Great Britain is the 2022 Coed Slowpitch European Championship, confirming the leadership of the British in the Slowpitch European community, already victorious in Colorno, Italy, at the Men’s Slowpitch European Championship.
The British wins the twelfth Coed Slowpitch European title on thirteen editions played, stopped only by Germany in 2017. This is the second title in a row after the 2019 victory in Hungary.
The three medalists qualified for the first-ever WBSC Coed Slowpitch World Cup to be played in 2023 in Florida, United States of America.
Championship game
On the bottom of the first, after a scoreless attack for the British, the Germans were the first to get on the board, scoring three runs. Zerhusen with a lead-off triple was pushed home by Kestel’s single, and Walther sent one over the field to score twice more.
The British reacted right away scoring five runs in the top of the second thanks to five hits by Yoxall, Spinks, Rice, Studholme, and Ball, taking the lead. Germany and Great Britain scored once again each to take the score to 6-4.
On the bottom of the fourth, the Germans scored three runs to regain the lead of the game, 6-7. The British stayed in the game and first tied the game on top of the fifth and take the lead again on top of the sixth.
With a score of 12-7, the German attack was not able to produce runs on the seventh. Ball game and Great Britain claimed the back-to-back European title in Coed Slowpitch.
Bronze Medal game
The Kingdom of the Netherlands won the bronze medal game against Czech Republic, winning 22-8, to claim a spot in the 2023 WBSC World Cup.
The Czech national squad never gave up during the game, scoring in five of the seven innings, for a total of 8 runs, but, scoring in every inning but the fourth, the Netherlands showed off a powerful attack able to close the bronze medal game with 30 hits and 22 runs.
Most games of the Coed Slowpitch European Championship are on the WBSC Europe YouTube Channel.
All the pictures can be found on the Softball Europe Facebook page.
Results, stats, and standings can be found on the WBSC Europe website.
Cover photo by Grega Valancic
