Ask the Montpellier coaches, and they’ll tell you their goal is to win a D1 title every year.
But it’s never been more true than in 2021, when the Barracudas started the season with 16 consecutive wins. Shortly after, they claimed the Challenge de France against the Rouen Huskies.
The team’s confidence rested largely on the shoulders of their star pitching trio: Owen Ozanich, Kevin Canelón, and Erly Casanova. And for good reason, as having a rotation of that caliber is a true rarity in French baseball.
The momentum seemed to turn even more in their favor when Ariel Soriano, one of the most electric hitters in D1, joined the team mid-season after parting ways with the Sénart Templiers, Montpellier’s main rival in Group B.
But the Barracudas had an Achilles’ heel, as it turned out, regarding player availability.
Injuries were an issue. Even more complicated is the fact that so many of their young French stars play college baseball in the U.S. and were therefore absent for the playoffs, which started late due to the COVID situation.
Unable to do much on the offensive side, Montpellier lost their semifinal series against the Rouen Huskies (1-3). The four games were extremely close. That Soriano, allowed to play in the first two games but sidelined on a technicality after that, didn’t help matters.
The defeat was a bitter pill to swallow for the Barracudas. But it’s also a source of motivation for the new season. The team feels they have unfinished business to take care of and is convinced they have the personnel to get the job done.
The three aces of Montpellier have all agreed to return. Canelon is 28 years old, and Ozanich and Casanova are both over 30, so fatigue could be a factor. But they have decades of experience between them and a ton of talent.
Soriano is back too, and available this time from opening day. Not only that, but his older brother, Yudy Soriano, will also join the team.
The club is also calling on a former Georgetown University slugger, Steve Anderson, from the U.S.; a Japanese player named Kenjiro Sugiura, who can pitch and hit; and Luís Delagu, from the Dominican Republic, who played for the French national team last September.
The availability issue is unfortunately something the club will have to face again. For this season, the Montpellier contingent of American university players—guys like Paolo Brossier, Ismail Pontiac, Mael Zan, and Julian Monks—will be absent for the start of the championship.
But with a bit of luck, they’ll be back in France in June, and that might just be the advantage Montpellier needs to claim their first D1 title since 1995.
Benjamin Witte
