After a successful first weekend in Nice two weeks ago, with 2 wins and 1 loss, the Nice team of Cavigal was eager to secure their place in the final against the Parisian team of Baseball Club de France.
After conceding four points in the first inning, the Red and Blacks got back in the game in the second inning thanks to a home run by M. Mengoli and another by N. Flayol: 6-4 for the BCF. Galvanized, the Nice team brought out the heavy artillery and scored nine points in the third inning without conceding a single point. The disheartened Parisians conceded five more points, and Cavigal qualified for the final by winning 20-6.
The Nice team started in the best possible way by leading 3-2 in the 3rd inning against the reigning champion. But Pessac came back in the next inning, took the lead 6-5, and widened the gap in the 5th inning to lead by 6 points (11-5). Encouraged by their supporters, the Red and Blacks got back into the game and were only trailing by 3 points in the 6th inning.
The 7th and supposedly last inning took an entirely crazy turn: it all started with a home run by N. Flayol (his third of the game), the Girondins switched pitchers, but the Nice team continued to hit and score until M. Pellissier’s “Grand Slam” (home run with the bases loaded). The French champions came to bat 8 points behind. Cavigal thought they had done the hardest part, but Pessac, as usual and with experience, gradually came back to equalize and dragged the Nice team into a tie-breaker, which proved fatal for them.
Cavigal is the 2010 French Vice Champion and qualified for a European Cup (Cup Winners’ Cup) to be held in August 2011.
Individual reward for Nice: Nicolas Flayol, best hitter.
