The Saint-Fred of Drummondville face a steep two-game deficit in the Ligue de baseball senior de la Vallée-des-forts finals after dropping an 8-7 decision to the Chambly Pirates on Friday night at Stade Jacques-Desautels Desjardins. Despite a late rally that fell just short in the final frame, the defending league champions stumbled out of the gate against the regular-season titlists in the best-of-five series.
Defensive miscues proved costly for the home side, which committed four errors over the course of the evening, including two in the opening inning alone. Speaking near the field after the final out, team representative David Bentamy pointed directly to the early defensive lapses as the turning point of the contest. “We have a bad habit of shooting ourselves in the foot against the Pirates,” Bentamy said. “We did it again tonight. If you take away our four errors, we win this game.”
Bentamy suggested that an overwhelming eagerness to perform at their best might be generating unnecessary tension within the clubhouse. “It’s maybe a desire to overperform that creates a bit of stress for us,” he noted. “We aren’t a team that commits many errors usually, but most of the games we’ve lost this year happened because of errors.”
The high-scoring affair unfolded in front of a record-setting crowd for the Saint-Fred organization, with local supporters generating noise throughout the contest. “We gave a great night of baseball to our fans!” Bentamy said. “The people were behind us. They stood up and made a lot of noise. We really appreciate that.”
Trailing 8-5 heading into their final turn at bat, Drummondville mounted a furious two-out charge. Frédéric Gagnon laced a double to center field, driving home two runs to slice the deficit to a single run. However, relief pitcher Mathieu Roy recovered to induce a ground ball from Pierre-Olivier Perreault, extinguishing the rally and sealing the victory for Chambly.
“Our game plan was to have fun and stay focused,” Bentamy said. “We did that until the end. It could have gone the other way. I’m very proud of the guys! The good news is that we aren’t dead yet.”
Tempers flared in the middle of the fifth inning when home plate arbiters ejected Pirates pitcher Jean-Sébastien Varney following aggressive on-field behavior. “He’s the kind of player who often looks to stir up trouble,” Bentamy remarked regarding the ejection. “We expected that kind of attitude from him. We stayed focused despite his attempts to take us out of our game. For our part, we don’t want those things in the league anymore. Aside from that individual, we never have problems with anyone. We hope he learns from this or that the league disciplines him.”
Chambly initially claimed a 4-1 advantage before Maxime Lemaire swung the momentum for Drummondville with a dramatic three-run home run in the bottom of the third inning. Defensive miscues allowed the visitors to reclaim the lead, pushing ahead 6-4 in the fifth and 7-5 in the sixth frame.
Drummondville hitters generated eight hits on the night but stranded several runners on the basepaths. On the mound, Gagnon battled through 11 hits allowed to the potent Chambly lineup.
The Saint-Fred will look to stave off elimination on home turf when the series resumes Sunday evening at Stade Jacques-Desautels Desjardins, with the opening pitch scheduled for 8:00 p.m. local time. “It’s going to take consistency,” Bentamy concluded. “Today, we performed well offensively against excellent pitchers. We must continue to force things, never slow down our running on the bases, and go all the way. We aren’t counting ourselves beaten yet. We are looking forward to playing again on Sunday.”
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