Germany repeats as U-12 Baseball European Champion
Germany defeated the Netherlands on Sunday in the Gold Medal Game at the U-12 Baseball European Championship in Valenciennes, France by a score of 3-2 to claim their third title in that age category after 2016 and 2022. Together with Czechia Germany will also represent European baseball at the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup later this month in Tainan City.
On the last day of the U-12 Baseball European Championship, Germany faced off against the Netherlands in the gold medal game.Czechia and Italy clashed for the bronze medal. France played Austria, and Great Britain played Lithuania.
Gold Medal Game: Germany – Netherlands 3-2 (Box score) Thanks to a strong effort on defense and pitching Germany prevailed 3-2 in the Gold Medal Game on Sunday to pick up their third U-12 Baseball European Championship. After striking out the side in the top of the first, Germany celebrated a perfect start into the final, as they took a 2-0 lead in the bottom half of the frame. Felipe Morales Weggemann and Constantin Bieth scored on a groundout and a passed ball.
Germany
kept control of the game until the fourth inning, when the Netherlands took
advantage of a weak phase, scoring with Javier Olivier Chance and Rudgendrick
Felicia on a pair of wild pitches to tie the game at 2-2. But Germany answered
right away and regained the lead with Tizian Sulilatu driving in Felix Blesing
with a two-out single after Blesing had reached with a double.
Afterwards Germany used some strong defensive plays and a timely appeal at second to secure the 3-2 victory and the U-12 European title. Constantin Bieth finished the game with eight strikeouts in four innings, in which he allowed just one hit, two runs and two walks. He also collected two hits and a run on offense.
Bronze Medal Game: Czechia – Italy 7-11 (Box score) In a copy of the semi-final between Germany and Czechia, Italy rallied to beat Czechia 11-7 in the bronze medal game on Sunday afternoon to claim third place in the final standings of the U-12 Baseball European Championship 2023. Czechia took a quick 7-4 lead after two innings, but wouldn’t score again. Meanwhile Italy tied the contest in the fourth and won it with four runs in the top of the sixth and last inning. A three-run home run by Flavio Casoria capped the decisive rally in the sixth.
Relegation Round: France – Austria 17-1 (Box score) In the relegation round France beat Austria 17-1 on Sunday. After Austria took a quick 1-0 lead in the first on a run by Lukas Schwendinger, France scored nine runs in the second to take control of the game. In the fourth France put seven more runs on the board concluded with a two-run home run by Guillaume Bidaut. Emilio Macias Rabout also went deep for the host of the U-12 Baseball European Championship.
Relegation Round: Great Britain – Lithuania 12-16 (Box score) After getting blown out in all the previous games of the tournament, Lithuania stunned Great Britain with a 16-12 win on Sunday. Lithuania scored in each of the six innings played highlighted by four runs in the third and six in the fifth. Zygimantas Indriulis and Mykolas Chositasvili had four hits each for Lithuania. Stevie Guillet drove in four for Great Britain.
U-12 Baseball European Championship 2023 final standings: 1: Germany 2: Netherlands 3: Italy 4: Czechia 5: France 6: Austria 7: Lithuania 8: Great Britain
