First the Bavarian championship, then also the national title: The U 16s of the Freising Grizzlies are unbeatable.
Freising
- They exceeded all expectations: the U16 softball players of the Freising Grizzlies from BC Attaching.
Not only did the team remain unbeaten in league games, but after the Bavarian championship the girls also won the national title.
(By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Freising newsletter.)
The German U16 championship was held in Karlsruhe with nine participants.
Some of them were syndicates, but the Freising Grizzlies belonged to the quartet, which can put together a team on their own.
And the practiced teamwork paid off in the end.
Opponents of the preliminary round were the Kottenforst Saints / Zülpich Eagles and hosts Karlsruhe Cougars / Stuttgart Reds.
In the very first match, the young grizzlies faced the as yet unknown opponent from North Rhine-Westphalia.
The game was ended prematurely by the Mercy Rule when the score was 12: 2 for Freising.
In the second preliminary round appearance, Karlsruhe Cougars / Stuttgart Reds, defending champions by trade, were the opponents.
No problem for the U16s from Freising, because this game also ended prematurely when the score was 7-0 due to Mercy Rule.
To move into the final, the Grizzlies only had to assert themselves against the winner and runner-up of the other two groups.
Against the Gammertingen Royals (first group C)) succeeded in the last game of the day with 7: 1 impressively.
After the sixth inning everything was clear
Already at 9 o'clock the next day it was up against the syndicate Wesseling Vermins, Hilden Wains and Hagen Chipmunks. Here the Freising fell behind for the first time, but equalized, and a tie-breaker had to be used at the end of the actual playing time. This means that for each team from the previous inning, the last batting woman starts as a runner on second base. Both managed to score three points. So there was another extra inning. The BCA-Grizzlies got three points, they were able to stop the runs of the opponents and won with 12: 9.
Against the syndicate Mannheim Tornados / Schriesheim Raubritter they won 7: 4 as well as against SG München-Haar Disciples / Hamburg Knights.
So the Grizzlies moved undefeated into the final.
The opponent there was again the SG Wesseling / Hilden / Hagen.
This could score four points in the first inning.
The Freising women gradually reduced both their nervousness and the backlog.
They made seven points while the opponent only brought one more over the plate.
After the sixth inning it was clear to everyone that Freising was the new German U16 champions.
Just not the players themselves. They thought they were playing seven innings, as is common in softball.
Therefore, only after the announcement of the stadium announcer broke - “You won!
Rejoice! ”- the victory celebration.
The U 16s have had a sensational season.
And not only the big championship trophy went to Freising, but also two trophies for individual achievements.
Elisabeth Buchwald received the award for the best female pitcher (26 strikeouts, only two earned runs in 18 innings).
Laura Krüger received the award for Most Valuable Player for her excellent performance on the record with eleven hits as a slapper and behind the record as a catcher with two spectacular diving catches.
Becci Hillebrand
