Rouen and Savigny Have Done Their Job
Rouen and Savigny have punched their tickets to the final. Sénart and Montigny are fighting to stay up. A recap of a wild weekend. Semi-finals are rarely the most suspenseful part of the season. Since they’ve been in this best-of-5 format, we’ve only seen one Game 5, last season between Sénart and Montigny. This season seems to be following a similar script. Rouen and Savigny, the top two teams in the standings, have taken control. Coming back from a 0-2 deficit isn’t impossible—it’s happened in the 2004 and 2011 finals—but it’s as rare as a heist from ‘Money Heist’. A sixth final between Rouen and Savigny seems far more likely.
Toulouse Lets Their Chance Slip Away
The Toulousains have to be kicking themselves. They had Game 1 in the palm of their hands. But they’ve been suffering from a crippling ailment lately: the inability to close out a game. Their last five losses (before Sunday’s, which was even worse) came after the 7th inning, when the score was tied or they were even ahead. What was once a strength for Stade at the start of the season has become a recurring weakness, with crucial errors at the worst possible times. Rojas did what was expected of him, dominating for 6 innings with 10 strikeouts and only 4 hits allowed. R. Perez’s relief work was solid for an inning, and the Huskies seemed offensively clueless and surprisingly nervous on defense (we can’t believe Dylan Gleeson gave up 7 walks, after only allowing 6 all season). But everything fell apart in the 8th inning, with 2 errors and 3 hits that made all the difference. Toulouse fought back, even tying the score, but only to concede the losing run in the 9th. Tough to swallow.
The Toulousains showed they had heart by holding their own against Rouen for 4 innings on Sunday morning, but Rouen’s offensive machine eventually kicked into gear, and the gap widened. Rouen, however, wasn’t entirely convincing. The Huskies relied heavily on their top 4 batters, who collected 14 hits and drove in 8 runs, while the rest of the lineup was almost completely silenced. The pitching wasn’t dominant, with Prioul struggling more than usual (only 5 innings), Vincent throwing a lot of pitches, and a relief corps that didn’t make much of an impact. But the Huskies did what mattered most: win two games. And it would be very, very surprising to see them drop three at home, especially considering a potential Game 5 that could expose Stade’s bullpen’s lack of depth.
Orozco, Prince of Veyrassi
The other semi-final was just as surprising. It’s not every day you win twice in Veyrassi. In fact, the Lions hadn’t done it since the 2012 season. But Savigny played their cards right, with a standout hero: Evertz Orozco. In our eyes, the best pitcher of the season, he once again carried his team on his shoulders. In the first game, he entered in the 6th inning with the bases loaded, 2 outs, a 3-run lead, and the batter with the highest average of the season, Douglas Rodriguez. Sure, he gave up a hit by pitch, but he slammed the door shut for a high-level save. In the second game, it was another exceptional relief outing: 5 innings, allowing just 1 run, enough to let his team take the lead after falling behind. Over 110 pitches, a win, a save—look no further for the MVP of this first weekend of semi-finals.
Baseball is a team sport, and it would be too reductive to sum everything up with Orozco’s performance. Tissera, for example, was very effective on defense and decisive in Game 2. The duo Jiminian/Acuna has regained their early-season rhythm: 8 hits in 18 at-bats. With his 5 RBIs, Lilian Amoros proved he’s one of the most dangerous hitters in the league in clutch situations. And Savigny’s lineup was productive, like Rioux’s 4 walks drawn or Lescure’s 2 hits. Montpellier couldn’t find the solution, especially on the mound: 7 pitchers combined to give up 14 walks and 12 hits in Game 2. That’s far too many to hope for a win. And in Game 1, we saw that Canelon isn’t as dominant as in previous seasons. Under these conditions, even with a relatively solid offense, it’s hard to see the Barracudas taking down the Lions.
Pitcher Duel at Montigny
Ultimately, the most interesting games were the relegation playoff. Surprising, once again, to find pitcher duels between teams whose season ERAs were 5.95 for Montigny and 5.11 for Sénart. But we must highlight Émile Brelle’s exceptional performance, his best career outing: 8 full innings of dominance, allowing no hits. But his offense didn’t support him (Mastre struck out 15, the highest total in front of Igami’s 14 for Rouen against… Sénart and his own 13 against Metz), and above all, the 9th inning was one too many. Entering in relief, after two hits and one out, Hvrytishivli once again didn’t get the job done, giving up the game-winning triple. Baseball is well made, and it’s also beautiful to see that a model player, one of the Cougars’ emblems, Dylan Mayeux, went out and got that decisive hit.
Same score, different winner in Game 2. How not to highlight Monbeig’s performance, a complete game of 2 hits and 0 walks. Let’s just say he has nothing to reproach himself for in his team’s loss, and an offense that didn’t capitalize on its opportunities, despite a lot of movement on the bases throughout the game. Speaking of the Cougars’ pitching, we wonder about Lopez’s absence, who could weigh heavily this weekend. The 9th inning was symptomatic: two hits to start, but nothing that followed, and Kurima managed to slam the door shut. The victory came, as in the first game, from a triple (in the 8th inning this time) by a model and emblematic player, Felix Brown, who sent Corenthin Flament home after 2 outs.
Everything is still up for grabs in this series, which we can expect to be thrilling to follow.
