First League: Kotlářka is the first team certain to play in Promotion League
Longer weekend had a good number of games in store for the fans of First League. It also revealed the first team to play in Promotion League.
Kotlářka played 4 games in the previous week and all of them were successful. They only needed to play all 9 innings in one of them, in the rest they rolled through their opponents in 7 innings. They scored 64 runs against Olympia and Pelikans making them the first team to reach 100 runs on the season. Kotlářka also only allowed 35 of them, which is the least of all First League teams. In the first game against Bučovice we could see Jan Novák play for the first time in the season. In 2 innings he only allowed 1 hit and striked out 3 batters.
Jablonec remains in the second spot as they played their series against Hippos. They first won 14-11 after a good end of the game. Bles was 5-8 behind after 6 innings, however 9 runs in last 3 innings helped them to get the win. Brett Lindsay helped his team with 4 hits. The second game was all about pitchers. This time it was Jablonec who started better, however, Hippos added 3 runs in 6th and 7th inning, taking the lead from 0-2 to 3-2. Third, and final run was manufactured by Slovak national team player Martin Gieci. The game had to be finished prematurely due to bad visibility and thus teams took one win each.
SaBaT also played 4 games over the weekend. They first welcomed Klasik at home, winning the first game 8-2 thanks to Joshua Paull, who threw 5.2 innings, only allowing 2 runs. Kryštof Kavan finished the game in style, where he only allowed one Klasik batter on base. Klasik was able to do something no other team did this season as they forced Kryštof Dupal from the mound after only 7 innings. This was the first time home starter didn’t throw a complete game. Klasik could rely on their young pitchers, who, helped by 5 errors from SaBaT, earned another win. With 4-8 record Klasik lost hopes of moving to Promotion League.
Two more games were played at SaBaT on Monday, when Olympia came to the Czech capital. Both teams played 2 close games, when both games were decided by the smallest possible difference. SaBaT took the first game 7-6 mainly thanks to a great outing from Kryštof Kavan, who threw 5 innings and only allowed 2 hits and 1 run. Vojtěch Pomazal‚s solo homerun in the 7th inning kickstarted Olympia’s chase for a comeback, but SaBaT managed to keep the lead. The second game was even more dramatic, as we saw plenty lead changes. The 9th inning started 8-7 for Blansko. But Joshua Paull then scored in 2 runs and SaBaT was close to win. They then made 2 errors, which Blansko used to get the two runs needed to win. Both teams still hold hopes to get to Promotion League.
Skokani also keep their Extraliga hopes alive, but they complicated their situation in a postponed game against Blansko, which they lost 8-11. Blansko has especially successful 8th inning, where they came back from 6-8 with 5 runs. Skokani couldn’t win despite sending Martin Schneider on the mound. They needed to win games against Bučovice. Olomouc confirmed their role as a favorite in the first game and win 19-9. The second game was anything but easy, as Bučovice fought their way to 10-9 they got thanks to a comeback in the 8th inning. Their starter Ondřej Králik threw all 9 innings for which he needed 161 pitches. In the offense, Jakub Kuečka, Lukáš Řehůřek and Jiří Foitl all had 3 hits. Pelikans, same as Klasik, won’t play in Promotion League nevertheless.
First League Standings
| # | Team | W | L | T | PCT | GB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KOT Kotlářka | 11 | 1 | 0 | .917 | 0 | |
| 2 | BLE Blesk | 7 | 3 | 0 | .700 | 3 | |
| 3 | HIP Hippos | 6 | 6 | 0 | .500 | 5 | |
| 3 | SAB SaBaT | 6 | 6 | 0 | .500 | 5 | |
| 3 | SKO Skokani | 6 | 6 | 0 | .500 | 5 | |
| 6 | BLA Olympia | 5 | 6 | 0 | .455 | 5.5 | |
| 7 | KLA Klasik | 4 | 8 | 0 | .333 | 7 | |
| 8 | BUC Pelikans | 2 | 11 | 0 | .154 | 9.5 | |
