European Championship U23: Czechs started with a loss against Italy

Czech U23 team entered European Championship U23 on Tuesday evening. Their first game was against a tough opponent from Italy.

Despite hosting the championship, Italy was the away team in the game, hence they started at bat. They were able to take the lead, when Filip Čapka hit Astorri. Astorri was consequently batted in by Daniel Monti.

On the other hand, Czechs were unable to pressure Claudio Scotti for two innings. However, the bottom of the third inning started excellently for Czech team, after Italy created two errors and suddenly the score was leveled, when Martin Pernička stepped on the home plate.

The run seemed to stun Italy as the game became rather close. David Mergans stepped on the mound for Filip Čapka in the fourth inning and he kept Italy at bay till the seventh inning. In the last inning, Italy stepped up their game and after an RBI double from Bertossi, followed by a homerun, Italy went ahead by three runs.

Czechs still had the bottom half of the inning to do something about the result. They started well, with Daniel Ondroušek’s double, followed by Jan Pospíšil‘s walk. After Matěj Vlach striked out, it was Ondřej Kalandra who added single and loaded the bases. However, Czechs were unable to score runs from the situation and they left the first game of the tournament with a loss.

The national team will continue on Wednesday at 15:00 against Great Britain. Their opponent managed to surprise France in their first game and took 3-0 win. Czechs can’t afford to falter, however, or their chances to get to the semifinals will be slim.

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