The Netherlands and Italy will square off in the final of the Super 6 Baseball tournament in Hoofddorp, Netherlands on Sunday at 1.30pm CET. Weather permitting. On day five on Saturday the preliminary round ended with three games. In the morning Italy prevailed over Spain and Germany picked up its first win against the Czech Republic. In the afternoon the Netherlands won the continuation of Friday evening’s suspended game against Spain.
The evening matchup between Belgium and the Netherlands was cancelled due to the bad weather. With a loss to the Dutch team, Belgium would have finished in sixth place due to a three-way tie with Germany and Czech Republic. Instead they claim fourth place in the final standings. Germany will be in fifth ahead of the Czech. Spain finishes in third.
Spain 110 001 011 5 10 1 Italy 040 400 00X 8 14 0
Italy used a pair of four-run innings to beat Spain 8-5 on Saturday morning. Andrew Maggi hit two home runs and drove in three runs for Italy. Giuseppe Mazzanti and Robel Garcia also went deep for the Squadra Azzurri. Alex Liddi and Chris Collabello collected three hits apiece. Blake Ochoa and Engel Beltre homered for Spain. Luis Lugo struck out nine in six innings for his second win in the tournament. Richard Castillo got charged with the loss.
Czech Republic 000 002 020 4 5 2 Germany 030 100 01X 5 5 0
Germany picked up their first win in the Super 6 with a 5-4 victory over the Czech Republic. Simon Gühring hit a tie-breaking solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to seal the win. The Czech Republic had just erased a 0-4 deficit with two runs each in the sixth and the eighth. Vincent Ahrens also went deep for Germany. Sven Schueller pitched four hitless innings in his lone appearance in the tournament. Fellow Minor Leaguer Niklas Rimmel got the win in relief. Jan Novak got charged with the loss.
Netherlands 310 002 06 12 11 1 Spain 010 402 03 10 12 2
The Netherlands advanced to the final with a 12-10 win over Spain, remaining undefeated in the tournament. In a back-and-forth contest a six-run top of the eighth decided the outcome. Spain cut the deficit to two runs in the bottom half of the same frame. Afterwards rain stopped play and the game was called in the evening. Yurendell De Caster and Kirvin Moesquit went deep for the Netherlands. Tom Stuifbergen earned the win in relief. Luis Guillorme and Lesther Galvan hit the ball over the fence for Spain. Andres Perez took the loss.
Complete results and live play by play of the Super 6 is available at www.baseballstats.eu. A live stream of the final is available at www.baseballsoftball.tv.