Softball, the first phase of the World Cup in Friuli: there is Italy-Venezuela

The Softball World Cup kicks off on Saturday in Castions di Strada and Buttrio, in Friuli Venezia-Giulia. There were no changes compared to the team that took part in the Canada Cup last week in the Softball City of Surrey, British Columbia, where the blues finished in third place. Italy will have to face first-level opponents such as the Olympic champions of Japan, Canada, bronze in Tokyo 2020, as well as Venezuela, New Zealand and the Philippines. The words of the coach Federico Pizzolini: “The group makes the difference and the trip to Canada served for this, we have a cohesive group, there is no difference between the young and the old and historic of this group”.

Right mix

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The blue lineup has given him good impressions in recent outings: “We have the right mix as regards the attack: we have power hitters, but we can also intervene in case of difficulty with short games by exploiting the speed of some players. We have lost some good hitters, such as Andrea Howard and Amanda Fama, but we have added new players, being able to take advantage of the power McKenzie Barbara or Giulia Koutsoyanopulos herself, who at the time was one of the young players in the group, this year she has improved above all in attack”.

Keyword

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“Group” is the key word also with regard to the range of pitchers: “The pitching platform is not made by a leader, but we have made a choice by focusing on four pitchers with different characteristics for shuffling the cards. We bet on Christina Toniolo, whom we had been following for some years, to test her in matches of a certain importance. We took this decision to evaluate her effectiveness and evaluate whether to call her or not next year.” On the opponents that Italy will face, focus on the team considered favorites to win the group, namely Japan: “Japan is the number one team in this group, they are reigning Olympic champions and, despite having made some changes this season, they remain a difficult team, made up of great professionals who have the opportunity to work hard all year round under the guidance of a top-level coach who imposes perfection. In Canada, too, they had no opponents. On the roster is Yukiko Ueno, a very reliable pitcher who has taken them to great heights”. Attention also to Canada, a renewed team compared to the national team capable of bronze at the Olympic Games: “The first match in which we faced them at the Canada Cup was narrow in terms of scoring, characterized by three big mistakes by us in attack, otherwise that too could have been a match that could have turned in our favour. I don’t think they hid their cards, they certainly had an enlarged roster, however, especially in the match that led to the bronze medal in which we beat them, I don’t think they tried not to win it so as not to give us signals, so I am convinced that here too we will play on equal footing”.

Starting well

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It will be essential to start off on the right foot from the first game: “Venezuela is a question mark because we haven’t been able to scout in depth. We will certainly face the first game against them with what, according to me and my staff, will be the best team, focusing on a platform that can give us security and perhaps using all four of our pitchers. When you play, against any opponent, you always have to start with the best team and, if necessary, make different choices during the game, but you must never underestimate anyone and you mustn’t even give away games, because we know very well that anything can happen over seven innings: in the friendly match played on Thursday against the University of Alabama we had some excellent innings but we didn’t always capitalize and this can happen to anyone, even Japan”.

First launch for Navarria

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The Friulian swordsman Mara Navarria, native of Udine, waiting for her World Cup in Milan, will make the first celebratory throw of Italy-Venezuela in Castions di Strada (UD) at 20. She is the ambassador of Friuli.