Kings of the Wisconsin State League. But it wasn’t a full Kings squad, either; there were some Kings players as well as other players from the semipro circuit. The Kenosha County Fielders won, 1-0, in a game that won’t be counted in the official North American League stats.

The Kenosha County Fielders may be the only opponent for the Lake County Fielders in the remainder of their season. Though in theory the Lake County season goes until Labor Day, the North American League has announced the regular season will end early, on Aug. 28. The Yuma Scorpions and manager Jose Canseco are slated to visit Lake County on Aug. 24, but we’re guessing that won’t happen. Maui was scheduled to play at Chico on Aug. 24-28. With Maui shut down for the remainder of the season, we hear it’s far more likely that Yuma will be closing out the regular season in Chico. (Both Chico and Yuma are owned by the league.) That would leave the Fielders to find another opponent for a season-ending series. Edmonton is slated to appear in Zion on Aug. 30-Sept. 5, but that ain’t gonna happen: the team announced it would participating in the NAL playoffs by then. We expect to see a lot of the Kenosha County Fielders in Fielders Stadium between now and whenever Lake County calls an end to a perfectly miserable 2011 season.

RELATED STORIES: NAL season ending early; It’s Fielders vs. Fielders in Lake County; Fielders: We’re still in NAL — for now; Fielders tossed from North American League; Fielders skip on Hawaii road trip; season in question; Fielders game scrapped because of sub-par baseballs; Fielders may disband because of city inaction on new ballpark; Zion: Fielders owe us $185,000 in back rent; Fielders’ Zaman quits on the air; Fielders continue blame game for financial woes, adding league to mix; Fielders: Don’t blame us, blame Zion; Unpaid players revolt in Lake County; 9 traded, 14 released

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