Draci Brno defended Extraliga title
Moravia reigns supreme. Draci brno once again won Czech Extraliga. The most successful team of the league’s history earned their 24th title after they beat Tempo Praha 3-2 in the series.
After Prague won on Sunday, the winner was to be decided in Brno. And it was Tempo who took the first lead in the second inning, after Filip Smola reached the home base after a wild pitch from Juan Jaime. No one would suspect Dominican pitcher wouldn’t allow any more runs for the rest of the game. The bottom inning saw young Šimon Klacl manufacture the tying run.
Draci took the lead in the fourth inning, when they added three runs. However, Brno had to remember the game from Prague, when three run lead wasn’t enough. Visitors had two runners on bases with two outs in the ninth inning. However, Juan Jaime managed the situation and finished the game with his 11th strikeout of the series. Home team could thus celebrate the title after 4-1 win.
„It was an incredible series. We lost yesterday because of a small error. Tempo caught up with us nicely. Today luck was on our side. I think it was one of the best final series and I really value the title. We played well in the defense for the entire series. Our pitcher were pitching well and we always competed. The team believed in themselves and we were able to get runs in clutch situations. This was the base of our success,“ said Draci Brno manager Hynek Čapka after the final game.
„Naturally we wanted to win. We put everything into it and the loss hurts. I am proud of this team. The team, that had their first playoff experience in the previous season is now a team that plays close games with the most experienced team in the republic. We didn’t take advantage of a few offensive opportunities, and if you don’t score from those, you just don’t have enough runs by the end of the game. These are immense experiences for all the players, who were a part of it. I’m glad we were able to play wider roster in the series. I’m proud we were able to do this with our Czech players, which is our philosophy, that we will support [for the future] and this is the way we will play in the following seasons,“ summed up Tempo manager Lubomír Čuhel.
Draci thus turned 29th season into their 24th title and they solidified their position as the most successful Extraliga team. Tempo had their best season since returning to the top tier baseball and they currently have three Extraliga silver places.
