European Championship 2010, Day 10, August 1:
Italy – Netherlands 8-4
NED 100 000 030 4 9 2 ITA 300 002 03X 8 8 0
Italy has won the first European Championship since 1997 after defeating the Netherlands 8-4 in the final on Sunday in Stuttgart, Germany. The Dutch team had won the last five titles in a row and was considered as heavy favorite to repeat this feat.
The Netherlands had the better start into the game, when leadoff hitter Eugene Kingsale sent a pitch of Tiago Da Silva over the left field fence. They even had the chance to score more, but couldn’t take advantage of a bases loaded, no-out situation. Italy answered right away, putting three runs on the board in the bottom of the frame on a two-run double by Giuseppe Mazzanti and a sac fly by Laidel Chapelli.
The score stood at 3-1 until the sixth, when Mazzanti and Jairo Ramos Gizzi greeted the new pitcher Leon Boyd with back-to-back homeruns to make it 5-1. The Dutch team threatened to come back in the eighth. They loaded the bases and scored three runs on a RBI single by Bryan Engelhardt, a passed ball and a RBI double down the left field line to cut the deficit to a run. But it was not enough, as three Italian insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth by Ramos Gizzi, Chapelli and Juan Angrisano sealed the victory.
On the mound Justin Cicatello (W 1-0) deservingly received the win after shutting down the Dutch offense with five scoreless one-hit, one-walk innings of relief before tiring in the eighth. Diegomar Markwell (L 1-1) settled in after the tough beginning and conceded three hits, three runs (2 ER) and three bb in five innings.
Photo: © Drobny