The manager of the Italian national baseball team5, Maurizio Balla, has called for October 20th the last meeting before the European under-18 championship which will be played in Clermont Ferrand, France, from October 29th to November 2nd. The Italian coach has called up 14 athletes, seven boys and seven boys, with whom he will carry out some training sessions and study the tactics to be used in the continental event.
«For the first time – he underlines Maurizio Balla – our team will have to deal with the new regulation, already adopted at the 2023 U18 World Cup, which obliges us to field three males in the first set, three females in the second, leaving the possible third set free. We have been working on this innovation for some time. I will bring eight players to France, four males and four females, so the numbers are really small. It would have been better to have the possibility of calling up ten athletes, to avoid having to lose a set due to the lack of players.”
Maurizio Balla, for the last of a series of events (in August Italy took part with two teams), has gathered together the eight representatives who will compete in the European Championship and six reserves, but with an eye also looks to the future . Among those called up there is also a thirteen year old, Stefania Bechelli from Rimini, born in 2011; three born in 2009.
The manager would like to say a word about Filippo Sabatinione of the strengths of the national baseball team5 in recent seasons, who flew to the Dominican Republic after signing a contract with the Philadelphia Phillies: «I am very sorry that Filippo is no longer with us – says Balla – because someone with his skills cannot he replaces himself, but I’m happy for what he did. He deserves it: he’s used to playing at a high level whatever he does.”
The coach closes with a prediction about the U18 European Championship: «Our goal will be to get to the Super Six. Lithuania, Türkiye, France and Spain are only better than us, but Italy wants to be immediately behind.”
Those summoned: Cristian Agresta (Rho Baseball), Antonello Ambramarie (Thunders & Dragons Castellana), Stefania Beghelli (Rimini 86/Falcons Torre Pedrera), Irene Bellusci (Acli Rivello), Pierfrancesco Bernardi (Aosta Bugs), Cloe Bonomo (Aosta Bugs/Canavese), Lorenzo Briganti (Cral Enrico Mattei), Iacopo Cavedon (Rimini 86/New Rimini), Martina Ganili (Aosta Bugs), Alessandro Micheli (Bc Pesaro), Chiara Pecorelli (Acli Rivello), Federico Sana (Aosta Bugs), Leila Sanna (Florence Softball), Marco Taiariol (Braves/Bollate Baseball),
Manager Maurizio Balla, coach Simone Perazzini, Paolo Vannini.
