50/70 Intermediate Baseball
The Europe-Africa qualifier for the 50/70 Intermediate Baseball World Series (league age 11-13) was played in Jablonec and Nisou, Czech Republic, on June 26-July 1.
Six teams participated in the event with Czech Republic NW from Prague region being the strongest team and winning the tournament after defeating Netherlands in the final, 4-3. Germany finished 3rd in the tournament, with teams from Croatia, Lithuania, and Czech Republic NE rounding up the standings.
The Intermediate World Series will be played in Livermore, California, on July 30th-August 5th.
Junior League Baseball
The Junior League World Series (league age 13-14) will be played in Taylor, Michigan on August 13-20. The team that will represent the Europe-Africa region is South Czech Republic, from the Brno area, which went undefeated (4-0) in the qualifier that was played in Modena, Italy, on July 1-7. Six teams participated, representing the Little Leagues of Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, and Ukraine.
In the final, Brno Little League narrowly beat Emilia Romagna Little League of Bologna, Italy, to advance to the World Series. Amsterdam Little League came in 3rd place.
Senior League Baseball
Italy was also the host of the Senior League Qualifier (league age 15-16, with the tournament being played in Novara. Six teams, representing leagues in the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, participated. In the end, Kennemerland Little League from Haarlem was the strongest team with a 4-1 record and they advanced to the Senior League Baseball World Series that will be played in Easley, South Carolina, on July 29th-August 5th.
Czechia hosted all softball qualifiers
All softball tournament qualifiers were played in the Czech Republic, in Chomutov and Most, which made for easy logistics for the countries attending the softball qualifiers. A special thank you to the Czech Softball Association and the host clubs for hosting the whole softball tournaments and making them so successful. Also thank you to the Netherlands for being such great hosts in the previous years for the softball tournaments.
Little League Softball
The Little League Softball World Series (league age 10-12) will be played in Greenville, North Carolina, in the beautiful Stallings Stadium at Elm Street Park from July 30 to August 5th. And representing Europe-Africa will be the Lombardia Little League from Milan, Italy, which went 4-1 in the four-team tournament. In the final game, Lombardia won over Bohemia, 6-3.
Junior League Softball
In the older Junior League (league age 12-14) age category, the team representing Prague Little League went undefeated in the four-team tournament, and will therefore be the Europe-Africa representatives at the Junior League Softball World Series that will be decided in Kirkland, Washington, on July 30th-August 5th.
Senior League Softball
In the oldest softball age group, Senior League (league age 13-16) there were only three teams participating, despite this age group having the most relaxed requirements for participation. In any case, Czech Republic District 1 Little League from the Prague region took home 1st place after going 4-1 in the tournament and winning the Championship game versus Lombardia Little League with a score of 13-3.
Little League regional tournament underway
The pre-qualifying tournament for the Little League Baseball Qualifier is played in Kutno, between July 16-20. Eight teams, from France, Germany, Israel, Lithuania, Switzerland, and Ukraine (2 teams) are playing for spots in the Region Tournament next week.
Follow the pre-qualifier at https://www.littleleague.org/world-series/2023/llbws/tournaments/europe-africa-qualifier/
The Region tournament on July 22-29 can be followed at https://www.littleleague.org/world-series/2023/llbws/tournaments/europe-africa-region/
The winner of the Region tournament in Kutno will of course head to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to play in the famous Little League World Series on August 16-27.
