Once the elimination rounds of the Promotion Championships were over, the inter-provincial challenges began who will have to select the teams that will compete for the final success. In the second category – five Lombard groups – the two winners of the first and second groups clashed, with direct elimination through home and away matches, Casciago from the first group and Ternatese from the second.
The first leg match, played on Saturday 8 June, saw Ternatese prevail 5-3, so in the return match at the clubs a draw would have been enough to get through. Heavy rain in Ternate, with a hostile sky that was unusual for the month of June, but more appropriate for an advanced month of October: it was a question of finding out who it would rain on. The start seemed to leave no doubt, the local trio started with the accelerator pressed to the floor, 3-0 in the first hand, 6-0 in the second, 8-0 in the third and first point in the box of the blues from Terni.
The second set was channeled into the same channel as the first, only the score sequence changed 3-0, then 4-0, finally 8-0 and after a short time Ternate found itself at 2-0, placing a serious threat on the final victory. However, in the individual case, things proceeded in a very different way. The local idol Basini, who had recently placed the scalp of Massimiliano Chiappella on his personal totem before winning the regional competition in which he had participated, encountered several difficulties with Tronconi from Casciago who had every good intention of not letting himself be overwhelmed, given that started with the lead, had come back until the fateful hand in which Basini found himself ahead 7-4, only that Tronconi with two perfect misses had two points at the bottom of the table, a ball still in his hands and one of his own at three-quarters of the pitch: it was enough hit her “et voilà les jeux sont faits” with four points and victory in the set 8-7. Enzo Ferrari, nicknamed “The Drake”, in analogy with the privateer Sir Francis Drake, used to choose his drivers with a very clear concept: they had to be not only champions, but they also had to be lucky, in any case never unlucky, given that even in car competitions the “lucky lady” component is sometimes essential.
Tronconi could never have been chosen by Enzo Ferrari: he hit his mark with a view to achieving what was plannedeverything seemed to happen according to predictions, except that…, except that one of his balls also dragged a ball from Biasini to the bottom, who alone, among four opposing balls, mockingly positioned himself next to the snitch, giving away the set for 8-4 to the Ternate native.
The match was now all downhill, with 3-0 achieved. Casciago tried to keep hope alive by winning the second set with the combative Tronconi against Dall’Oco who replaced Biasini. Unfortunately for Casciago the illusion of straightening out the match lasted just long enough to cross the threshold of the temple and recite a short prayer to receive the requested grace: the Aquilini/Dall’Oco Armando duo inflicted the third 8-0 on Casciago and , having reached the fourth point, achieved success, sanctioned by the race director who suspended the contest. Now Ternatese is awaited by Speroni of Milan with the first leg match next Saturday at home: should they prevail, they are awaited by the final of the group scheduled for September – 14th and 21st – with the winner between the Bergamo side Villese and the Cremonese side ‘Astra.
(Roberto Bramani Heralds)
BOWL PILLS
15 June – 2nd category promotion championship – Ternatese finals – Casciago 4-1 (first leg 5-3) Ternatese passes – next round Ternatese – Sperone (MI) 17 June – Brenta – individual regional B and CD continues separate matches
