Three Haarlem baseball talents achieved the bronze medal with their team at the European Baseball Championship in Vienna last weekend. In the blistering consolation final, Italy was finally defeated in extra time. The achievement was celebrated not only by the boys, but also by the large group of parents who traveled with them.
“It feels very good,” responds pitcher and first baseman Tim Hanemaaijer. “It was a very exciting game, so it’s really good that we won. And I played quite well. I hit two hits and played two nice plays.”
Rafael Moralis can’t believe his luck. “On a scale of 1 to 100, I’m 90 happy. That’s just not 100. I could have done a few things better and of course we didn’t win. But this is very nice.”
The Dutch National Undertwelve Team became second in the group after an exciting group stage. As a result, it came in the semi-final against the Czech Republic the number one from the other group. The later number two of the tournament turned out to be a size too big. What remained was the consolation final against Italy.
Parents
The many parents who traveled along saw how the Orange talents fell behind 3-0 against Italy. Due to the good work of the boys from Haarlem, it became 3-3 and it eventually came to extra time. In which the boys quickly took the initiative and ran until 12-5.
Such a great achievement naturally also includes a medal and that goes to school tomorrow. “It’s my last day of school, but I’ll take my prize to school,” Rafael says. “And whether I want to play in the real Dutch National Baseball Team later? Definitely. That’s really my dream.”
Germany is the surprising winner of the European Championship. They won in an exciting final against the Czech Republic.