1991 Italian Series

The 1991 Italian Series was won by the Parma Angels. They swept Flower Gloves Verona in the final to win their sixth Serie A1 title.

Parma had gone 26-10 in the regular season to finish third in the league, while Verona had won the Serie A2 at 28-8; given the format used at that time, the A2 champion got to appear in the playoffs. Verona beat the #4 team from A1, Grosseto, while Parma swept Casalecchio in round one. In the semifinals, they faced the top two A1 teams from the regular season but both pulled off upsets, knocking off Milano and Rimini.

Verona had been led by RF Randy Curran (.346/.520/.646, 43 R, 36 RBI in 36 G) of the Canadian national team and LF Stefano Burlini (.374/.477/.523). Their ace was clearly former big leaguer Mike Kinnunen (13-2, 0.44, 196 K, 67 H, 25 BB in 123 2/3 IP). The Angels, on the other hand, were led on offense by CF Tony Brown (.403/.478/.791, 10 HR, 47 RBI, a league-best 23 SB) and 2B Massimo Fochi (.324/.387/.641, 40 RBI, 11 HR in 36 G). On the mound, their top hurlers were former major leaguer Jack Lazorko (12-3, 1.60) and Fulvio Valle (8-5, Sv, 3.16). In the Series, the Angels cruised, beating the A2 team 5-3 on September 27, 15-9 on September 28 and 9-1 on April 4. Lazorko (2-0, 1.00) and Valle got all three wins, while Brown was 6 for 13 with a homer, 5 steals, 6 runs and 5 RBI and Alessandro Bussi was 5 for 11 with a homer, two doubles, 3 steals, 5 runs and 4 RBI. In a losing cause, Kinnunen was rocked (0-2, 6.75) but was still Verona's only hurler with an ERA under 9. Burlini (4-10, 2B, 3 RBI) led their hitters.

Playoffs

1st Round

• Parma Angels (26-10) beat Eurobuilding Casalecchio (27-9), 2-0
• Flower Gloves Verona (28-8) beat Walton Grosseto (22-14), 2-1

Semi Finals

• Flower Gloves Verona beat Mediolanum Milan (28-8), 3-1
• Parma Angels beat Telemarket Rimini (28-8), 3-2

Championship Series

• Parma Angels 3-0 Flower Gloves Verona