Normandie wins the first French Open
Easter week brought an unusual tournament to the fans of women’s baseball in Europe. The tournament, which took place in French Valenciennes, saw four French and one British team face each other in what we hope will start an European trend.
In the end, it was Normandie that took the win after beating Hauts de France 4-20 in five innings in the finals. All while Hauts de France played European champion Julianne Laporte, who helped France to the World Championship in 2019. However, not even her experience was enough to get the team the overall win. Normandie won also thanks to Coralie Guilemin who only allowed one hit in five innings, despite walking 10 batters. She also striked out 7 players. Hauts de France used 3 pitchers. Starting Celia Baudchon allowed 11 runs after 9 walks and 1 WP in 2.2 IP. She was substituted by Julianne Laporte, who didn’t fare much batter, as she allowed 9 runs in 2 IP after 8 walks. Angelinque Andre then came to wrap the game and striked out the last batter of Normandie.
The tournament was dominated by French teams, as the British champion Belles finished last after losing 4 games.
Normandie also dominated the individual statistics. Ambre Brouard led batting statistics (with at least 2 AB) v BA .889, 8 hits and 9 RBI. Lisa Papoin also ranked first with 13 runs. Leonie Pauthe from GOP won the pitching stats when she finished with 0.00 ERA as well as 7 SO in 4.2 IP, despite allowing 2 runs and 5 walks.
We can only hope French Open and similar tournaments will hit the ground running in Europe and the future iterations will also see Czech teams.
