FRA: GOP defended French Open win
Easter weekend saw the third edition of women’s baseball tournament Open de France Féminin (French Open) take place in French Saint-Romain-de-Jalionas near Lyon. The hosts made the final against GOP dramatic, but the selection from around the Paris area defended their win from the previous year.
The tournament started with a game, which replay we would eventually see in the finale. GOP won the game against bats 10-4 after a dominant performance. The hosts, however, were able to forget the loss and beat Normandie selection 17-1 in the next game. The first day was finished prematurely due to an unexpected storm.
The second day started promising for GOP who beat Normandie 12-5, however, the second game against Bats didn’t go as planned. Bats scored 13 runs in the last inning and won 22-1. Taiwanese national team player Chen-Yun Change, as well as French national team player Nahya Nguyen-Armengaud both scored 3 runs, while Shirley Patin finished the game with 4 RBI.
Finale thus pitted GOP against Bats to determine who will get the bragging rights for being the best women’s team in France for the upcoming year. The game started better for GOP who scored 7 runs in the first inning. Bats responded with 3 runs of their own and slowly started to catch up with their opponents. The last inning started 9-7 for GOP. Léonie Pauthe, known both for her pitching and batting didn’t let down and in the end threw the complete game, allowing one run in the last inning, helping GOP to 9-8 win. Pauthe also helped herself in the offense, where she scored 2 runs.
GOP retained the title from French Open for another year.
Chen-Yun Chang, who finished with 7 run along with Léonie Pauthe, both showed their skill in the offense. Jade Aubard Cojan and Pia Bonnay finished with 6 RBI each.
Trio Bats Chen-Yun Chang (.385), Amina Taleb (.364), Nahya Nguyen-Armengaud (.364) finished at the top of the batting average statistic. Taleb also topped the stolen bases (7).
Chen-Yun Chang finished the tournament at the top of ERA statistic (1.13) followed by Camille Foucher (1.80). Cassandra Vigneau, who is familiar to Czech fans, as she only allowed 3 run against the Czech WNT at the final of the European Championship in 2019, finished first with 13 SO in 9.0 IP.
