Czechs eliminate Russia, will play for a medal on Saturday
A Czech-Russia encounter always gets attention, regardless of the sport. In this game, the Czechs exploded for seven runs in the first two innings, then cruised to an 8-3 victory. The win assures the Czechs a medal and they´ll play on Saturday. With the loss, Russia finishes in fourth place.
| game: 69 | P | date: 12.07.2013 | time: 20:00 | ballpark: Svoboda A | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | T | R | H | E | LOB | ||
| Rusko | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 8 | |||
| Česko | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 13 | 1 | 8 | ||||
| Winning Pitcher | Losing Pitcher | Umpire |
|---|---|---|
| Maršíková Lucie | Shembereva Daria | Mangnani, Reus, Lautenschlager |
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In this game where the winner went on and the loser went home, both teams started who many pre-tournament prognosticators picked as their best pitchers: Lucie Marsikova for the Czech Republic and Daria Shembereva for Russia. But while Marsikova brought her "A" game and would go the distance, Shembereva´s night was much shorter.
The Czechs sent nine batters to the plate in the bottom of the first inning, scoring four runs on five hits. Two of the team´s biggest hitters, Lenka Jaklova and Lucie Petreskova, each hit two-run singles.
Jaklova drove in two more runs with two out in the second with a double deep in the corner to left field, spelling the end to Shemberova´s outing. Yekaterina Yeronina struck out the first batter she faced, but then gave up an RBI triple to Petra Broukalova, scoring Jaklova. The Czechs now had the seven-run difference they´d need to secure a mercy-rule victory--they just had to maintain the margin.
The Russians wouldn´t go away though. The two teams traded runs over the next two innings, and with the score 8-1 with two out in the top of the fifth, Yevgenia Yegiazarova doubled to left field to drive in a run and keep the game alive. In fact, Yegiazarova drove in all three Russian runs in the game--one in each of her three plate appearances. She also hit an RBI single in the third inning and her second RBI double of the game in the seventh.
In the end, the game went the full seven innings, though the Russians were unable to get closer than 8-3. Marsikova struck out 4 and gave up 3 runs on 6 hits for the Czechs, while Yeronina pitched well in relief, striking out 3 and giving up 1 run on 6 hits over 4 2/3 innings.
Post-Game Comments
Vojtech Albrecht (assistant coach, Team Czech Republic): "We approached this game very seriously and relied on offence, which undoubtedly succeeded. The biggest performance today, I think, came from Maršíková and the defence which, with few exceptions, played at their peak. The game with Italy will be different in the fact that we have to find ourselves again. We have to be careful because the Italians are now playing for a medal, so we can´t be complacent that we beat them once already."
