EC U12: Czechs with silver medal after a fantastic battle

The last time Czechs faced Germany at U12 European Championship they lost and took silver medals. This year they had a chance to get one back on them. The two teams met in the group stage and Czechs came on top.

Finale was marked by weather delays and it had to be paused several times. The first runs came in the third inning thanks to Václav Novák, who gave Czechs lead with a two run homerun.

Unfortunately, Czech defense made errors and Germany took advantage. The score was leveled in the third inning partially due to a Czech error. Czechs were able to take the lead against in the following inning thanks to hits from Robin Míka and Václav Novák.

Unfortunately, everything turned against the Czech team in the fourth inning. They first had to substitute their pitcher and first baseman due to an injury and Germans took the lead afterwards. The score remained unchanged until the sixth inning, where Czechs needed to at least tie the game to have a hope of winning the gold medals. Young players were able to do just that thanks to Adam Šťastný‘s hit which scored Lukáš Hanák. Matouš Brabec didn’t allow Germans any runs in the bottom half of the inning and so the game went into extra innings.

Czechs were the first to take the lead again, when Denis Ondroušek sent hit a linedrive with two outs and earned 2 RBI. Czechs were thus three outs from the gold. Germany, however, managed to tie the game with 1 out and runner at third base. Czech defense managed to play exceptionally and tagged runners at the home base two times.

The game continued in the eighth inning. Robin Míka started it with a great bunt and Czechs got to load the bases without an out. However, they were unable to get any outs. They played good defense, however, and the game continued in the ninth inning.

Czechs scored a run thanks to a hit from David Jílek and were once again two outs from the gold. In the bottom half they managed to get two batters out, however, German batter hit through Czech defense and Germany got to celebrate winning the championship. Czechs were thus left with silver. This was 14th medal for the Czech national team and they are still the only country with double digit medals in this category.

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