BARENDRECHT - Two semifinals in the playoffs for Dutch team championship both ended with an unexpected result. What a difference there was between Thursday's home match of MCR/De Uitspanning when they lost 8-0 against STZ Zundert and the away match earlier this week, when Leppens' team won 6-2. The outcome was that the Brabant team will play the final against Buffalo.nl. Roland Forthomme, Peter Ceulemans, Barry van Beers and Raymon Groot made clear in the return that the leader of the regular season is a serious contender for the championship.
The final between STZ Zundert and Buffalo.nl is next week, on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 May. The The Brabant decides whether they first play a home match or away.
After Buffalo.nl won 6-2 against A1 Biljarts in the away match, earlier this week, and then lost in its home match 6-2, the same happened now in the other semi-final. MCR/De Uitspanning seemed on its way to the final after the 6-2 victory in Zundert. But when Buffalo.nl could escape after the loss at home, by an advantage on caroms, MCR was robbed of all its illusions in the home match on Thursday.
The verdict had already been marked before the break, when Peter Ceulemans, the man on a mission with two wins, showed his high class from the get-go with a brief attack and a 21-9 score in only 8 innings. Dave Christiani could come up with a strong counter to 33-30, but eventually the Belgian's final sprint with six decided over the match: 50-42 in 31.
Raymon Groot also flaunted with a spectacular start against Sander Jonen, running 4-7-1-4 and later another 7 for a 25-5 score in 12 innings. Jonen, who played a strong match in Zundert, couldn't get into the match now. He got lots of opportunities after his poor start (8 in 22 innings), when Groot scored only four times in his last twelve innings, but still he could took an easy win: 50-40 in 46.
The Brabant team thus took a 4-0 advantage and also important was that the 4 caroms backlog was converted into a 14 caroms lead, with the matches Leppens-Forthomme and Frings-Van Beers coming up.
Thorsten Frings and Barry van Beers balanced until 29-29 and 38-38, from then the Dutchman attacked to victory. Roland Forthomme ran away from Eddy Leppens with a run of ten (34-19), but after Leppens scored eight, the score was 35-32. Forthomme later repaired the margin and finished in 28 innings: 50-36. The team win was already secured, because Barry van Beers had beaten Frings 50-46 in 32.
The final of the playoffs:
STZ Zundert-Buffalo.nl (Saturday 7 and Sunday, May 8).
Eddy Leppens is out with the MCR team after the 8-0 loss against Zundert