We are starting to see some information emerge about the level of preparation and play of the Division 1 teams. Only Savigny is excluded from this information, having been unable to play against Montpellier, as the matches were postponed.
Meanwhile, Rouen managed to control Toulouse’s ambitions. First match went dry in favor of the Normans, who in mercy rule at the seventh crush the first match 10 to 0. The hits judiciously well placed by the Huskies’ attack against the young Duquesnoy’s pitches had the upper hand over the Toulouse stadium’s defense. The second match was more contested, the rain came to cut the match but once again it is Rouen’s attack that makes the difference. Hit after hit, the points come in and enough to make a difference. After the victory against La Rochelle, we expected Toulouse to give the Rouennais more trouble, who reassure themselves after losing the first match of the year against Montigny during the first day.
Down south, it was two one-sided matches in favor of Metz against Nice. The Cometz reinforcements have finally arrived and Nice was unable to contain the assaults of the bats and strikes. Cavigal will have to raise their level of play to avoid getting their pants pulled down or early mercy rules against the heavyweights that are Montpellier and Savigny. Metz’s ace pitchers Priest and Quiroz rolled, but it must be noted that Metz’s defense is a bit porous or even gets distracted, letting Nice score at least three or seven points in each match.
Montigny faced the PUC. The latter also did not find any solutions to prevent Montigny from advancing smoothly towards a simple victory in both matches. The Cougars methodically pocketed eight points in each match, not giving the Parisians a chance to do better than two points.
Clearly, Nice and the PUC seem to be the weakest of the 9 teams that started the championship.
After two days, we are not yet interested in the statistics, neither at bat nor at the pitch, as each team must play at least 6 matches to have a trend of the good hitters and the true value of the ERA. We can only note that Henderson Armani of Metz made a remarkable entrance (Home run, double, single and triple and already scores 9 points)
The third day of the championship will finally reveal all the strengths present and notably Savigny. The latter are traveling to Nice and should normally start their championship with two victories. We will also know more about the muscle gain of the La Rochelle team, which started almost with a D2 team without having received its foreign reinforcements. However, they will host the Rouen Huskies, and will have a hard time at least to go and get a match out of two.
Metz and Sénart will be able to size each other up. Toulouse hosts the PUC and will seek to make up for the delay of the two defeats against Rouen.
