by John Baum
CARDS ON THE BRINK OF ELIMINATION AS FLYERS WIN GAMES ONE AND TWO!
The four-time defending Swiss champs have their backs against the wall in the best of five finals series versus the Therwil Flyers. The Flyers showed how they finished the last two regular seasons in first place by dismantling the Cards in game one, 16-2. The Flyers were able to back up that great performance with a tough fought 4-2 win on Sunday.
Game one was the Flyers offense, and the Lukas Croton show. The Flyers pounded out 19 hits, and Croton held the powerful Cards offense in check for seven innings, allowing only one earned run. Hide Oshima would clean up the win for the Flyers pitching a scoreless eigth and ninth inning. The Cards sent Andrea Girasole to the mound to attempt to slow down the Flyers heavy hitting. Andrea pitched great for nearly five innings before tiring. In the first four innings he allowed only four runs, two of which were earned, leaving the score at 4-2. A six run fifth inning, along with a four run sixth slammed the door to any hopes of a Cards comeback, eventually falling 16-2 in game one.
Game two was a much differant story for the Cards, as Tobias Imboden, making his first career final start, would pitch a complete game allowing only four runs. Imboden wasn’t touched for a hit until the fifth inning, going 4 1/3 innings hitless to start the game. The Cards offense got off to an early start as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead. A two-out error that allowed the leadoff hitter to score, followed by a run-scoring triple giving the Cards the early advantage. Unfortunately that would be all the scoring the Cardinals would account for, as the were held down by Blackbee and Kaufmann for the final eight innings. The flyers on the other hand would find a way to get to Imboden, scoring twice in two seperate innings, taking a 4-2 lead in the seventh inning. The Cards had one last chance to tie the game in the eighth inning as the had runner on second and third with two outs. Again the Cards couldn’t find the big hit, stranding the runners and their chances on base all game. The final score of 4-2 was a vast improvement on the previous day’s result, and should allow the Cards belief that this series is far from over!
Schedule:
Saturday, October 10th:
14:00 Therwil Flyers – Bern Cardinals
Sunday, October 11th:
14:00 Bern Cardinals – Therwil Flyers*
Saturday, October 17th:
14:00 Therwil Flyers – Bern Cardinals*
*if necessary
(all games to be played at the Kaenelmatt ballpark in Therwil)
Results:
Saturday, October 3rd:
Therwil Flyers – Bern Cardinals 16-2
Sunday, October 4th:
Bern Cardinals – Therwil Flyers 2-4 (Flyers lead Series 2-0)
