We’re always confident, but we also know that sports, and baseball in particular, are full of surprises. France fails to reach the European Championship semifinals after being eliminated by one of the tournament favorites: Germany.
The team was feeling good about themselves, as they themselves admitted.
Shane Priest: We’re feeling great. We’re in the best possible position to beat Germany. I’m really happy with the pitchers! They’re always ready to compete!
Kenny Esposito: We started the tournament poorly against a strong Dutch team. It wasn’t the score we expected, but we still took positives from it for the rest of the competition. We then showed that we deserved our spot in the quarterfinals after our tight game against Croatia and after securing our place against Ukraine. Now it’s time for the quarterfinals to try and make history for French baseball. We’ve got the team for it. Personally, I’m happy with my performance against the Dutch. I faced real experienced hitters (MLB). They only got one hit. Unfortunately, we didn’t win that game, but luckily we qualified for the quarterfinals thanks to the collective effort of our team.
Let’s now analyze this quarterfinal against Germany.
On the German side, it’s their ace who starts, but he’s not having a good day and quickly gives up a run. On the French side, Keino Perez trusts Esteban Prioul. He also gives up a run. The teams are evenly matched, with numerous fly balls allowing the outfielders to shine. This is the case for Jiminian, who makes two magnificent diving catches in center field. Each team changes pitchers, for France, Quentin Moulin takes over, this will be a huskies pitching performance in this game.
The game is tight, very tight. Germany takes the lead, leading 2-1. And in the eighth inning, when the top of the French lineup had been silent since the start of the competition, Ernesto Martinez wakes up with a game-tying home run to make it 2-2. Following that, Paolo Brossier hits a double. The ninth inning allows France to lead by two runs, notably thanks to Jiminian, and to lead 5-2.
The Germans don’t give up, they realize that Quentin Moulin is tiring, they manage to come back to 5-5 with simple and powerful hits. Robyn Clara comes in to replace Quentin Moulin and allows the game to go into extra innings. At this stage, one wonders whether Quentin Moulin should have been kept in for the last at-bat when France had a two-run lead. Shane Priest even made a visit to the mound…
Nothing possible for France in the tenth inning on offense. On defense, however, an excellently executed bunt by Miguel Lopez at third base allows a situation where an intentional walk would allow a double play, but bases loaded with one out. Strikeout, saved for a while… and then comes the walk-off hit that liberates Germany.
The two teams were evenly matched and France was clearly capable of winning. The level in Europe and France’s place in it is increasing again. And that’s what we should remember, even if it’s a match that will continue to fuel regrets!
