Juvenile National Team Finishes Strong in CEB Tournament

There were not any high expectations from the Israel Juveniles (11-12 Years old) National Team at the Confederation of European Baseball annual championship held this year in Moldova. This was further complicated by the fact that the final game was to be held on Shabbat, and with the majority of the team members being observant the default was to forfeit the game unless the intended opponent was willing to stay until Sunday morning to play the game.

After three loses in a row to Poland (10-0) Russia (22-0) and Belarus (5-3) Israel was relegated to the Consolation round playing for 5th - 8th place. But it was not going to be easy as its' first opponent was a strong Lithuanian team. With Yedidya Sommer (.400 BA, 6 runs 5 RBI's, 1-0 Pitching) from Netanya on the mound for the Lithuania game Israel went up 3-2 in the second inning, But Yedidya struggled in the third inning giving up 6 runs on 3 walks and 5 hits, and Israel was down 8-3. A gritty Israel team did not stumble and staged a comeback both offensivly and defensivly. answering with 5 runs in the fourth, 4 in the fifth, and 4 in the sixth , while on the mound, a recovered Yedidya Sommer pitched to only 14 batters over the final four innings giving up only one more walk and a hit for a complete game victory striking out 12 while walking only 5. The final tally at the end of seven innings was Israel 16 Lithuanian 8, and Israel was set to play Moldova the eventual winner of the Belarus-Moldova game (.30-5 in favor of Moldova, with #25 hitting four Homeruns, including a Grand Slam) On the morning after the closing ceremonies, two teams showed up to play what some might say was a meaningless game for fifth place. But, the participants did not think it was meaningless, they showed up to play one another for the top spot in the consolation bracket. The Moldovans put in #25 Conteseui their best pitcher in to start the game, and after giving up a lead off double, he settled down for the next 5 innings and held Israel to only 2 runs while scoring 9 in that same period. In the top of the fifth inning Moldova removed Conteseui and brought in #15 Poberesniac, to close out the final two innings. This decision would prove fatal as Israel would pound out 9 hits and plate 10 runs over the next two innings including a bases loaded triple by young David Tover (.389 BA 4 runs 7 RBI's) From Hashmoanim. While on the Mound relief pitcher Ayal Goodman (.333 BA 7 runs 4 RBI's, 1-0 Pitching) from Raanana, held the Moldovans scoreless over the final two innings. He relied mostly on the sharp fielding skills of his team mates including a diving stop on a ball down the line by third baseman David Tover who forced the runner at third, and the final out of the game came on a passed ball which had the Moldovan player hesitating, causing catcher Asaf Gelber (Kfar Saba) to rifle the ball to David Tover at third, however the throw got by him and was backed up by Shortstop Yedidya Sommer who made a perfect throw to Pitcher Ayal Goodman coming in to cover home and tagged out the runner for the final out. The Israel team erupted with joy and celebrated its' best tournament in many years.

Other Team standouts were Ishai Ferziger from Tel Aviv who batted an amazing .533 with 2 runs scored and 4 RBI's, and played left field. Golan Maimon from Hod Hasharon played center, had a no-decision and batted. .307