Last week 10th Indoor Baseball Tournament “Działdowo Cup” took place in Działdowo, Poland. The winner was Zubrs Brest from Belarus, (5th in 2009 edition of the tournament). The Champ defeated last year’s winners, Vilkai Vilnus I (Lithuania), by a score of 2-1.
The anniversary of Działdowo Cup lasted three days, from 4th to 7th February. 10 cadet teams from Belarus, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Russia and Ukraine participated in the tournament. During the first day teams arrived and had a chance to acclimatize. Later this day the technical meeting took place. Apart from presentation of the playing system, all teams were divided into two groups:
Pool A
1. YANKEES DZIAŁDOWO (Poland)
2. WEST FIRE RIVNE (Ukraine)
3. TEAM SHARKS BALASHIKHA (Russia)
4. SUGAR STORM SKIDEL (Belarus)
5. VILKAI VILNUS II (Lithuania)
Pool B
1. ORŁY TORUŃ (Poland)
2. VILKAI VILNUS I (Lithuania)
3. ZUBRS BREST (Belarus)
4. ABATOR CHISINAU (Moldova)
5. LITHUANICA KAUNAS (Lithuania)
During next two days the place-fighting-pairs were selected. In both pools teams were playing with each other. Group-matches ended on Saturday afternoon. Next phase were playoffs (only 2 best teams from both pools could promote to Grand Final).
On Sunday the classification games were played. Here is the scoreboard of final games:
9th place: SUGAR STORM SKIDEL 3-5 RŁY TORUŃ
7th place: LITHUANICA KAUNAS 8-7 ABATOR CHISINAU
5th place: WEST FIRE RIVNE 8-3 VILKAI VILNUS II
3rd place: YANKEES DZIAŁDOWO 3-6 TEAM SHARKS BALASHIKHA
Grand Final: ZUBRS BREST 2-1 VILKAI VILNUS I
Final standings:
1. ZUBRS BREST (Belarus)
2. VILKAI VILNUS I (Lithuania)
3. TEAM SHARKS BALASHIKHA (Russia)
4. YANKEES DZIAŁDOWO (Poland)
5. WEST FIRE RIVNE (Ukraine)
6. VILKAI VILNUS II (Lithuania)
7. LITHUANICA KAUNAS (Lithuania)
8. ABATOR CHISINAU (Moldova)
9. ORŁY TORUŃ (Poland)
10. SUGAR STORM SKIDEL (Belarus)
The final ceremony started at 3:30 PM. Besides the awards for all teams, the best players from every team were awarded. The MVP of the tournament was Aliaksei Lukasevich from Zubrs Brest. The Bulgarian was noticed by Eastern Europe Pittsburgh Pirate’s Scout, Mr. Virmidas Neverauskas, who is at the same time Vilkai Vilnus’ coach.
All photos made by Karol Wrombel
