The World Baseball Softball Confederation Europe has announced the groups of the XXIV edition of the Women's European Softball Championship, which will be held in Utrecht, the Netherlands from September 1-7, 2024.
The top eight finishers of the last edition of the European Softball Championship, including Team Italy, automatically advance to the second round and face the winners of the four groups of the first round in this year’s competition.
Team Italy will compete in Group Y against Great Britain, Greece, Israel and the winners of Groups B (Bulgaria, Denmark, France and Ukraine) and C (Austria, Hungary, Malta and Poland). Groups X and Y serve as the semifinals in a single round-robin format to determine the teams from each group that qualify for the Super Round in Group Z. The Gold Medal Game between the two top teams from each group, Z1 and Z2, will take place on Saturday, September 7, 2024 at 4:30 pm, while the Bronze Medal Game between Z3 and Z4 takes place earlier at 2 pm. All other teams will continue their tournament in the Placement Rounds to determine the final ranking.
Team Italy manager Federico Pizzolini will have his Azzurre squad prepared to make its Euro debut on Sunday, September 1, 2024 against Great Britain.
The schedule is listed below (the home
team is indicated first):
Sunday , September 1, 2024 5:30 pm, ITALY - Great Britain
Monday, September 2, 2024 10 am,
Israel - ITALY
Monday, September 2, 2024 5:30 pm,
ITALY - Greece
Tuesday, September 3, 2024 12.30 pm,
ITALY - C1
Wednesday, September 4, 2024 8 pm, B1 - ITALY
In the last edition of the European Softball Championship, held in 2022 in Saint Boi, Spain, Team Italy finished in third place, defeating the Czech Republic in the challenge for bronze. The gold went to the Netherlands who prevailed over Great Britain.
Forza #Italia!
by Nicolò Gatti and Roberto Angotti
(Photo of Fabrizia Marrone against the Netherlands in the 2022 Women's European Softball Championship by EzR-Nadoc)
