Weekend Results: Thrills, Upsets, and Finals Taking Shape

Fun, Surprises… and Finals Taking Shape

Another weekend packed with emotions on French baseball and softball fields. Metz held onto their Division 2 French championship title, Savigny created a sensation by sweeping two victories at Rouen, while the Division 1 women’s softball semifinals delivered their share of suspense before ultimately crowning the two favorites.

Division 1 Baseball – Savigny Strikes Big at Rouen

Few, among spectators or Sunday prognosticators, would have bet on the Lions of Savigny securing two straight wins against the Huskies of Rouen. Yet that’s exactly what they did.

The first game was undeniably dominated by Adrian Pena. Over 130 pitches, 13 strikeouts, and an XXL performance to stifle a Rouen offense rarely under such pressure. After that first loss, the Huskies could still hope to avenge themselves in the second game, this time against Savigny’s JFL pitchers.

But the Lions have a precious quality: they know how to move past their mistakes. Six errors across both games, admittedly, but offset by an impressive offensive power, with four home runs hit over the weekend.

Result: Savigny is now on the brink of the title. One more win next week, and the Lions will be 2026 French champions.

All signs point to Adrian Pena being a key piece in the third game once again. In the meantime, Rouen will likely be replaying his pitches on loop. They’ll need to find the key to reading him better and finally freeing up the Normandy bats. Because shutting down Rouen’s offense on their home turf this weekend looked like a true pitching masterclass.

Division 2 Baseball – Metz Reclaims the Top Spot

They were the strongest team this season, and they saw it through to the end.

The Cougars of Montigny failed to stop the Cometz of Metz, who were driven by a fierce determination to return to the highest level of French baseball.

Jessel Soto, Metz’s ace, played a decisive role in this final by winning both his starts. But the title also belongs to a team that had already prepared flawlessly the previous week, returning from Montigny with two victories in hand.

Metz is now the Division 2 French champion.

A well-deserved reward after an outstanding season, which we’ll have the chance to revisit.

Division 1 Women’s Softball – Favorites Deliver, But Not Without Scares

In the end, there will be no surprises: the two favorites will meet in the final, starting early October, in a best-of-five series.

But neither the Comanches of Saint-Raphaël nor the Pharaonnes of Évry had a smooth weekend.

The Wildcats of Colombes, for instance, started their semifinal against the Comanches with a bang. Seven runs scored in the first inning alone—enough to set the tone for a wild first game.

Colombes led for nearly the entire match. Until the final inning, when the Comanches unleashed everything they had to snatch a 17-16 victory, almost in the last second.

A brutal scenario for the Wildcats. In the second game, their physical and mental resources were clearly drained, and Saint-Raphaël ultimately secured their spot in a final everyone had expected.

This weekend did, however, reveal a first vulnerability in the Comanches: their defense. After a season of dominance, this first game showed they might not be invincible.

Unfortunately, another, less sports-related incident darkened the series. Serious remarks were allegedly made from the stands directed at a member of Colombes, prompting the club to file a complaint with the Federation. The incident will now be reviewed by the relevant authorities.

The other semifinal also lived up to expectations.

It took three games for the Pharaonnes of Évry to defeat the Panthers of Pessac. A tense, hard-fought series where Évry’s bats stepped up at the right moments.

The Pharaonnes thus earn their ticket to the final.

And the matchup has a familiar ring to it: Évry will face the Comanches of Saint-Raphaël again, in a rematch of last year’s French Challenge final.

See you in early October. This time, the French championship title will be within reach.