A unique girls baseball tournament took place in Bratislava, Slovakia over the weekend.
The original article was published at sme.sk
A unique baseball tournament took place in Bratislava on Saturday. For the first time in Europe we got to see U10 girls baseball teams face each other during „Baseball is for girls too“ tournament.
Five teams came to the Slovak capital with more than 60 baseball players. Beside the hosts from Bratislava Panthers, there were girls from Trnava, two teams from Austria and one from Hungary.
In the end Trnava and Vienna faced each other in the finals. Trnava did give Vienna any chance and they decisively won the game, winning the entire tournament without a single loss. The entire tournament kept a good atmosphere and a number of sponsors, thanks to which every girl left with new experience but also a number of gifts.
Participants of „Baseball is for girls too“ tournament“ (author Ján Jabrocký)
Organizers how the first edition won’t be the last and that the tournament will start a nice tradition. „The tournament exceeded my expectations,“ said Bratislava Panthers president Zuzana Zambojová. „We are planning to continue every half year. In summer as a tournament outside, in winter in the hall.“
Beside the home team, Slovak baseball and softball federations helped to organize the first edition of Baseball is for girls too tournament.
„Many thanks goes to Panthers Bratislava and miss Zambojová who organized the event. Excellent work. Five purely girls teams is incredible and we couldn’t imagine something like this to be possible in Slovakia,“ said Slovak Baseball Federation president Mojmír Jankovič after the tournament. „We saw weaker, but also stronger teams. We saw a seven year old girl who could hit the ball. We saw amazing defensive and offensive plays.. We saw girls who understand the game and they gave it everything,“ added Mojmír Jankovič, who helped at the tournament as a referee and a scorekeeper.
Photo from the „Baseball is for girls too“ tournament (author Ján Jabrocký)
With the tournament Slovakia joined the world-wide trend of increased participation of women’s baseball. Recently, USA announced a plan to found a professional women’s baseball league, which should start in 2026. In Europe there were already two women’s European Championships, and neighboring Czech Republic already boasts two medals. Slovakia is still some way away, but Bratislava tournament showed that women’s baseball has a future in the country.
