Havlickuv Brod 2010: The Czech machine stopped by the Danish
Eight teams in one town. In 2010, there was a group of chosen European softball players fighting for the European champions‘ title. Home team was a hot first place candidate, but the strong team Denmark got in their way.
After 7 years, the European championship returned back into the Czech Republic. The home side picked a well balanced team with almost all the best players from the domestic league. However, there were two top-level pitchers unavailable to attend, Jonas Mach and Ales Jetmar. Therefore the spot on the board belonged to Jaroslav Müller, player of the home team in Havlickuv Brod. Another three good pitchers to cover his back were Roman Matuska, Emanuel Bajer and Jiri Brabec.
The batting squad was based on experience of players like Mertl, Svoboda, Kolkus or Pavel Hlinka. On the other side, there was also a promising you gun Tomas Vobornik, also one of the players of Havlickuv Brod back at that time. „I’m so glad to be there and play with so many experienced guys. I value this high and they respect me as a part of the team,“ he said back before the tournament.
Alongside Müller and Vobornik, there were also other members of the hosting club – Karel Kadecka and Patrik Kolkus.
In the days from 25th of July up to 1st of August, the teams of the Czech Republic, Denmark, Croatia, Israel, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, the Netherlands and Belgium struggled for the European champions’ crown.
The Czechs did well in the beginning as they defeated the UK 9:0, Slovakia 7:0, Denmark 16:0, the Dutch 4:1, Israel 15:0, Belgium 8:0 and Croatia 16:2. No problem at all.
However, the first trouble came eventually in the game for a spot in the final as playing the Danish again. Jaroslav Müller for the Czechs, Valdemar Terkelsen on the other side. Two quick outs in the first inning, but Daniel Julenon smashed a home-run and Denmark goes one-nil up. Surprisingly, that was also the ending scoreline.
The Czechs had to beat the British for the chance to get their rematch and they did, 11:4.
„There is a good spirit in the team, the tournament really started in the play-offs for us,“ Pavel Kasal revealed back then for a interview with the Czech TV. His squad sent Müller on the board again, the Danish chose experienced Jesper Panduro. Both guys did their job until the third inning, when the Czechs got in front. Roman Matuska gets a single RBI with all bases taken. Stocek then got back with the second complete run in the fifth inning after Mertl’s good hit.
Denmark got a chance to turn it around in the sixth and they managed to do that with a combination of a hit and two free bases (Julenon and Panduro), which brought them five runs. These were left unanswered until the end of the game, so the Danish could celebrate a historical triumph.
The final game between the Czech Republic and Denmark is available in the archive of the Czech TV here.
