Basque pelota blog in english – Dos paredes

Sunday 21st November, Logrono

GONZALEZ beat TITIN III 22-20

Cuatro y Medio Semi Final

The partisan home crowd which packed Adarraga on Sunday came prepared to cheer their hero Titin to victory over the defending champion, Gonzelez. The atmosphere was electric, as befitted a match of such great importance. For a while, it looked as if the fans would be satisfied in grand style, as Titin raced to an 8-0 lead, moving the ball excellently, and leaving Gonzalez with little room to operate. However, Gonzalez refused to be bowed and when he finally gathered himself for an assault brought his full armoury of weapons to the table. He pulled himself back into the contest point by point initially, but then hit a patch of brilliance, winning six points on the trot to come within one point of Titin at 10-11. From there, the protagonists could barely be split, tying at 12, 13, 15, 16, 18 and 20. Either could have produced the winning break, such was the closeness of the rallying, but in the end it was Gonzalez who held his nerve to take a scintillating victory, 22-20. The defending champion has now won one and lost one in the semi final league, and is still very much in the running for the final. Titin is, in contrast, all but out.

Scoring sequence: 1-0 / 8-0 / 8-3 / 10-3 / 11-4 / 11-10 / 12-10 / 12 / 13 / 15 / 16 / 18 / 20 / 20-22

Image from: Sudouest, by P. Berniere