Baseball and softball weekend: when France vibrates between Europe and surprising semifinals
It’s not just the D1 baseball that thrills bat enthusiasts in France! This weekend was a resounding proof, with European emotions, thrilling finals, and upset rankings. A brief overview of a weekend like no other.
WBSC European Women’s Softball Cup: Comanches conquer
They did it! The Comanches of Saint-Raphaël won the European Women’s Cup after a thunderous campaign: seven games played, six wins, one loss in the group stage, and an undisputed dominance. Switzerland, Poland, the Netherlands… all fell to the Varoises.
If we’re looking for heroines, they can be found in the batting box: Prade, Enrione, and Haudiquer, the top three hitters in the tournament with an average above .500, all from the French roster. A demonstration of power and consistency that confirms the excellent season of the Comanches, already leaders of the hexagonal championship.
In parallel, the Pharaonnes of Évry experienced a completely different story in the A Cup. Eight losses in eight games, a painful 8th place that reminds us that the gap is still wide at this European level. But no doubt that this experience will serve for the future.
Division 1 Women’s Softball: Double for Pessac and Grenoble
Opposed to Colombes, the Pessac players managed to find the gap to win quite easily in both games. Like Grenoble, which less easily but with the same result, beat Clapiers twice. This doesn’t change the ranking, but Clapiers and Colombes close the ranking with no hope for the end of the season.
Division 1 Men’s Softball: Evry and Nice lead the way
Evry took the best of Contes (2-4 then 1-6) and retains the top spot in the rankings. But beware: Nice made short work of Pessac, allowing them to stay neck and neck with Evry. The ninth and final day of the championship will be played on September 7th and will be decisive for the first place in the rankings, which sees the top two teams face off in two games.
Division 2 Baseball: the scenario nobody expected
The D2 semifinals offered a thrilling suspense, worthy of the greatest scenarios. In a best-of-three series, it took all three games to determine the finalists in both series.
On Saturday evening, everything seemed settled: Valenciennes and Nice, leaders of their pool, had struck first. Logic dictated that they validate their ticket to the final. But Sunday changed everything! The PUC and Meyzieu, determined underdogs, overturned the table to offer themselves a double victory and a surprise qualification for the final.
This unprecedented matchup, PUC – Meyzieu, will be played on September 14th and 20th. With a special formula: two opening games on the 14th, and a third on the 20th, and possible games 4 and 5 on the 21st. In the shadows, Metz is watching closely: the ambitions of promotion are not the same for the finalists. The PUC dreams of returning to D1, which it left for administrative reasons in 2023, while Meyzieu advances masked, little talkative about its ambitions but now just two wins away from the very high level.
