Little by little, the championship is taking shape. A Sunday with four 2-0 victories, that hadn’t happened this season, and it’s starting to stretch out the standings.

First Crack

A matchday we love! Suspense at every level: in 6 games, the winning team was behind at some point. And three games went down to the wire after the 7th inning. Surprises, at least one, as it’s not every day the bottom team sweeps the league leader. And consequences: for the first time, a small gap has opened in the standings with 4 teams above .500 and four others below. Nothing definitive or dire, but a first trend is emerging, putting some pressure on the bottom four, who see their margin for error shrinking if they want to catch the right train.

Shaking Up the Top

Toulouse had never lost by a single run, never lost in extra innings, and relied on a solid defense. All dams broke on Montigny’s field, much like that costly error in the 6th inning of game 2 that allowed the Cougars to take the lead. Granted, the Stadistes were without their As Rojas, but no one expected to see them fall like that. That made the Huskies happy. The Rouennais, since their disastrous France challenge, have gotten back on track, with 5 consecutive wins (5-1 over the last three matchdays). And now they’ve caught up with Toulouse at the top spot, which didn’t seem likely lately. It’s not always easy, but maybe Rouen wouldn’t have won game 1 (when Metz took a 4-2 lead) a few weeks ago. Confidence seems to be returning, and the Huskies are never more dangerous than when they’re confident. Another team in form is Montpellier. Since their victorious challenge, the Barracudas are 4-0, and this always without Couvreur and Pontiac on the mound. We’ll have to count on Owen Ozanich’s men, who, with 16 hits in game 1, broke their season record of 12 (against Metz and Toulouse). The fourth team is Savigny, which had three straight losses but managed to turn things around in tight games against Sénart. Rouen, Savigny, Montpellier, we ultimately find familiar faces at the top of the standings…

Shaking Up the Bottom

The Cougars have woken up, and in a big way. They, who had lost twice in extra innings, managed to turn the tide, tying the score in the 10th and winning in the 11th inning of game 2. The entire offense produced, as only Saad Anouar didn’t get a hit, which didn’t prevent him from driving in a run. And, above all, the pitching held up, which hadn’t been the case until then, with a collective ERA of 5.64, down to 4.81 after Toulouse. In one weekend, Montigny got back in the race for survival, benefiting from Metz, Sénart, and La Rochelle’s triple 0 W. What’s very interesting for Montigny is that they haven’t faced the Cometz yet, and therefore have the possibility, in a direct confrontation, to undermine a competitor. We’re also starting to worry a bit about La Rochelle, 1-5 since the Challenge, 2-8 over the last 10 games. The pitching is shaky, the offense is stalled (20 K on Sunday), they’ll need to quickly find the enthusiasm of the early season.

Offense Slowing Down?

Often, the offense takes over at the start of the season, then the pitchers gain strength, the arms are in shape, temperatures rise, and the number of hits decreases. That was the case on Sunday, as for the first time since the start of the season, no team scored more than 10 runs. Even more impressive, no one scored more than 7 runs. The 8 teams batted .247 while the overall average was .257 before this matchday and the collective ERA, which was 4.14, was 3.49 on Sunday. Will the end of the season belong to the pitchers?

The Podiums

Pitching

1. Yorfrank Lopez (Montigny). He finally got some offensive support, which probably relieved him. The Venezuelan threw a 7-inning no-hitter (one hit, 2 BB) and held the fort despite a shaky defense. A top-level performance.
2. Gédéon Coste (Savigny). Another very solid outing, in line with his excellent season. After Hrytishvilli’s home run in the 1st inning, he shut the door with 7 Ks, in sometimes tense situations. He kept his team in the game and allowed them to come back.
3. Mathéo Launay (Metz). He only pitched 4 innings in relief in a losing cause, but his 4 innings were perfect, 12 consecutive outs, he had fun with Rouen’s line-up. That deserved a spot on the podium.

Batting

1. Manuel Tissera (Savigny). Granted, he only had 3 hits, but they made the difference. A triple to tie the score in the 6th inning of game 1, a single to give a 3-run lead in the 8th inning of game 1, the 2-run double to take the lead in the 8th inning of game 2. Clutch.

2. Riley Spring (Montpellier). Repositioned at the top of the Barracudas’ line-up, he perfectly fulfilled the role of igniter with 5 in 8. Ah, if he just made a few fewer errors…

3. Hugo Blondel (Rouen). The Huskies’ clean-up hitter did his job with 3 important RBIs, spread over the two games.

F. Colombier

Photo Credit: Benjamin Witte