Israel's Cadets Make Their Mark on Gala Tournament

Israel's Cadet National squad returned from a 4-day festive international tournament in Nettuno, Italy, a town west of Rome on the Mediterranean coast. The team succeeded in winning 3 of its 6 games. However, due to the rules of the playoff round, the team finished in 7th place out of 10 teams.

The Israel Cadet team had arrived in Italy, led by Head Coach Miki Flamenbaum, Assistant Coach Tomer Solomon, and General Manager Ariel Kornberg, in order to participate in the 2nd International Youth Gala, in addition to three teams from Italy, and one each from the USA, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Malta, and Germany.

 

On Thursday, the first day of the tournament, in a morning game, the Israeli team met the Lithuanian Cadet squad. In the bottom of the 1st inning, the Israel squad loaded up the bases whereupon Philip Tannor hit a powerful grand slam into left field. However the Lithuanians continued to press offensively and by the top of the fourth inning, the Lithuanian squad managed to reduce Israel's lead to 10 to 9.However, in the bottom of the fourth, Israel put 8 more runs on the scoreboard and the game was won as the clock ran out. Other notable achievements included Yair Golinkin' single and triple, and Ronen Kornberg's two singles and one walk for three plate appearances as well as four stolen bases.

Later the same day, the Israel team met the Romanian team in a tense see-saw game that saw the lead change three times, but the Israeli team, who led after 4 innings by 9 to 8 (with offensive power from Phillip Tannor, Alon Leichman, and Elan Guth), could not contain the determined Romanian team which inched forward relentlessly, even as relief pitcher Yoni Schwartz subdued their offensive but without sufficient defensive help from the team. Thus the Romanians aggressively scraped back to win after 7 innings by a score of 10 to 9.

That evening, in a key team meeting marked by constructive self-criticisms, the team came to terms with what it would take to win the following games: a steely willingness to upgrade team play, emphasizing team glory over personal glory, a much more intense competitive focus by each player during the game, including a more active and inspired and involved bench.

 

The next morning a quietly determined Israeli squad came out to face the mighty Italian-Central team. The battery of pitcher Nadav Ephrat and catcher Rafi Jaffe shutdown the stunned Italian offensive for the first three innings, with a display of masterful pitching, supported by Alon Leichman's three consecutive crisp 5-3 (3rd to 1st) plays in the second inning, while the Israel offensive put runs on the board. With fierce play (including Yehuda Baker's amazing stolen base, eluding a run-down by ducking under the second base man) and an active bench in support, by the top of the fourth, Israel led Italy two runs to zero. However the Italian squad took advantage of a number of passed balls at the plate, as well as walks, to claw forward, scraping to win in the end 5 to 2, even though both teams had 4 hits apiece, and Israel had no errors against the Italian's 2 fielding errors.

In any case, the team was relatively pleased with its performance, having reached closer to its true potential. The team could only regret that their coalescence as a team had happened due to the lessons gained by the earlier loss to Romania, which by all intents and purposes, the Israel team should have won.

The Israel squad continued the next day, Saturday, with a morning game against the powerful USA team which completely overwhelmed the Israeli team with superior skills in most areas, with Israeli moundsmen hit hard, for a final score of 18 to zero. The Israel team could feel nothing to be ashamed of against such a highly skilled baseball team.

Later on the same day, the Israel team regrouped against a weaker German team, winning an uninspired game 6 to 1, with a few sparkling defensive moments such as catcher Raffi Jaffe's pick off to Moshe Hyde of the runner on third. The team had won but the coaches reprimanded the team for not playing even harder. The next game would indeed require such intensity.

The final day of the tournament, Sunday, found Israel and Malta in a morning game on the beautiful green diamond of the Nettuno professional baseball stadium Stadio Borghese. Israel broke out to lead 7 to 4 at the end of four innings, led by Daishi Sato's double and triple, and Yehuda Baker's double and single. But the Maltese pressed forward, leading 8 to 7 by the middle of the sixth. At the bottom of the sixth, Yoni Goren's RBI single gave the Israel team a new game at 8 to 8. The two teams then continued their marathon game. The amazing young Maltese pitcher, who would pitch for the full 9 innings, continued to hold down the Israel offensive. But in the end, the fourth Israeli pitcher of the game, closer Alon Leichman, came in and shut down the threatening Malta offensive. Yair Golinkin's RBI single sent Roni Gross home to win at the bottom of the 9th inning.

In the tournament final, the USA beat Italy-Central 7 to 0.

Thus, the final results for games for the Israel Cadet Team was as follows:

Lithuania (Visitor) 8, Israel (Home) 18, in 4 innings
Israel (Visitor) 9, Romania (Home) 10, in 4 innings
Israel (Visitor) 2, Italy-Central (Home) 5, in 6 innings
U.S.A (Visitor) 18, Israel (Home) 0, in 5 innings
Germany (Visitor) 1, Israel (Home) 7, in 5 innings
Malta (Visitor) 8, Israel (Home) 9, in 9 innings

Some other outstanding achievements for players during the tournament included Yair Golinken's tournament-leading Put Outs at first base (37), Daishi Sato's solid defensive play at 2nd base, Moshe Hyde's strong play at 3rd, Alon Leichman's six RBI's, Ronen Kornberg's 1.000 batting average and 1.000 OBP with four stolen bases, and Nadav Ephrat's .500 batting average and six stolen bases.