U-12 European Championship 2018: Dutch no match for Italians

After three solid victories, the Dutch slammed into a wall vs Italy. The Azzurri were way too strong for their Dutch counterparts as they won 18-1.

Sol Fahrner gave up three runs in the first inning on a walk, two singles and a double. In the second inning, Fahrner kept the Italians from scoring. In the third inning, Fahrner was replaced by Wouter Mintjes. Unfortunately for the reliever, this would not pan out very well. Next to the double, the home run and two singles, he would give up three walks as well that would lead to five runs. After he recorded two outs he was replaced by Guido Feldkamp. Feldkamp recorded the final out of the inning.

In the bottom of the third inning, the Dutch had a golden opportunity to get back in the game as they loaded the bases with only one out. But Italian starter Giacomo Taschin retired the final two batters, so the Dutch left the bases loaded.

In the fourth inning, the Italians stepped up a bit more and scored ten runs to end the game prematurely. Of course, the Dutch had their final at-bat and they managed to score one run when Mats van het Land scored from third base on a 4-3 groundout hit by Amarensio Franka.

Now it is the job of the coaches to cheer up their boys for tomorrow’s game vs Belgium and the one vs Germany on Friday.