La Loggia v. Bollate for the ISL title
The only two clubs left standing in the Italian Softball League are Sanotint Bollate and Rhibo La Loggia. Two clubs that are very evenly matched finishing 1 and 2 in the leagues offensive statistics, 3 and 4 in pitching, with a slight advantage held by Bollate when it comes to team defense (.954 Bollate to .946 La Loggia). The next two weeks should be full of fun filled excitement and emotions, as these two very worthy clubs will go head-to-head for all the marbles.
Going into this series Bollate has pretty much had their way thus far with La Loggia in the regular season by winning three out of the four matchups all while taking the first overall spot in group A of the ISL. However if any team is riding high at the moment its defiantly La Loggia, a club that is fresh off of taking three out of four games from the 2012 champs, Caserta, winning the final two on the road in Caserta, the one place that has been extremely hostile to any visiting team for the better portion of this century.
So what team has the upper hand heading into this 2013 addition of the ISL finals? Is it Bollate, the team that lost only four games all year plus one in the semifinals? Or is it the La Loggia club that already successfully dethroned Caserta for the first time in four years? I guess we’ll all find out soon enough when both clubs take the diamond tomorrow evening for the first two.
The difference makers to watch over the next two weeks on the offensive side of the ball will be the leagues top two hitters, Sakia Kosterink and Kristen Wadwell for Bollate who are both over .500, while on La Loggia’s side Amanda Rama isn’t sitting not to shabby with a .485 mark. On a side note, and a very impressive one at that, La Loggia is going to have to pay particular attention Kosterink whenever she gets on the bags, as she scored in impressive 41 runs out of the 69 times that she reached base.
On the mound its Bollate that has the slight edge in terms of team ERA. They are led by Greta Cecchetti and her 0.83 earned runs against average. Cecchetti will be going in one of the two with Kristen Wadwell expected to take the ball in the foreign game. Out of the pen it will be Boniardi and Nicolini, two Italian arms that combined for 6 wins on the season. On La Loggia’s side the Dutch ‘baller’ with her blazing fastball and regular season ERA of 1.31 will have the tough task of taking down Bollate’s power packed offense. The buck doesn’t stop there for Rhibo, they’ll also be able to count on Elisa Brandino, her 7-1 regular season record, and 1.27 earned runs against average. Do note that the one time La Loggia came out on top over Bollate this season was thanks to a complete game 7-0 victory with Brandino on the rubber.
