Granma and Matanzas sealed respective sweeps over Ciego de Avila (9-2) and Sancti Spíritus (5-3) to meet in the Cuban baseball final for the second consecutive year.

Havana, June 15 (PL).- Granma and Matanzas sealed respective sweeps over Ciego de Avila (9-2) and Sancti Spíritus (5-3) to meet in the Cuban baseball final for the second consecutive year.

As if in a 360-degree turn, Alazanes and Cocodrilos will return to the same point: to discuss the pennant, after leaving no room for doubt and sentencing 4-0 their semifinal games against Gallos and Tigres, who finished in the third and fourth places of the competition, in that order.

Despite the incredulous looks of specialists and fans, unable to believe what happened, the winners maintained total control in their elimination rounds and molded authentic works of art in each outing, to ratify themselves as the best teams on the island.

With three of their main players contracted in foreign clubs, manager Carlos Martí moved his cards in an almost perfect way and solved the opposition of the avileños, who never found the formula to reverse the spell and give free reins to their aspirations.

In the last game, the line up kept its unstoppable pace and the 14 hits were enough to support the work of the pitchers in a silent José Ramón Cepero stadium, where about four thousand people gathered to live the moment.

Meanwhile, the Crocodiles once again counted on the work of left-hander Dariel Góngora (6.0, 3C, 5H, 2BB) and right-hander Noelvis Entenza (3.0, 0C, 3H, 1K), in addition to the batting of outfielder Ariel Sánchez (4-2, 2CI, 1CA, 1-2B) and shortstop Jefferson Delgado (3-1, 1CI, 1CA, 1HR), author of the only home run of the game.

After more than four months of challenges, the 61st National Baseball Series has its closing lineup ready: Granma versus Matanzas, with the former in the role of defending monarch and the latter eager to know the taste of revenge in terms of balls and strikes.