The best six men's baseball and women's softball European teams compete in Hoofddorp at the first-ever Super 6, an event. organized by WBSC Europe.


Italy vs the Czech Republic

It wouldn’t be the Netherlands without some strong-wind issues. The Czechs had bases loaded with no outs in the first after three high fly balls. The Italian defense had tough times getting those balls taken away by the wind into their gloves. It only took a groundball then to score the first run of the game.

Since then it was the pitchers’ Peckova vs Cecchetti duel.

In the 4th, Italy tied the game to 1 – 1 on a third dropped strike. The Czechs fought back in the 6th, after a series of hits and errors, the score was 3 – 1. Italy wouldn’t give up, Erica Piancastelli singled through the left side in the bottom of the 7th to make it a difference of a one-run again. Three back to back strikeouts by Peckova ended the game

The Czech Republic won against Italy again after long eight years, the last win the Czechs could remember was in 2010 in Prague. Final score Czech Republic 3, Italy 2!


Great Britain vs Greece

The score started changing in the 2nd inning when the Greek pitcher Efthimia Marinakis experienced some hard times pitching into the zone. Then, at the right time, Lauren Evans doubled to the center field for the first three runs of the game.

Team GB showcased another strong offense in the 5th. Pitching change on the Greek side did not revert the flow of the game. Five hits resulted in four more runs.

Spyrakis, Bazos, Nykaza, and Lykikatost fought back in the 6th but their offensive pressure stopped at two runs scored.

The rest of the game was quiet, final score: Great Britain 7, Greece 3.


Russia vs the Netherlands

The host of the event, the Netherlands did not hesitate and took the game in its very first inning by scoring three times. Russian batters were able to get on bases during the whole game but did not get the needed big hit. The Dutch scored again in the 4th (5 runs) and the 5th (5 runs) making the score 13 – 1. The game was decided by that and ended prematurely after five innings.

The Team Kingdom of the Netherlands used the game as a warm-up for their pitchers as each of the five got exactly one inning to pitch. Dinet Oosting excelled in the game with 4 for 4 with 3RBIs!

Final score: Russia 1, Netherlands 13.

Four games are scheduled for tomorrow, watch them for free at baseballsoftball.tv

-Helena Novotna-
/photo: K73/OLDMANAGENCY/