Bologna sweeps, while the rest of the league splits
After the first week of interleague play in the Italian Baseball League Bologna has become without a doubt the team to beat after they improved to an impressive 7 and 1 on the season, thus earning what is now a commanding lead on the rest of the division. In Parma, Lino’s Coffee Parma really took it to the three time defending champs on Friday evening with a final score of 12-0 in a shortened 7-inning game. Valerio Simone and the rest of San Marino’s Italian mound struggled mightily against the duo of Sanchez and Yepez for Parma. On Saturday evening the table where turned with Guerra on the bump for T&A, as San Marino was able to walk away with the 6-3 victory and a series split. The win however came at a great cost to San Marino’s already diluted lineup, as Pantaleoni (1st baseman) was rushed to the hospital after a hard collision at the first base bag. ‘Panta’ suffered fractured scapula along with a trauma to his spleen, and will have to hospitalized for at least a week, while it will be more then two months before veteran will be able to take the field again for T&A again.
With Fortitudo Bologna’s sweep over Rimini, Nanni’s club now holds a 4 game lead over the rest of Division A, a division that currently see the likes of Godo and Padova a full game up on the three time defending champs, San Marino. Tommasin Padova has thus far made a solid impression on the rest of the league with their solid defense and above average mound. Both Uviedo and Acosta have been holding their own in the foreigner game, while in the Italian game the likes of Enrico Crepaldi, Faccini, and Medina have thus far been able to baffle apposing hitters just enough. In conclusion they are a solid team that sits at .500 after the first 4 weeks of play in 2014. Lastly in Division A Godo has also impressed thus far this season at 4 and 4. After dropping their first two games of the season to Bologna, Godo has gone onto split with San Marino, sweep Padova, and this past weekend split with Nettuno. They are a young team with two difficult foreigners that are more then capable of keeping them in any game.
In Division B Lino’s Coffee Parma lost a big opportunity on Saturday evening in the 5th with bases juiced and one out. A big inning and San Marino would have found themselves three games under .500 and 2 games back of both Padova and Godo in Division A. T&A was however able to tiptoe their way around the situation with Guerra on the mound, thus highlight the fact the Parma wasn’t able to get the little things done in this one. With a series sweep it would be Parma tied at the top of Division B with Nettuno, which would have put a significant amount of pressure on Rimini after their faulty weekend at home against Bologna. At the moment another team that is struggling in their Italian game is Rimini. Without the Roberto Corradini, the load has been handed off to Sandy Patrone, the newly acquired Torres, Cherubini, and Del Bianco, a group of arms that has thus far struggled to fill the shoes of the veteran Corradini. With Rimini being swept by Bolonga, Nettuno was able to hang onto the top spot in the division with their spit in Godo. On Friday evening Nettuno walked away with the victory, however on Saturday they struggled in the box off of Calero and Ribeiro, as the two were able to hold Nettuno to just a single run. Lastly in Division B Nettuno2 came out on the wrong end of their third consecutive sweep once again this past weekend in Padova. Nettuno2 hasn’t won a game since they split with Parma during the first week of play, as the newcomer to the league now has dropped to 1 and 7 to beginning the season. Nettuno2 has played their fair share of close games, however the timely hit and consistent pitching has seemed to have eluded this club thus far in 2014.
