Apologies for yet more silence from the blog in the past week or so. Things have been difficult in many ways at my end, while the world of pelota has moved on apace. The semi-finalists are set and the first of the matches in the last four take place this weekend. Last week’s results were as follows:

Friday 22^nd March, Mutilva: MARTINEZ DE IRUJO – ZABALETA beat ARRETXE II – BEGINO 22-8
Saturday 23^rd March, Pamplona: BENGOETXEA VI – BEROIZ beat TITIN III – MERINO II 22-8
Saturday 23^rd March, Bilbao: XALA – BARRIOLA beat BERASALUZE II – ALBISU 22-20
Sunday 24^th March, Eibar: OLAIZOLA II – IBAI ZABALA beat EZKURDIA – ZUBIETA 22-11

Three of the semi-finalists, Irujo-Zabaleta, Bengoetxea VI-Beroiz and Olaizola II-Ibai Zabala had been set but the big story of the past two weeks has been the fight for the fourth spot between Berasaluze-Albisu and defending champions Titin-Merino. In the end, it was the former who squeezed in, ending the defence of the Riojans who suffered a heavy defeat in Pamplona. Berasaluze and Albisu also lost, but did enough given their superior points difference. The final table looks like this:

	Pair	Games	Won	Lost	Points for	Points against	Points diff.
1	MTEZ IRUJO – ZABALETA	14	11	3	291	224	+67
2	OLAIZOLA II – IBAI ZABALA	14	10	4	287	209	+78
3	BENGOETXEA VI – BEROIZ	14	10	4	283	244	+39
4	BERASALUZE VIII – ALBISU	14	6	8	256	271	-15
5	TITIN III – MERINO II	14	6	8	243	284	-41
6	EZKURDIA – ZUBIETA	14	5	9	254	255	-1
7	XALA – BARRIOLA	14	5	9	241	287	-46
8	ARRETXE II – BEGINO	14	3	11	210	291	-81

The first semi-final pits Olaizola II-Ibai Zabala against Martinez de Irujo-Zabaleta (Vitoria-Gasteiz, Saturday) while Bengoetxea VI-Beroiz play Berasaluze II-Albisu in Eibar on Sunday. For a full round up of all the results from the round robin stages, see Aspe’s webpages.

The Promocion championship has also reached the semi-final stage, with standout pair Gorka-Cecilio sitting proudly atop the table.

	Pair	Games	Won	Lost	Points for	Points against	Points diff.
1	GORKA – CECILIO	11	9	2	225	157	68
2	APEZETXEA – LARRINAGA	11	8	3	215	182	33
3	RICO IV – UNTORIA	11	7	4	215	184	31
4	TAINTA – LADIS GALARZA	11	6	5	215	195	20
5	MENDIZABAL III – MERINO	11	5	6	205	204	1
6	OLAZABAL – ARRUTI	11	3	8	177	209	-32
7	ELEZKANO II – LARUNBE	11	3	8	159	205	-46
8	LEMUNO – ARETXABALETA	11	3	8	148	223	-75

Both of the opening semis take place on Saturday. Gorka and Cecilio get a home match in Ezkaray against Rico IV and Untoria, while Apezetxea and Larrinaga play Tainta and Ladis Galarza in Vitoria-Gasteiz. For all the results from the round robin, see here.

Photos: mine