ROVIGO – Perhaps only the most optimistic would have expected to see both Senior teams of the Baseball Softball Club Rovigo firmly at the top of the table at this point of the season. A few games away from the end of the first qualifying phase of the Baseball Series, Itas Mutua Rovigo continues to look down on everyone in Group B (photo: Nicolò Falghera and Fabio Padoan).
The derby against Padova played over the weekend ended in a draw, but the rossoblù’s margin over Farma Crocetta, who fell twice on the Cagliari diamond, still widened to two matches. More predictable, but perhaps not to this extent, was the domination of the girls in Serie A2 softball, who managed to achieve four victories in three days, securing first place in Group B and direct access to the playoffs.
It was the rossoblù “Girls” who opened the weekend with the trip to the Collecchio diamond, anticipating the double challenge that the calendar had included in conjunction with the European softball championships in which some athletes from Polesine will participate. The two matches played on Friday in Emilia were without history. After a first clear success with 7-0, with Munaretto on the platform, the “Girls” also made a comeback in the second match of the day with 9-4, the result above all of a prolific finish in attack and careful in defence. Once back in Polesine, on Sunday the Rodigine team hosted the much more fearsome Nuove Pantere Lucca, the second strongest team in the group. In the first match the rossoblù team, which alternated Bernardi, Begu and Munaretto on the pitch, prevailed 11-6, breaking the balance that had characterized the first rounds with five points in the sixth inning. The 11-2 with which game two ended after just four restarts was easier. The gap on the Tuscans has now risen to six games of advantage and mathematical qualification for the playoffs is truly one step away.
Qualification is also close for Itas Mutua Rovigo, who next weekend against Cagliari could definitively bring the historic goal of accessing the championship phase of the top national league closer. In Padua on Saturday it was anything but simple. In game one, after a good start with two points in the first two innings, Rovigo suffered the return of the home team, who took a temporary 4-2 lead. The rossoblù reaction led to a five-point recovery thanks to a triple from Buin. Good management on the mountain by Crepaldi, Giacomo Taschin and Pillon, which leads to a final recovery to be framed with another five rossoblù points that secure the final 12-7.
Game two played in the evening was also very close. On the shields are the two pitchers, Pietrogrande for Rovigo and Martinez for Padova, whose excellent performances keep the scores blocked until the fourth inning. Then in the fifth inning Padova finds the four decisive points. In fact, the Rovigo reaction stops at just two winning runs in the sixth round, then the Paduan defense raises the barricades and doesn’t concede anything again until the final 4-2.
