First annual Back2School Tournament still with only one winner

Posted on by philipp

By Michal Hanus

Last weekend 14 teams from Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary participated at 1st annual Youth International Baseball Tournament BACK TO SCHOOL. U12 category was played at Troja, home of SaBaT Praha baseball club and U14 category at Eagles Park, home of Eagles Praha baseball club.

The tournament started on Friday only for U12 category, because of 8 participated teams. Saturday was dedicated for round robin group games and later on afternoon, the first play-off game for both categories was started. On Sunday only play-off games was played and the plan was to know winner of tournament at 4pm.  Thanks to really bad weather conditions during whole weekend, only U14 category finished all their games, but with delays. The final two games of U12 category was cancelled, respectively postponed to upcoming weekend (final game).

U14

U14 category was divided into two groups per three teams. During Saturday was finished all group games and the winners of both groups had free Saturday evening and spot in Sunday’s morning semi-final. The best performance in group games presented Eagles Praha and SK Kotlarka, both teams won their group and waited their opponents for Sunday game. In quarterfinal Hrosi Brno swept Tempo Titans Praha 6:4 and Sokol Hluboka won game with Sparks Mlade Buky 10:8. Both winners follow Eagles and Kotlarka to semifinal. In semifinal both group winners presented their quality and promoted to final game. In 5th place game Titans swept Sparks and finish 5th. In bronze medal game Hrosi Brno didn’t get chance Sokol Hluboka and won 20:0 and brought bronze medals to Brno. In final game, home team Eagles Praha won close game against SK Kotlarka 8:7 and won main tournament trophy.

For all participated teams it was great opportunity compare their skills before upcoming regional league play-offs as well as their form before September National U14 Championship.

U12

Eight team was divided into two groups and the best two teams from each group fought for the trophy, the last two teams in groups played for 5th to 8th place. In group A the best performance presented “home” SaBaT Praha. SaBaT won all the games and waited for second team from group B. Sokol Hluboka followed SaBaT into semifinal from group A. Tempo Titans and Slovakia played for 5th place. Group B had no so fot favorites like group A, and the best performance presented Arrows Ostrava, when swept both Prague teams in group B and tie with Budapest Rangers. Only the last group game decided who will follow Arrows into semifinal. In this game Eagles won against SK Kotlarka and got SaBaT Praha as a semifinal opponent. Arrows played in semifinal with Sokol Hluboka. Sunday morning started semifinal games when both group winners also won those games. SaBaT swept Eagles 5:1 and Arrows swept Hluboka 9:2. The second Sunday games was the game for 7th place between Tempo Titans and SK Kotlarka. Because of rain and bad field conditions only 40 minutes was played and Tempo Titans won in this shorten game 4:2 against Kotlarka and finish 7th. Game for 3rd place had similar scenario, the second field was in little bit better condition, but the game also finished earlier. Sokol Hluboka won 8:1 and got trophy for 3rd place. After those game organizers decided to close tournament thanks to unplayable fields, any move at fields was very dangerous thanks to mud and water. Game for 5th place was cancelled and Slovakia as well as Budapest Rangers leaving Prague with trophy for 5th place. Final game between SaBaT Praha and Arrows Ostrava will be played next Sunday.

Also for U12 category was tournament excellent preparation before regional league play-offs as well as preparation for October National U12 championship, where at least Sokol Hluboka and Arrows Ostrava will participated.

Big thanks is coming to both co-organizers Eagles Praha and SaBaT Praha for excellent organization. All umpires and tournament volunteers deserves also many thanks. The last but not least we must thank to the Prague municipal for their financial support of tournament.

Now organizers thinking how to move tournament forward and already set date for 2nd annual BACK TO SCHOOL tournament – August 28th till August 30th. Organizers now discussing categories, because of expected category change in Czech Baseball since January 1st 2015.

U14 results

Group A
Group B
Tempo Titans vs. Sokol Hluboka 8:10 Eagles Praha vs. Sparks Mlade Buky 17:2
Sokol Hluboka vs. SK Kotlarka 1:16 Hrosi Brno vs. Eagles Praha 9:18
SK Kotlarka vs. Tempo Titans 8:4 Sparks Mlade Buky vs. Hrosi Brno 3:18
Quarterfinal
Sokol Hluboka vs. Sparks Mlade Buky 10:7 Hrosi Brno vs. Tempo Titans 6:4
Semifinal
Eagles Praha vs. Sokol Hluboka 8:6 SK Kotlarka vs. Hrosi Brno 9:8
5th place game
3rd place game
Tempo Titans vs. Sparks Mlade Buky 14:8 Hrosi Brno vs. Sokol Hluboka 20:0
Final game
Eagles Praha vs. SK Kotlarka 8:7  

U14 final standings

1st Eagles Praha
2nd SK Kotlarka Praha
3rd Hrosi Brno
4th Sokol Hluboka nad Vltavou
5th Tempo Titans Praha
6th Sparks Mlade Buky

U12 results

Group A
Group B
SaBaT Praha vs. Tempo Titans 9:8 Arrows Ostrava vs. Budapest Rangers 8:8
Slovakia vs. SaBaT Praha 3:20 Eagles Praha vs. Arrows Ostrava 1:9
Sokol Hluboka vs. Slovakia 8:7 SK Kotlarka vs. Budapest Rangers 14:2
SaBaT Praha vs. Sokol Hluboka 12:3 Rangers Budapest vs. Eagles Praha 7:7
Slovakia vs. Tempo Titans 6:6 Arrows Ostrava vs. SK Kotlarka 17:2
Tempo Titans vs. Sokol Hluboka 5:7 SK Kotlarka vs. Eagles Praha 1:5
Semifinal
SaBaT Praha vs. Eagles Praha 5:1 Arrows Ostrava vs. Sokol Hluboka 9:2
5th – 8th place games
Tempo Titans vs. Budapest Rangers 6:11 SK Kotlarka vs. Slovakia 10:11
7th place game
5th place game
Tempo Titans vs. SK Kotlarka 4:2 Budapest Rangers vs. Slovakia cancelled
3rd place game
Final game
Sokol Hluboka vs. Eagles Praha 8:1 SaBaT Praha vs. Arrows Ostrava postponed

U12 final standings

1st  
2nd  
3rd Sokol Hluboka nad Vltavou
4th Eagles Praha
5th Slovakia
5th Budapest Rangers
7th Tempo Titans Praha
8th SK Kotlarka Praha