LOS NAREJOS - In the city of Los Narejos (Murcia) the final of the Spanish championship for regional teams is held this weekend. The eight teams will play for the title. The team of Valencia, with among others Javier Palazón and the new European junior champion Andrés Carrión, is the defending champion.
The eight teams are divided into two groups of four. The group winners and runners-up play the semi-finals and finals on Sunday. The competition is tough for Valencia with the Catalan team and Madrid as the main rivals. Also Murcia and Andalusia are contenders for the title. Dani Sánchez will not play for Catalunya, because he plays for FC Porto in the final six in Portugal this weekend.
The first matches in Group B have been played already: Murcia defeated Extremadura 8-0. David Zapata was the better of José María Mas in 23 innings (40-26).
The group composition:
Group A:
Valencia: Javier Palazón, Jorge Cantó, José Luis Pascual, Andrés Carrión.
Catalunya: Xavier Minguell, Sergio Jiménez, Xavier Yeste.
Andalucië: Jaime S. Faraco, José R. González, Javier Díaz, Francisco J. Rodríguez.
Galicië: José M. Manteiga, José Fco. Lozano, Ricardo González, Samuel G. Ballesteros
Group B:
Madrid: Rubén Legazpi, Rafael Garrido, Valentín Andaluz, Valentín Andaluz.
Murcia: David Zapata, Jesús Jiménez, José Carrasco, Alberto Sintas.
Extremadura: José María Más, José A. Gómez Carrillo, Julio Alfonso Vicente, Manuel Agudo
Castilla La Mancha: José Vicente Gabarri, Jorge Sánchez, Miguel A. Reyes, Francisco J. Mora.