The Czech Republic and Italy have clinched first place in their respective groups and qualified for the semi-finals at the U12 European Championship in Budapest on Thursday. On day six of the preliminary round the Czech team came back from a deficit to beat France 10-7, improving to 5-0. France will take on Russia on Friday in a matchup, which will decide second place in Group B. Russia beat Ukraine 4-1. In the evening matchup on Thursday Hungary secured their third win with a 12-6 victory over Poland. Laszlo Paradi hit three home runs in the game and drove in seven.
In Group A Italy defeated Germany 13-3 to stay undefeated and secure first place in that pool. The lopsided score overshadows that it was a competitive game until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Germany’s pitching couldn’t throw quality strikes anymore. Italy scored ten runs in the frame. Germany now will face the Netherlands on Friday, which will decide second place in that group. The Dutch team had a hard time against Belgium, but eventually ran away with a 18-4 victory. In the third matchup in Group A of the day Austria picked up their first win with a 18-3 win over Croatia.
Day six at the U12 European Championship was disrupted in the afternoon due to a heavy thunderstorm, causing a 2-hour delay. The preliminary round will end on Friday.
Results Day 6:
Standings:
Schedule Day 7:
Complete schedule, results, box scores, statistics and live play by play are available at www.baseballstats.eu.