OCTOBER 7 UPDATE

JUNIOR WORLD UPDATE

Italy held off Germany, 7-6 and then shutout the Netherlands, 7-0 to win the 2006 European Junior Championship in August. Those two victories capped a perfect performance that saw the winners go 9-0 (won-lost) over the course of the six-day event.

Held in Collecchio, Italy, the event included twelve teams and was also a qualifier for the International Softball Federation’s VIII Jr. Women’s World Championship (19-and-under) in 2007. Italy and the Netherlands (7-3) both clinched berths in that event, as did Russia (6-3), who finished third when they lost on Saturday, 4-2, to the Netherlands in the game that sent the Dutch on to the gold medal game.

(SPY Note:  The Junior World Championship will be held in 2007 in Kutno, Poland.  Another ISF qualifier will be held in November 8-18, 2006, in Caguas, Puerto Rico.  The recently-selected USA team will compete.)

Italy got strong pitching from a staff that posted a combined 1.56 earned run average (ERA), which led all teams. Greta Cecchetti played a big part in that success, posting a 4-0 record, 1.22 ERA, and striking out 25 batters in 23 innings. She was the winning pitcher in the title game.

Offensively, Italy’s Andrea Montanari led all batters with a .567 average, hitting two home runs and recording three triples and five runs batted in. Just the second batter of the game for Italy, she hit a solo home run on Saturday to start a four-run first inning.

The Netherlands had started off with victories in their first five games. In the bronze medal game against Russia, the Dutch scored all four of their runs in the top of the first inning. Russia could only muster single tallies in the bottom of the third and sixth innings and committed three errors.

Russia’s Marina Poddubskaya was named the tournament Most Valuable Player, leading all pitchers with 41 strikeouts and finishing with a 1.67 ERA in 29 1/3 innings.

The rest of the standings were as follows:

4. Germany (4-4)
5. Czech Republic (4-2)
6. Poland (3-3)
7. Spain (2-4)
8. Slovakia (2-4)
9. France (2-4)
10. Austria (1-5)
11. Ukraine (1-5)
12. Sweden (0-6)

Reminder: US players seeking international teams should log on to the ISF web site:

http://www.internationalsoftball.com/english/message_board/players_seeking_teams.asp

The USA women’s national team will compete in the Japan Cup, November 17-19.

REVISED HOTSHOTS TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE