VIF Baseball
5× Norgesmester · 3× Seriemester · Stiftet 2022
5× Norgesmester · 3× Seriemester · Stiftet 2022
Titansport Arena, Dønnestad · September 26–27
Vålerenga are league champions, and the Triple Crown is done. They beat Bergen 7–6 on Saturday and Kristiansand Suns 3–2 in Sunday's final at Dønnestad, adding the Eliteserien title to the Federation Cup and NM they won in June. Every trophy on offer in 2026 is going home to Oslo, one of them in the back seat with its seatbelt on.
Vålerenga beat the Suns 3–2, and it came down to the last out. Joe Rollwagen doubled home Dennis Neely in the first inning and Alex Guilford brought in Lars Liguori on a groundout, so it was 2–0 after one. Then nobody scored for six innings, with Liguori and the Suns' Alejandro Ramirez trading zeroes.
In the bottom of the eighth, with two outs and runners on first and second, Alberto Danzie singled up the middle and Neely came around to make it 3–0. That run turned out to be the winner. The Suns scored twice in the ninth on a wild pitch and a Benjamin Davis double, and with the tying run on second Liguori struck out Gunnar Henriksen and got Elmer Sola on a grounder back to the mound.
Liguori went the distance: nine innings, five hits, two runs and 18 strikeouts on 107 pitches, and he struck out the side in the eighth. He also went 2-for-3 with a double. The defense behind him made one error all weekend, and the Suns made four in the final alone.
Saturday's semifinal against Bergen Wet Sox was the scare of the weekend. Bergen scored four runs in the first two innings, and Cole Thompson's two-run homer in the fifth made it 6–1. Vålerenga answered in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run double from Joe Rollwagen and an RBI single from Justin Reeves, and Lars Liguori's two-run sacrifice fly in the sixth tied it 6–6.
Alex Guilford came on in the fifth, gave up the homer and then shut Bergen out the rest of the way, with seven strikeouts in four innings. In the bottom of the eighth, with two outs, Matthew Coyne hit a ball that Bergen's third baseman threw away, and Jose Amparo ran home with the winning run. That makes five straight semifinal wins over Bergen.
Vålerenga and Kristiansand Suns have now met in five straight league finals. The Suns won in 2023 and 2024, and Vålerenga have taken the other three, the last two in a row. Vålerenga lead the series 3–2.
Both VIF games were scored live, pitch by pitch. Tap one for the box score and play-by-play.
