The second round robin began in Barcelona

The second round robin began in Barcelona
25/07/2022
On the morning of the second day of the Women's Softball European Championship, Ireland defeated Austria and Slovakia topped Malta to advance to the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals officially began in the afternoon.

First Round 

Ireland and Slovakia completed the group of the top12 topping respectively Austria and Malta on the morning of Monday, July 25. 

In the first game of the day, Ireland topped Austria, 3-0, to advance to reach the top 12 and play in the quarter-finals. The pitchers held off the attacks: Austrian pitcher Martina Lackner-Keil only allowed four hits while the Irish Nelson Kelly Lyn pitched a no-hitter. 

Slovakia defeated Malta, closing the game by mercy rule thanks to a very productive attack: 12 hits and 17 runs in just three innings. The three runs scored by Malta in the first inning were not enough to stop the Slovakians.

Quarter-finals

In group E, Great Britain obtained the first win of the second round topping Germany in five innings, 7-0. British ace Georgina Corrick did not allow any hits while her teammates produced seven runs thanks to eight hits, including a triple by Katie Burge. 

Ireland also obtains the first win of the quarter-finals edging France 3-2 in Gavà Softball Stadium. France took the lead in the first, and Ireland tied in the third, to later take the lead in the fourth scoring once. France comes back, tying the game again in the bottom of the fifth. Ireland scored one more to take it to 3-2, the final result of the game.

Italy dominated the game against Israel, 12-2, in the last game of the day in Gavà. With 10 hits, the Azzurre kept scoring throughout the game: three runs in the second, two in the third, two in the fourth, one in the fifth, and four more in the sixth to close the game by mercy rule.

In group F, Poland edged Slovakia, 1-2. In a very balanced game, the only runs were scored in the sixth by Poland, 2, and in the seventh by Slovakia, 1. The Polish pitcher Camille Czarnecki closed the game with two strikes outs crushing the hopes of Slovakia.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands scored seven runs against Czech Republic in Barcelona, closing the game in the sixth inning. The Dutch started strong in the first crossing the plate three times, to then score again once in the third and once in the fourth. Two walks, a triple by Annemiek Jansen triples, and a single Britt Vonk made two more runs possible to close the game, 7-0.

After the celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the opening game of the Barcelona 1992, Greece and Spain gave life to a great game in the last game of the day in Barcelona. Meritxell Blesa sent one over the field in the fourth inning to score the only two runs of the game for Spain. Greece had several occasions to score but managed to score just once, thanks to a solo shot by Anastasia Stavrou, leaving 10 runners on the bases over seven innings.

Group G

Austria defeated Belgium, 4-8, and Switzerland endured a 0-3 loss to Switzerland. 
Denmark, Finland, Malta, Türkiye, and Ukraine rested for the day.

All the games of the Women's Softball European Championship were streamed on the WBSC Europe YouTube Channel.
Find all the results and standings on the WBSC Europe website.

Photo by Jan Beneš