Pharaonnes Capture Division 1 Title in Straight Games
Les Pharaonnes d’Évry-Courcouronnes claimed the 2026 French Division 1 Women’s Softball Championship on Saturday, October 10, sweeping the Comanches de Saint-Raphaël in three games to secure their second national crown in club history, mesinfos.fr reported. The Essonne-based club sealed the series with a 5-3 victory on the road in Var, following two dominant home wins of 9-2 and 6-2 the preceding week.
The victory marks a triumphant conclusion to a domestic campaign that saw Évry-Courcouronnes unseat the defending champions. According to ffbs.fr, the decisive Game 3 remained tightly contested early on as Saint-Raphaël opened the scoring in the third inning. The turning point arrived in the fifth frame when the Pharaonnes struck for four runs, propelled by Ambre Brouard, Lisa Papoin, Emma Liminier, and Océane Lecourt Milliet. Though the Comanches answered with two runs in the same inning to narrow the gap to 4-3, Évry added an insurance run in the seventh to withstand late pressure.
Tortolero Earns Finals MVP Honors
Pitching anchored the championship effort for the visitors as Eidy Tortolero of Évry-Courcouronnes collected MVP honors for the series. Tortolero worked all seven innings in the finale, conceding four hits and three runs—two of which were earned—while issuing five walks and striking out nine batters to finish with a 1.06 ERA, ffbs.fr documented. The performance neutralized a Saint-Raphaël side that had entered the series undefeated in regular-season play.
Behind the 17-player roster stands a coaching staff that forged a resilient unit. “Il a fallu construire, solidifier et unir cette équipe,” assistant coach Sophat Chum stated, pointing to the collective grit required to navigate the grueling season, mesinfos.fr reported. Stéphane Beaudet of Évry-Courcouronnes, hailed the championship as a source of civic pride extending beyond athletics, describing the milestone as an incredible achievement for the city.
Replicating the Historic European Double
The national title completes a remarkable year of continental and domestic dominance for the club. Earlier in the summer, from August 14 to 22, the team traveled to Jánossomorja, Hungary, where they captured the Women’s Softball European Cup Winners Cup B by defeating the Warsaw Diamonds 8-1 in the final, mesinfos.fr and ffbs.fr noted. By securing both trophies in the same calendar year, the Pharaonnes duplicated the exact double they first achieved in 2022.
The championship pedigree in the Essonne department extends beyond softball. Just weeks before the Pharaonnes clinched their crown, the baseball squad of the Lions de Savigny-sur-Orge secured their sixth national championship, underscoring a fertile corridor for bat-and-ball sports in the region, according to mesinfos.fr reports.
Transitioning to Youth Olympic Baseball5 Competition
With the club season concluded, the competitive calendar rolls directly into international play for three young Pharaonnes stars. Jade Lippert, Lila d’Hauteville, and Elsa Lepinay will represent France in Baseball5—a fast-paced, mixed urban discipline derived from baseball and softball—at the upcoming Youth Olympic Games in Senegal, scheduled from October 31 to November 13, mesinfos.fr detailed. Lepinay, at just 16 years old, carries the added distinction of serving as the flag-bearer for the French delegation during the opening ceremony.
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