France and Russia have reached the final at the European Championship Juveniles U12 in Ljubljana. Defending champion Czech Republic got defeated twice on Friday to miss out on another trip to the title game.
Friday started off with the last game of the first round in the morning. Russia crushed the Czech team 17-2 in five innings. Ivan Bobkin hit two home runs and drove in six, Mikhail Lipatov had a home run and four RBI.
The semi-finals were set and France stunned reigning title holder Czech Republic 15-5 in the first. Already leading 4-3, France put seven runs on the board in the bottom of the third to decide the game. Louis Brainville pitched four solid innings on the mound and went 5-for-5 at the plate. Mathis Meurant scored thrice and drove in three.
In the second semi-final Russia crushed Lithuania 12-2 for a trip to the finals. Once again Mikhail Lipatov went to business. He had four hits, two home runs, three runs scored and four RBI. Artem Logunov impressed in five strong innings on the mound.
In the evening Slovenia defeated Austria 11-7 in the first of two classification games. Just moments after Austria tied the game at 7-7, Slovenia scored four times in the bottom of the sixth to run away with the victory.
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