SIENA. The derby between Siena and Monteriggioni served to demonstrate two things: the strong desire for redemption on the part of the Bianconeri and the growth of the young Valdelsa players. It was a match played in great friendship, with the initial embrace between the starting pitcher of Monteriggioni, Miguel Sacchi, and the Juventus president Francesco Giusti, who exchanged the lineup for Siena with the former Juventus coach Jesus Barroso , now manager at Monteriggioni, and who was Miguel’s coach in the Allievi. At the end of the match, hospitality was offered by the Castellina Scalo club to the Juventus players and supporters, including numerous boys from the youth sector who came to cheer on their heroes. Also present in the audience on Mother’s Day was the undisputed “mother” of Siena baseball Margherita Fontani, who as a teacher at Saffi had contributed to bringing baseball to Siena in 1978.
Siena – absent the best hitter of the season, Rodriguez Garcia, and with the second with the highest batting average, Hernandez, initially on the bench – lined up with Alejandro Fernandez Matos as lead off and center fielder, Bonilla Castro as shortstop, Paul Castillejos in first base , Anthony Pichardo at third, German de Jesus at second, Rosario Ramirez to left, Dube Alvarez to right, Mancini receiving and Selmo on the mound. In defense for Monteriggioni on the mound goes Miguel Sacchi, Denis Zeqo is the catcher, at first Labate, at second Emanuele Negro, at third Mirko Cencioni, shortstop Matteo Santoriello, while the fielders, from the left are Giovanni Sena, Giulio Baccilli and Luis Panagua Suarez .
The Bianconeri immediately started off strong, with seven points scored in the first half, while right from the start the dimensions of the “Antonio Scialoja” pitch (76 meters to the left foul, 81 to the center and 66 meters to the right foul, i.e., respectively, 22-39-32 meters less than what would be a regulation field) show their limits, with the serves ending on the iron fence which are all transformed into doubles (at the end of the match there will be 6, three on each side, a very high number compared to what would probably have happened on a normal diamond). The Bianconeri are solid at bat (six hits in the first half) and extremely aggressive when running the bases, especially in the first few rounds, to collect points: in the first inning they steal eight bases, with Bonilla (two stolen), Castillejos (also two stolen bases), Pichardo (1), Dube (1) and Mancini (1) who put pressure on the opposing defense. Siena immediately scores 7, while, in their attack, Monteriggioni scores two, with Baccilli (the best at bat with a final 2 out of 4) and Santoriello: 7 to 2 for Siena.
In the 2nd minute, the Monteriggioni defense and Miguel Sacchi make three quick outs, while on the Sienese mound Selmo loses control a bit and concedes three base balls out of four batters faced, forcing manager Alvarado to replace, on the mound, with Alejandro Fernandez Matos, while the other Fernandez Matos, Leandro, will replace Selmo. With the bases full, the base ball to Santoriello brings in Zeqo’s run, then the orientation of Castellina’s diamond, with the sun blinding the outfielders, brings in his own: Leandro Fernandez Matos “misses” an easy fly ball to the outfield left, on which the points of Baccilli and Santoriello enter: 7-5 the partial.
At the beginning of the third inning, Siena goes further: Mancini scores (base ball, stolen second base, into third due to the catcher’s subsequent throwing error and a point on Leandro Fernandez Matos’ hit to the center). Leandro also scores, after stealing second, reaching third on a wild pitch and benefiting from the double, placed between left fielder and center, by his brother Alejandro, who reaches third due to a balk called by umpire Ferrini to the detriment of pitcher Sacchi and then scores due to a ball lost by the catcher: 10 – 5.
In the 4th minute Estra scores another point, with Paul Castillejos batting to the right, stealing the second and third and scoring thanks to German de Jesus’ serve on the shortstop: 11 to 5. In the fifth attack the Bianconeri touch Sacchi was very hard and put the visiting defense in difficulty, which committed three defensive errors: in the end 15 men passed from the box, with two home runs scored by Bonilla Castro (from two points to the center fielder) and by Dube Alvarez (from three points to the left winger). Monteriggioni also scored a homerun, with Paniagua Suarez hitting center field over the fence at the start of the second half. After Denis Zeqo’s double by rule on the right. The Estra manager replaces the 2005 Alejandro Fernandez Matos with the 2006 Riccardo Luigi Rodriguez, who remains on the platform with 3 men, with Baccilli’s double in the center which brings in two more points for Monteriggioni. The young Petriccio pitcher is replaced by left-handed Paul Castillejos, who with two outs suffers Miguel Sacchi’s single, which pushes former Siena player Leon Chico and former Lancers Baccilli to the score: 20 to 10.
At the beginning of the sixth inning, Siena scored run number 21, with Dario Mancini being hit by the pitcher, reaching second on a wild pitch and scoring on Leandro Fernandez Matos’ hit to center field. In the home team’s last attack, there was space on the pitching plate for Cacciatore, who scored a strike out on Emanuele Negro, was hit by Leon Chico’s shortstop and generated Baccilli’s double play, which led to the double elimination which closes the match with a result of 21 to 10 for Estra Siena BSC.
Franchigia Firenze’s unexpected defeat against Padule (8 to 9, with five points scored by the Sesto team in the last half), allowed Estra to return first in the group, cohabiting, however, with Padule Sestese and the Florentines. The Cosmos, involved in an inter-group match, were defeated 15 to 5 by the Boars by demonstration. In the other group, Livorno consolidated first place in the standings, beating Phoenix Grosseto 11 to 8, while Massa won their first victory of the season, beating Nuove Pantere Lucca 10 to 6.
