Championship game
Olympia (NED) won the most prestigious women's softball European club competition after defeating Forlì (ITA) in the final, 4-3.
The defending champions from Forlì were the first to get on the scoreboard when Fama opened with a leadoff single, was brought to third by a hit by Ricchi, and scored on an error of the Dutch defense.
A defensive error also opened the bottom part of the third inning, when Van Aalst got to first base, but the Dutch did not manage to go beyond second base.
In the bottom of the fifth, Hop reached on a fielding error, stole second, and later scored on a spectacular diving catch of the Italian centerfield Ricchi on a deep sacrifice fly ball hit by Beers. Game tied, 1-1.
In the seventh, Forlì went on the board again scoring the second run: Vigna tripled to right field and scored on a single by Ricchi on the Dutch relief pitcher Alyson Spinas-Valainis.
The Dutch reacted: Vleugels reached on a fielding error and got substituted by pitch runner Van Dijk who got pushed by Clarijs' single on the Italian third baseman. A sacrifice bunt by Crouwel pushed the runners and Hop's walk loaded the bases for Olympia.
At the bottom of the seventh with full count and one out, Beers sent one to center field for a sacrifice fly. The throw of the Italian centerfield Ricchi, on time, got dropped and Van Dijk scored the tying run, 2-2, to take the game to the extra inning.
In the eighth, with Brookshire on second and one out, Wissink hit a single to center field to take the third run home and give the lead again to the Italian national champions.
Olympia closed the game scoring twice to close the game: with Oosting on second, Vonk double to center field and later scored on a single by Van Der Zanden to close the game and give the gold medal to the Dutch.
Bronze medal game
Bollate (ITA) conquered the bronze medal in front of its home crowd topping the Spanish Rivas Madrid, 6-1.
In the bottom of the first, Bollate scored three runs: with bases loaded, Cecchetti singled to second base and Alicart scored on a throwing error. Moreland scored on a single by Sheldon, while Slabá with a sacrifice hit allowed Cecchetti to score.
Slabá sent one over the fence in the fourth inning to take the score to 4-0. Sheldon also homered taking Cecchetti home and scored the sixth run.
In the top of the seventh, Clark broke the no-hitter of Yilian Tornes doubling to left field and pushed Edwards to third (on base on an error), who later scored on a defense choice by Sojo.
Bollate closed the game with a 5-3 out to win the bronze medal at the forty-fourth Women's Softball Premiere Cup.
With a record of 3W-4L, Joudrs (CZE) ranked fifth, Wessling Vermins (GER) ranked sixth, 2-5, Les Comanches (FRA) follow in seventh spot, 1-6, and Zürich Challengers close the standings in the eighth spot with a record of 0W-7L.
All games of the Women's Softball Premiere Cup are on the WBSC Europe YouTube Channel.
All the pictures can be found on the WBSC Europe Flickr profile and Softball Europe Facebook page.
Results, stats, and standings can be found on the WBSC Europe website.
Cover photo by Valerio Origo
