After the third day, all the teams were done with their round robin games and their standings in the pools were as follows:

Pool A

1.      Denmark
2.      Great Britain
3.      Israel
4.      Croatia
5.      Sweden

Pool B

1.      Czech Republic
2.      Belgium
3.      Netherlands
4.      Italy
5.      Germany

The top three teams from these pools advanced to pool C: DEN, CZE, GBR, BEL, ISR, NED. Each of these teams needed to play against the three teams that were not in their original pool, to determine the top four and enter the page system from there.

The four remaining teams (CRO, ITA, SWE, GER) make up pool D and will play for their final standings.

Croatia is the unlucky team of the tournament. The Croatians lost two games by only one run and that has cost them the advancement to pool C.


Belgium 9, Israel 5

According to stats, Belgium and Israel played an even game. Belgium recorded nine hits, Israel added eight. When it comes to strike-outs, the Belgian pitcher struck out 8 batters, Israeli 7.

This win secured the fourh place for the Belgian team in the pool C.


Denmark 10, Netherlands 7
This was the most intense game of the Championship so far. Early in the game, both squads made their way to the second base with emotions flying high. Umpires had to calm down the whole situation and restart the game where it had stopped before.

The Netherlands took the early lead in the first 3 -1. Denmark added one run in the third – Andersen homered - and then tied the game in the sixth by Mortensen’s homerun.

This game had to be extended when the score was 3 – 3 after the seventh.

Denmark scored three times in the first extra inning, but the Netherlands answered with the same number of runs. Another extra inning didn’t bring a solution, so the tenth inning had to be played.

This time, Denmark scored four runs unlike the Netherlands, who only brought one run in.

Having lost to Belgium and to Denmark, team Netherlands will need to beat team GB to have a chance on the medals.

Homeruns DEN: Mikkel Andersen, Jacob Mortensen, Daniel Julenon, Anton Brown
Homerun NED:  Eldrick Dijkhoff


Czech Republic 15, Great Britain 0
Past results of these two teams promised another tight game. Team GB, however, decided to dedicate this game to learning and experience-gaining of the youngest players.
Homerun (CZE): Tomáš Voborník

Netherlands 10, Israel 0
Dutch batters did a great job in this game – none of the players struck out during the four innings. This loss determined the sixth place in pool C for the Israeli team.
Homeruns (NED): Eldrick Dijkhoff, Idelgardo Raap


Croatia 14, Germany 1
Croatian players proved to be a very strong team - they recorded a respectable number of 16 hits. Germany only managed to hit successfully twice, but played a good defense with only one error.


Belgium 8, Great Britain 0
Seriously. Not kidding. After their historical win against the Netherlands, team Belgium continued their strong offense, flawless defense, and added another win against Great Britain. James Darby, the British ace pitcher, allowed six hits, but it was the Belgian pitcher, Kristof van Aarsen, who kept ERA at 0.


Italy 10, Sweden 0
With great sorrow, we must inform you, that team Sweden did have a runner in scoring position again, but the much wanted first-ever run was not scored.

The Italians hit ten times and scored ten times.

This win helped the Italians to advance to the seventh-place game.
Homeruns (ITA): Cristian Mandolini, Stefano Luccas


Czech Republic 6, Denmark 1
The Czech and the Danish men’s softball programs are knows as the most developed in Europe, therefore, every game between the two nations, promises a great show.

Three Danish pitchers took part in the game, not showing the Danish ace pitcher, Kim Hansen. Czech head coach, Tomáš Kusý, used two pitchers in the game, not showing Jaroslav Breník, who by the way has only pitched four innings so far.

The Czechs managed to score in the first and the second. They secured their win with three more runs in the sixth.

Daniel Julenon didn’t want to leave the game with a zero on the scoreboard, so he solved the problem by hitting a single homerun in the sixth.
Thanks to this win, the Czech Republic placed first in pool C.

/photos by Sasha Sneider/

-Helena Novotná-