Slovakia lost to U23 Croatia to wrap up the Memorial tournament
After losing to Hungary, Slovakia still had a chance to finish first at Aleksandar Bekič memorial. But hey needed to beat U23 Croatia team. In the end, it didn’t go as Slovaks would hope for.
Despite that Slovaks started the game well, already taking the 1-0 lead in the first inning. But their opponent caught up with them with four runs of their own. Croatians wouldn’t let go of their lead till the end of the game.
Slovak started young Samuel Holekši on the mound, who was substituted by Samuel Deák after four inning. Adam Zacko then finished the game.
After 4-9 loss, Slovakia had the same record as U23 Croatia (1-2). Unfortunately, the lost in this game meant they finished in the last, 4th place.
“This was our biggest national team tournament of this year. Nevertheless, it is a young team. We basically only took three or four players over 23. The whole tournament was a preparation for us, and that’s how our rotation was set up, we didn’t come here to only get wins. I wanted to see the players’ reactions in different situations. We had great offense in the first inning. Great pitching. Martin Gieci grew up a lot. Both youngsters from Trnava (Holekši and Deák – author’s note) looked promising. They both throw better in senior team than in their own categories, because they can rely on their team. The tournament showed us what we should focus on in winter so that we can prepare for U23 European Championship qualification next year,” commented manager Matej Šišolák.
