On the third day of the tournament, the last matches in both groups were played, after which the composition of the semi-final pairs of this year's 41st edition is clear. Unfortunately, weather interfered with the schedule and the afternoon home run derby had to be cancelled and the evening duel between the Czech Republic and Spain was abandoned due to rain in the seventh inning.
It was already clear after two days of play that the Czech and Spanish national teams would advance from Group A. Thus, both teams played in the evening match for a better starting position for the semi-finals. The Czech team started off better, scoring in the opening inning and leading 2:1 in the fifth, but the Spanish batsmen pushed back in the sixth inning and scored two runs off starter Jeff Bart. That proved to be the difference in the outcome of the game. In the following inning, heavy rain descended on the Krč venue, which subsequently made it impossible to finish the game. The Czechs were under pressure at that point, but they did not take advantage of the over-occupied bases. Spain thus takes first place in Group A, the Czech Republic second.
Advancing from Group B in the end are the Hakusoh Globetrotters and The North Baseball. The Czech Prospects are better placed in the table than The North, but it was announced before the tournament that this team will not participate in Saturday's positioning matches due to further preparation for the home European Championship. Also withdrawing from the tournament are Lithuania's Utenos Titanai, who jumped in just before the start of the tournament after France pulled out.
In their last game of the tournament, they fell to Canada's The North Baseball 2-12 when a numerically limited pitching battery was unable to counter the batting power of their opponents. With two home runs and 11 hits in total, the Lithuanian team was unable to respond.
The Hakusoh Globetrotters notched their third win of the tournament, winning Group B with ease. This time they clearly beat Czech Prospects 10:0. Czech young pitchers did not catch the onset of more experienced opponents and after three innings they were losing 0:7. The Globetrotters team again let most of the bench play, and finally ended the game after 7 innings.
And it is the selection of foreign players playing in Europe that will be the semifinal opponent of the Czech team. In the second semifinal, Spain will play the Canadian selection The North Baseball.
Let's hope the weather doesn't interfere with the schedule of Saturday's games for the final placement, their schedule is as follows:
10:00 a.m. for 5th place Greece vs. Old World Baseball - Tempo Field
10:30 semifinal 1 Czech Republic vs. Hakusoh Globetrotters - Eagles central field
10:30 semifinal 2 Spain vs. The North Baseball - Eagles 2 field
16:00 for 3rd place
18:30 final
All games will once again be streamed on the StayLive platform
Photogalery here