Czechia, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain - these are the teams advancing to the semi-finals of the European U18 Championship. The last group matches, played in Brno and Blansko, decided it.
In Group A, France fought against Spain, who have not lost in the tournament so far, for the hope of advancing to the medals. The French team was trailing in the beginning but always managed to recover and after 6 games the match was tied 4:4. The winner was decided in the seventh inning, so the tie-break came. The French players failed to make any point. Thanks to Anderson Peña's hit, the Spaniards were able to celebrate their second win in the set inning and the first place in the group.
The morning game was played at the YD Baseball Arena between Great Britain and the Netherlands. The Brits held on for the first two innings, but eventually succumbed to the defending champions 3:13 to finish 4th in Group A, with the Netherlands in second place.
Austria decided their high scoring win over Lithuania 12-1 with seven runs in the 3rd inning to claim their first win of the tournament. Maximilian Luger pitched a complete game and helped his team to 5th place in the Group A table, Lithuania is 6th.
Also in Group B, three teams had a theoretical chance to reach the semi-finals. Italy took the first step towards advancement with an 11:2 victory over Belgium.
The final group standings were then decided in the evening match between Germany and the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic won the long-shot match 15:10 and finished first in the group. Italy is second, Germany third. The match must have been enjoyed by every spectator, one shot followed another. Two of them, the Czech ones, fell over the fence. The third home run of the tournament was hit by Matouš Bubeník, the second by Michal Zelenka. A total of 29 hits fell in the game and the pitchers combined to give up 18 strikeouts.
In the duel between Ireland and Israel, Israel was more successful 10:0, and finished in 4th place in the group. Lithuania is still waiting for its first success in the tournament.