First League: Kotlářka still on top. Hippos improving
Ve druhé nejvyšší baseballové soutěži se povedlo odehrát poprvé kompletní kolo a tak se tentokrát žádné zápasy překládat nebudou.
Blesk Jablonec – Pelikans Bučovice 11-1 (F/8) and 21-10 (F/8)
It might seem Jablonec had an easy time against the visitors. However, Pelikans were leading in the first half in both games and Blesk had to come back from the behind at the very end. Especially in the second game of the doubleheader Pelikans scored 6 runs in the first inning and they surely had to get their hopes up. Unfortunately for them home team kickstarted their offense in the sixth inning and scored 16 runs in 3 innings, ending the game on mercy rule. After the weekend Pelikans remain in the bottom of the table with one win.
SaBaT Praha – Skokani Olomouc 1-8 and 3-5
Olomouc returned back to Prague after a week, hoping they would have better luck in Trója. Skokani didn’t leave anything to chance in the first game, playing experienced Vojtěch Papež and Martin Schneider on the mound. They only allowed 1 run and striked out 11 batters. Club’s manager Jakub Voják helped his team in the offense with 4 hits and so Olomouc took the first game comfortably.
The second win was more difficult to get. SaBaT started their ace Kryštof Dupal, who had a very good game. Skokani bet on Petr Charvát, who kept up with his opponent. And so the score was tied at 3-3 after 6 innings. Skokani took the lead for the first time in the seventh inning, when Jan Utěšený got walked with bases loaded. An inning later saw Martin Schneider score in another run. Since Petr Mik on the mound didn’t allow any more runs, Skokani took the second game of the series as well.
Kotlářka Praha – Klasik Frýdek-Místek 10-2 and 8-1
Frýdek-Místek, who aren’t having a good run, came to Prague, where Kotlářka awaited them. And it was once again clear that Klasik has trouble with batting this year, when the visitors only scored 3 runs in 2 games. North Moravian team seems to be lacking production from their experienced players and it’s costing Frýdek-Místek games.
On the other hand, Kotlářka was swinging and pitching well. Especially in the first game, their pitchers only walked one batter and striked out 10. Second game saw experienced Marek Rejman, get 4 hits and with his BA .636 he’s currently the best Kotlářka batter.
„Nothing went our way in Prague. We had bad fielding. We are, as per usual, not scoring in the offense. We have to work on it. I’m not saying that Kotlářka is a bad team, but we lost the games ourselves,“ said unapologetically Klasik manager Jakub Kaplan.
Kotlářka only lost one game out of 8 and is currently on the top of First League. It’s now almost certain that Prague team can start preparing for Promotion League.
Olympia Blansko – Hippos Brno 2-12 and 15-20
The series between Blansko and Hroši B was the only one which wasn’t a doubleheader. The first game was played on Friday under artificial lights. Fans had to wait until the fourth inning to see Olympia batters score against Slovak national team pitcher Martin Gieci. Very few could know at the time these were the only runs Olympia will score. Since the fifth inning, it was only Hippos who saw their players reach the home base. Visitors increased their lead to 10 runs in the end and they ensured a comfortable win. Michal Klimeš had a good game in the offense, earning 4H and 3RBI.
While we needed to wait till the fourth inning to see the runs scored on Friday, both teams started more aggressively on Saturday. Especially Blansko built a solid lead, winning 11-5 after the fifth inning. But the second half of the game belonged to visitors. They were helped by home defense, which made 8 errors. Hippos scored 20 runs, which was enough to get them a win. Klimeš added 4 hits in the second game of the series. However, he wasn’t the only one as leadoff Michal Sláma also got 4 hits from 7 AB. After winning both games Hippos continue their rise and are currently in the third spot.
First League
| # | Team | W | L | T | PCT | GB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KOT Kotlářka | 7 | 1 | 0 | .875 | 0 | |
| 2 | BLE Blesk | 5 | 1 | 0 | .833 | 1 | |
| 3 | BLA Olympia | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 | 3 | |
| 3 | HIP Hippos | 4 | 4 | 0 | .500 | 3 | |
| 3 | SAB SaBaT | 3 | 3 | 0 | .500 | 3 | |
| 3 | SKO Skokani | 4 | 4 | 0 | .500 | 3 | |
| 7 | KLA Klasik | 2 | 6 | 0 | .250 | 5 | |
| 8 | BUC Pelikans | 1 | 7 | 0 | .125 | 6 | |
