It was the promised meeting between the first and second ranked teams in the southern division of the Softball-Bundesliga. However in the end the Tornados prevailed in both games and defended their perfect 12-0 record.
In game one the Disciples came out firing, scoring four runs leading off the game. But Mannheim struck back right away with five runs in the bottom of the frame. They extended the lead to 8-4 after four innings until Haar tried to come back, but only was able to cut the deficit to 6-8. In the second match the Tornados had the better start and took an early 4-0 lead through three innings en route to a 5-2 win.
The Karlsruhe Cougars took advantage of the two Haar losses and moved into second place after a sweep in Darmstadt. They are going to get their shot of stopping Mannheim, when the league resumes play on May 30th. In the north the Neunkirchen Nightmares swept their doubleheader against the Holm Westend 69ers and moved into a tie for first place in the standings, as the Wesseling Vermins had a bye.
Results:
May 15:
North:
Neunkirchen Nightmares – Holm Westend 69ers 15-1
Neunkirchen Nightmares – Holm Westend 69ers 10-1
Hamburg Knights – Brauweiler Raging Abbots 3-24
Hamburg Knights – Brauweiler Raging Abbots 2-9
South:
Mannheim Tornados – Haar Disciples 8-6
Mannheim Tornados – Haar Disciples 5-2
May 16:
South:
Laufer Woelfe – Herrenberg Wanderers 1-21
Laufer Woelfe – Herrenberg Wanderers 12-6
Darmstadt Rockets – Karlsruhe Cougars 2-9
Darmstadt Rockets – Karlsruhe Cougars 5-9
Standings:
North:
- Neunkirchen 9-1
- Wesseling 9-1
- Brauweiler 5-5
- Hamburg 3-7
- Holm 0-12
South:
- Mannheim 12-0
- Karlsruhe 10-2
- Haar 9-3
- Lauf 5-7
- Herrenberg 4-8
- Darmstadt 3-9
- Augsburg 2-8
- Heidelberg 1-9