Daily summary: Russia’s through with two narrow wins
As the tournament went to the quarterfinal group stage, there were some interesting games played already. Russia won over Sweden just 1-0, Italy’s beaten Great Britain 7-0 but lost to the Czechs in the evening fantastic game. The second group is ruled by the Dutch and Russians.
Group E – All teams have a chance to get through
At first Italy managed to win over Great Britain, when they scored seven runs in one inning. The British played well, but struggled in ofense and lacked some hits with bases loaded. However, they defeated Spain 8-0 in their second game and kept their hopes alive for tommorow, when they’ll face the home side. The Italians could have secure a semifinal position by beating the Czechs in the evening game, but they lost in bottom of seventh by a single run difference 3-4.
Group F – Russia won two games with 3 runs in total
Russia started the day #4 of group F with a game winning game against Sweden. Thrilling match with 18 strike-outs, 9 by both – Shembereva and Grauer, decided a single run at past ball. Sweden didn’t put Grauer pitching in their next game with the Netherlands and suffered a bitter defeat 0-19 as the game ended in third inning. The Russians then confirmed their position by beating Austria 2-0 as they faced another great pitcher – Martina Lackner.
Group G – Two wins for Belgium and one for Slovakia
The Belgians, who fought for the quarterfinal group with Austria yesterday showed their skills today while beating Denmark 9-2. Slovakia managed to defeat Denmark 6-2 in the second game of this group and the last one between Belgium and Poland ended with another Belgian win. The Polish pitcher Grzesczak let only one run and five hits, but even that was enough to make it 1-0 for Belgium.
Group H – Germany rules the fourth group as expected
The Germans fought in the strongest group with Great Britain and Russia, but since they lost both of those games, they didn’t make it to the quarterfinal groups. On Wednesday the faced Ukraine and Switzerland and won both of those games by the same result 7-0 after the fifth. Ukraine played also one more against Croatia, which it handled better then the one against Germany and won 13-6 after fifth.
Group I – France defeated Hungary 8-0
The Hungarian players were probably still tired after a difficult game against Czech national team they´ve played yesterday. That´s the only explanation, why they´ve made so many mistakes and lost the match, that could have been closer. The French punished every Hungarian hesitation and won the game after fourth inning with score 8:0.
