The weather continues to do harm to the 2010 European Championship. On Wednesday only the meaningless game between Croatia and Greece in the morning in Stuttgart and the Netherlands against Germany clash in the evening in Heidenheim could be played. The other two planned games were rained out.
But while it was not important that the classification game for eleventh place between the Ukraine and Croatia got canceled, the second postponement of the remaining preliminary round game between Sweden and Italy is holding up the whole tournament. It was rescheduled to Thursday morning at 10:30am. But 40 minutes before first pitch it started raining again and the game is in another rain delay. For now, it is rescheduled for 12pm CET. But we’ll see how it goes.
Regularly it was planned that the first final round game between France and Italy would follow immediately after. Additionally if Sweden upsets Italy they earn a trip to Heidenheim for their first final-round game against the Netherlands. If not, Spain receives this assignment. In the evening Germany also is scheduled to play against Greece in Stuttgart.
It is not easy for the technical commission of the Confederation of European Baseball. However it is obvious that a European Championship, which is played in three different cities, with trips between 1.5 and 4.5 hours, is not a great idea when it rains.
Games planned for Thursday, July 29:
- Stuttgart: 12pm CET Sweden – Italy (Group B)
- Stuttgart: TBA Italy – France (Final Round)
- Heidenheim: 6pm CET Netherlands – Spain/Sweden (Final Round)
- Stuttgart: 7pm CET Germany – Greece (Final Round)