U-12 Baseball European Championship Day 3: Preliminary round ends in Vienna with Czechia and Italy Group Winners
The preliminary round at the U-12 Baseball European Championship in Vienna, Austria ended on Thursday with four games. Czechia and Italy claimed their group crowns by reaching the semifinals undefeated. They will face off with the Netherlands and Germany on Friday to determine the finalists for Saturday. Austria, France, Hungary and Lithuania will compete in the placement round.
Lithuania picked up their first win in the tournament with a 4-3 victory over Hungary on Thursday morning at the Spenadlewiese ballpark in Vienna. A run by Tautvydas Kirlys in the top of the sixth made the difference in the game. Vismantas Valionis scored twice for Lithuania. Marija Stop pitched the last 2 1/3 scoreless innings to pick up the win.
The Czech Republic won the meeting of previously undefeated teams in the tournament against Germany by a score of 16-3 to earn first place in Group B of the preliminary phase. Czechia scored seven runs in the first inning and 15 in the first three for an easy victory. Adam Stastny had four hits, while Matej Kokorsky drove in four. Nicolas Voegler had two RBI for Germany.
Italy meanwhile prevailed 8-2 in the meeting of undefeated teams in Group A against the Netherlands to earn the top spot in that pool in the preliminary round. The defending juveniles champion looked at a 0-2 deficit after the first half of the first inning. But Italy tied the game in the same frame and didn’t allow any more runs by the Dutch. The Squadra Azzurri took the lead in the fourth and added four more runs in the fifth to seal the win.
France earned their first win of the 2022 U12 European Championship with an 8-1 win over host Austria on Thursday evening. Five runs in the first gave the French squad an early cushion. Austria managed to stop the bleeding, but only was able to avoid the shutout with a run by Marlin Windisch in the third. Sengley Tran Seng and Noa Roze scored twice for France.
Outlook
The semifinals on Friday will be played at 3pm and 6pm in Vienna. In the afternoon Italy hosts Germany, while in the evening Czechia takes on the Netherlands. Meanwhile the placement round starts with games between France and Hungary as well as Austria and Lithuania.
Live scoring and live streaming is available through www.wbsceurope.org.
