Czechia, Italy remain undefeated as Preliminary Round at U-12 Baseball European Championship ends
Czechia and Italy won the preliminary round groups at the U-12 Baseball European Championship 2023 in Valenciennes on Friday with perfect 3-0 records. Meanwhile host France and Austria picked up their first wins of the tournament. On Saturday the event heats up with the semifinals coming up.
Lithuania – Austria 0-25 (Box score) Austria picked up their first win in the U-12 Baseball European Championship 2023 with a 25-0 shutout over Lithuania in the morning game on Friday. Austria scored three runs in the first for an early lead. They extended that advantage to 5-0 after three innings and then the flood gates opened with nine runs in the fourth and eleven in the fifth. Oscar Eidherr, Cedrik Moczkowski and Oskar-Tim Kampichler scored four runs apiece for Austria. Kampichler also had four RBI. Elias Clauss, Ben Preissl and Leo Schwarzenecker kept Lithuania to a single hit in the game. Domantas Kucinskas avoided the no-hitter against Lithuania with a single in the fourth.
Czechia – Netherlands 18-8 (Box score) Czechia secured first place with an 18-8 victory over the Netherlands. The Dutch team opened the game with a seven-run rally. But their bats went silent afterwards as Czech pitching allowed just one more run afterwards. Meanwhile Czechia reduced the deficit to 7-8 after two innings, before using a ten-run third frame to take command of the game en route to their third win in as many games. After Max Major allowed seven runs on five hits in two thirds of an inning, Adam Cacek and Adam Kupsky kept the Netherlands to one run on three hits and three walks the rest of the way. Robin Mika scored four runs, while Lukas Vrba went deep. Javier Olivier Chance homered for the Netherlands and drove in three runs.
Germany – Italy 10-22 (Box score) Italy scored 18 runs in the third three innings en route to a 22-10 win over Germany in a slugfest. Both teams combined for 32 runs on 31 hits. Leonardo Perracino hit a home run for Italy. Gabriele Pucci and Serse Benelli combined for seven hits, five runs and eight RBI. Alessandro Barbieri scored four runs. Thomas Hopfensperger collected three hits and three RBI for Germany. Henk Lenhart scored thrice. Italy improved to 3-0 with the win, while Germany dropped to 2-1.
Great Britain – France 1-11 (Box score) Host France celebrated their first win of the tournament with an 11-1 victory over the promoted Great Britain. After both teams scored in the first, France regained the lead in the second and slowly extended their advantage as the innings went on. Six runs in the sixth blew the game wide open. Ethan Soulier, Guillaume Bidaut and Gael Shomura scored two runs each for France. Shomura also pitched four strong innings for the win, striking out six. Taylor Wormington scored the lone run for Great Britain.
Outlook The focus on Saturday will be mainly on the semi-finals, as Italy is taking on the Netherlands at 15:00 at Vipers ballpark in Valenciennes, followed by the meeting between Czechia and Germany at 17:30.
In the morning however also the relegation round starts with matchups between Austria and Great Britain at 10:00 and France and Lithuania at 12:30.
All games from the U-12 Baseball European Championship can be followed by live play by play through the WBSC Europe website. Also all games are being live streamed through the WBSC Europe YouTube Channel.
