Day one at the European Softball Championship Women Pool A in Valencia, Spain is in the books.
France – Germany 1-13 (5)
N Hasenkamp and C Lipp each drove in three as Germany defeated France 13-1 in five innings. Anna Neuser (W 1-0) struck out five in a complete game for the win. Laurence Cornaille (L 0-1) surrendered eleven hits, 13 runs (6 ER) and three bb in five innings.
Czech Republic – Great Britain 3-4
Great Britain scored three runs in the top of the sixth to beat the Czech Republic 4-3. Stacie Townsend (W 1-0) struck out eleven in seven innings, allowing seven hits, three runs (2 ER) and a walk. She also was the leadoff hitter for her team and went three-for-three, including the decisive two-run single, which sealed the win. Jana Vacikova (L 0-1) issued eight hits, four runs and three bb in 5 1/3 innings.
Russia – Austria 7-0 (5)
Russia scored three runs in the first and four runs in the fifth en route to a 7-0 win over Austria. E Eronina (W 1-0) led the way by allowing just one walk in five scoreless no-hit innings, facing the minimum of 15 batters. She struck out six. E Povarova set the offensive highlight with a two-run homerun in the first. C Chwojka (L 0-1) surrendered eight hits and seven runs (4 ER) in 4 2/3 innings.
Slovakia – Italy 0-22 (3)
Italy needed just three innings to crush Slovakia 22-0 after scoring nine runs each in the first two frames. The pitching with starter Leslie Malerich and two relievers gave up just one hit. S Ray, V Fontana and C Rolla scored three times each. A Montanari collected four hits and three RBI. S Findrikova (L 0-1) issued ten hits and 14 runs (9 ER) in 1 1/3 innings.
Netherlands – France 11-0 (5)
Femke van Dusschoten (W 1-0) struck out seven in five no-hit innings, walking just two and facing one batter over the minimum to lead the Netherlands to an easy 11-0 shutout against France, which suffered the second defeat of the day. B Vonk went two-for-three with a triple and three RBI. Christ Berthoumieux (L 0-1) surrendered six hits, nine runs (7 ER) and three bb in 3 1/3 innings.
Spain – Great Britain 2-6
The British team captured the second victory on opening day by beating host Spain 6-2 in the evening session in Valencia. Stacie Townsend (W 2-0) again started for the British team and picked up the win with four scorless innings. S Jones hit a homerun. Beatriz Parejo (L 0-1) issued three runs (1 ER) on three hits and a walk in four innings.
Schedule:
Tuesday, July 28:
09:00 Netherlands – Russia
09:00 Spain – Czech Republic
11:00 France – Austria
11:00 Great Britain – Slovakia
18:00 Austria – Netherlands
19:00 Germany – Russia
20:00 Italy – Spain
Complete Schedule and Live Play by Play
