In the seven-team tournament the first round
was dominated by the two Spanish participants, as the Astros Valencia won three
out of three games in Pool A and the Tenerife Marlins two out of two in Pool B.
In the semifinals on Saturday second-seed Savigny Lions stunned the Astros
Valencia with a 4-1 win to earn a finals berth. The Tenerife Marlins meanwhile
confirmed their number-one spot with a 13-1 clubbing against the Hoboken
Pioneers.
The Gold Medal Game on Sunday was a thrilling
game in the beginning, as the Marlins held on to a 2-1 lead for the first four
innings. Tenerife then combined for six runs in the fifth and sixth innings to blow
the game wide open. In the end they won 9-1 to clinch the Confederation Cup
2023. Tenerife was led by home runs from Jesus Ustariz, Lesther Galvan, Richard
Montiel and Luis Rodriguez. Galvan collected five RBI overall in the final.
In the Bronze Medal Game the Astros Valencia
prevailed 7-6 over the Hoboken Pioneers. After Hoboken took a 6-0 lead through
six innings also thanks to home runs by Dennis De Quint and Drew Janssen,
Valencia scored two runs each in the seventh, eighth and ninth inning to force
extra innings, where they won the game on a walk-off sac fly by Edgar
Rodriguez.
In the classification round for places fifth to
sixth the Therwil Flyers lost 3-14 to the Vienna Wanderers and 3-17 to the hosts
of Olmpija Karlovac.
All results and statistics for the Confederation Cup 2023 can be found through the official website from WBSC Europe.
Photo by Berislav Bencetić
