Stuttgart Select hosted the 2015 Kürbis Cup at Husky Field, Patch Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, 24-25 October 2015.  Ten teams from four different countries played 28 games in the U18 tournament. 

Two Groups of five teams each played a round-robin, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the semi-finals and the other teams playing cross-group for 5th -10th place.  In the championship game, the 2016 German U19 National Team defeated HCAW/Zuidvogels 5-2.  The weather was very nice over the entire weekend, all of the teams played well and everyone had a lot of fun in the friendly tournament.  The tournament director was Brandi Cole from Stuttgart Select and the umpires were Patrik Knechtle, Bernd Denz, Jannik Denz, Jan Zehler, Giovanni Gressani, Andreas Hampe, Markus Weil and Falco Nuke. 

These are the final standings:

1.   2016 German U19 National Team (5-1-0)

2.   HCAW/Zuidvogels (4-1-1)

3.   USSSA European Jr Pride (5-1-0)

4.   Storks Den Haag (3-3-0)

5.   Twins Oosterhout (3-2-0)

6.   Jülich Lightnings (1-3-1)

7.   Stuttgart Select 1 (2-3-0)

8.   2016 German U16 National Team (1-4-0)

9.   SK Joudrs Praha (1-2-2)

10. Stuttgart Select 2 (0-5-0)

The 2015 Kürbis Cup was a fantastic way for all of the teams to end the 2015 softball season.  For full tournament results and to see all of the wonderful tournament photos from Sportfotografie Eric Oehme and Sportfotografie Dirk Steffen, "like" the Kürbis Cup facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/kuerbiscup.

Stuttgart Select wishes all the European softball teams the very best training this winter and looks forward to seeing you on the softball field again in spring 2016!

-Joe Puckett-