Everything is shaken up, and nothing is certain in the hierarchy of France’s Division 1 baseball teams. This Challenge de France has once again proven that, just like the championship since the start of April. A massive day of baseball with six games in seven innings, thankfully, because in nine innings, we might have had to call it off due to lack of sunshine.
The two teams from the Paris suburbs, Savigny and Montigny, are already heading home this morning. Less surprising for Montigny, who haven’t taken off this year, than for Savigny, who had shown great strength at the start of the championship.
The most surprising team is Metz, which, after defeating Montpellier’s Barracudas yesterday and today Toulouse’s Tigers, shows that the Challengers will be there. Have they exhausted all their resources, do they still have the ability to raise their level in the semifinals? We’ll find out tomorrow against La Rochelle.
On the other hand, Sénart, which also had a bad start to the season, was helped while mastering their subject by two teams that gave their all: yesterday it was Rouen, which was distanced by six points, and today La Rochelle, which was punished by an eight-point gap. They will be in the semifinals tomorrow against Montpellier.
Let’s recap the six games of the day.
Rouen and Montigny battled for a long time. We saw Robinson Mestre throw over 150 pitches, but unfortunately, a home run in the 10th inning made him fold. The poker move Montigny pulled off last year by starting their non-JFL pitchers from the get-go didn’t work this year.
Savigny also failed to contain Montpellier, which, like other teams, brought in their coach as closer, Owen Ozanich, who managed to save the narrow lead gained in this tightly contested match.
The Rochellais against Sénart completely missed their mark. Izquierdo was unable to hold the mound, and the relief by young Louis Perrois was just as catastrophic. Sénart only needed their pitcher to counter the Rochellais bats, which were rendered lifeless by their pitchers’ poor performance.
Metz dominated the scoreboard all game against Toulouse. Paredes contained the Tigers’ offense well and didn’t buckle under some solid hits. But the bases loaded with two outs always worked in their favor to get out of trouble. On the other hand, Toulouse couldn’t find a solution to contain the Cometz bats, who knew how to seize opportunities at the right moment.
The Rochellais faced the Rouennais in the makeup game. Against a new American pitcher (Vincent) for the Rouennais, the Rochellais struggled to perform, but with a home run and a triple, helped by pitcher Escorcha, the Huskies folded without reaching the final stages, something that hasn’t happened to them in a very long time.
Montpellier faced Toulouse in the makeup game. The coach took the mound and completely silenced the Tigers, who lacked pitching depth. The end of the game was more complicated for the pitchers, but the Barracudas held on.
Tomorrow, May 11, 2024: Semifinals
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11 AM: Metz vs. La Rochelle
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4 PM: Montpellier vs. Sénart
How can you predict when surprises keep happening day after day among these eight teams? In any case, it will be a final with one of the competitors who have never reached this level of the competition.
Everything will still play out in the depth of the pitching. And there, we can imagine that only the Rochellais, with Clément Esteban, keep a solid but unused reserve. For the rest, the other teams have no more reserves. So, will we have more surprises?
Photo credit: Karine Herbin
