Press Release Tenerife Marlins Puerto Cruz
On the same fields the European Junior Championship will be played from July 4 to 10, the defending champions Tenerife Marlins Puerto Cruz held to their title for the forth consecutive year and the sixth time overall in the Junior Category. This year 13 teams lined up for the title, and the bracket divided them into 4 groups for the first round. Marlins had to win against Antorcha from Valencia, Arga from Navarra and Gava from Catalunya in order to advance to the quarterfinals as group winner where the match up was against last years finalist Sant Boi. The game was decided in the sixth inning by the 15 run mercy rule and Viladecans was up next in the semis. Marlins won that game 10-0 in seven innings to advance to the last and most important round.
The final against FC Barcelona resulted in an exiting match with a threat to come back from the runner up that was cut just in time by the team from the Canary Islands. Diego Piva was elected MVP thanks to his three wins, including the final, his 26 strikeouts in 17.1 innings and his solid offense in the semis and final for the Tenerife Marlins. Victor Serrano of Gava became the Batting Champion and Jose Maria Redin of Irabia was the best pitcher according to his ERA of 0.00 in 11 innings pitched.
Final standings:
- TENERIFE MARLINS PUERTO CRUZ
- FC BARCELONA
- CAD IRABIA
- CB VILADECANS
- SANT BOI
- ANTORCHA
- SAN LÁZARO
- NAVEGANTES DE ALMERÍA
- RIVAS VACIAMADRID
- CD PAMPLONA
- GAVÁ
- CD AMAYA
- CD ARGA