As every year, including this, we participated in the European Cup which was being held in La loggia (Italy). We started our journey early in the morning, the day before the tournament, so we arrived at the opening ceremony that was held the night before the tournament. The trip through Italy went smoothly, with less difficulty driving.
During the opening ceremony of the tournament, the hosts made a real show. Accompanied by a fantastic band, walking the streets of La Loggia, the teams met up at the main square. After the speeches and the presentation of all clubs participating in the tournament, we all went to the field where we had a little refreshment. With the arrival of the night and at the end of this great ceremony, we let off lanterns for good luck in the tournament. Also two Americans joined us, Julia Ferris and Makinna Akers. There were not only by their pitching, hitting and fielding contributed to this team, but also with incredible positive energy. We felt like they were playing with us for years.
Our first game was scheduled in the afternoon against Hrabiny Wroclaw (Poland). The match was terribly tense, with a dramatic turn of result in the eighth inning, we won with a score 3: 2.
The next day we had two matches, the first against Amager Vikings (Denmark) and another with the host La Loggia. Seemed that yesterday’s victory triggered something within us, so, we won both games again in dramatic finishes. The first we were losing 5: 1 to the last Innig in which we made 5 points and that score ensured Prince his second victory in La Loggia. A series of dramatic twists continued with two more victories against the Panthers Trnava (Slovakia) and The Mix (Great Britain) against whom we were losing 6: 0 to the fourth inning when we woke up and once again came back and turned it into our advantage.
Strong drama, a lot of heart and desire, we hereby secured first place in the group!
A run of five wins in a row was interrupted by the ISA (New Zealand), who participated for the first time on such a European tournament. It was indeed a pleasure to play against them, despite the defeat of only 3: 0.
Unfortunately, in the following two matches for a medal, we did not make it back as in the previous ones, although we , in the last, almost won against The Witches (Austria). We were losing 5: 0, got back to the last inning where we made 3 points. Unfortunately, despite all the physical and mental strength, we managed to equalize. In the end we finished at the fourth place.
The next day we watched the semifinal between Trnava and The Witches, from which winner will play against New Zealand in finals. To avoid the dark and driving till 3a.m. in the morning, we went to Zagreb immediately after the semifinals.
Something that impressed us all was the welcome party prepared by our loyal fans, Iva and Mario Žiger and Lorena Oreščanin. The taste the cake would be sweeter with the medal that we definitely deserved but it went off through the fingers.
We showed everyone that this team can compete for medals at major competitions. And to the next tournament we will train as before. This tournament has given us a new experience and impulse for the next year to be even better.
