by John Baum
CARDS QUALIFY FOR 5TH CONSECUTIVE FINAL BY DEFEATING THE LAUSANNE INDIANS IN GAME 5!
The Bern Cardinals beat the Lausanne Indians 11-5 in the decisive game five of the semi-final series. The Cards trailed only once in the game as the Indians took an early 1-0 advantage. The Cards answered quickly and took the lead in the second inning and never looked back! Tobias Imboden, starting his first career playoff game kept the mighty Indian offense mostly in check over 8 innings. The offense was led by John Baum and Samuel Paulino, who each knocked out homeruns, Paulinos‘ coming in the eighth inning with two men aboard really put the game out of reach. Johnny Perigos, Ronnie Zimmermann, added two hits apiece; while Alex Cruz Tifa, and Angelo Rodriguez both had big two-out, two-RBI hits to spark the scoring! The win moves the Cards back to the finals where they will face the Therwil Flyers, who won in the 11th in against the Challengers to advance to the finals for the first time since 2004. The Flyers hold the all time consecutive title streak of five in a row. It is fitting that the Cardinals meet the Flyers in this final, playing the same team whose record run they look to equal.
The finals will begin October 3rd in Therwil…
The Cardinals travel to Paris Friday, September 25, to participate in the European “A” pool qualifying tournament versus Templiers Senart next weekend. The winner of the best-of-three playoff will occupy the final spot in next year’s “A” pool competition. The team from Bern looks to add another feather to their cap by becoming the first team to qualify the Swiss for this elite level of European competition.
Results Swiss Semi-Finals Game 5:
Saturday, September 19:
Therwil Flyers – Zurich Challengers 7-6
in Hunenberg: Lausanne Indians – Bern Cardinals 5-11
(Cardinals and Flyers win best-of-five series 3-2)