Baseball, Turin European seen from Piazza: ‘Ready to challenge Holland’

The European baseball championships will start on Sunday in Settimo Torinese. And Italy’s hunt for the title that has eluded them since 2012. The Azzurri will make their debut against Greece, in Group A which also includes Austria and Belgium. “It will be a very difficult tournament, but we have confidence, the team is ready for the challenge”, said the Italian-American manager Mike Piazza, at his debut, at the presentation of the continental event today in Turin. There are three competition venues: the Turin capital, Settimo and Avigliana. In all three plants, interventions were carried out, “a legacy for the next twenty years of this sport, with the aim of making it take a leap forward even outside the happy islands”, explained Federal Councilor Marco Mannucci . The European returns to Italy twenty years after the edition of Nettuno-Rome-Caserta. “Our goal – said the blue left-handed pitcher Maurizio Andretta – is to show that we are the best in Europe at playing baseball, we have prepared ourselves as best we can to hit him. The preparation is going very well, we are working with the manager, we are forming the group and we hope to go all the way. Our goal is to show Europe that we are the best at baseball and I think we can do it. The goal can be achieved if we play together, if we play calmly and as we know how to do ”.

Formula

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Sixteen nations in contention, Holland has won the last three editions. Italy, second in 2019, is included in group A together with Belgium, Austria and Greece. After Sunday’s debut against Greece, Italy will play on the 13th at 20.30 in Turin against Belgium. On the 14th at 20.30 in Avigliana the match against Austria. In group B there are Spain, Germany, Croatia and Ukraine. In group C, Israel, France, Great Britain and Russia, while the reigning champions of the Netherlands will play in group D with the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Sweden. The top two of each group will advance to the knockout phase with the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals, scheduled for Sunday 19 September.