Toreros Cup 2017 – tournament without winner

Slovak baseball history does not remember a tournament without winner.

7th international baseball tournament Toreros Cup started on Friday with Pool B games.
Winner of this group: Toreros Topoľčany was a surprise for everyone. After Victory over Stinky Sox and dramatic last inning with Seals Košice, home tema finished at first place in Pool B.
Game between Seals Košice and Stinky Sox selected the group standings.

Pool B – results:
Stinky Sox – Toreros Topoľčany 8:14
Seals Košice – Stinky Sox 11:9
Toreros Topoľčany – Seals Košice 23:21

Pool A games were scheduled for Saturday. We knew that game vs. Piratas del Caribe will be hard, but we decided to save pichers for game two and semifinal game.
After errors in defence, great hitting of Piratas and our very weak offense the game had an easy winner. Second game vs. BK Martin we put the best we have on the mound. Yusyuun Tokunaka threw only 64 pitches, allowed one hit and we  booked our first win. Piratas vs. BK Martin was again an easy game for Piratas, but to be honest: Martin was the only team, which scored against them. After two wins Piratas took first, Fighting Flies second and BK Martin third place in Pool A.

Pool A – results:
Fighting Flies – Piratas del Caribe 0:9
Piratas del Caribe – BK Martin 2:12
BK Martin – Fighting Flies 0:12

Our semi-final game vs. Toreros Topoľčany started right after our game with BK Martin. Just ideal warmed-up Tokunaka on the mound allowed only few hits for Toreros, but no runs. Saturday mission was completed and we were waiting for 1st place game opponent. Seal Košice vs. Piratas del Caribe – possible tense game ended with clear Victory for Piratas.

Semi-final – results:
Fighting Flies – Toreros Topoľčany 9:0
Piratas del Caribe – Seals Košice 10:0

5th, 3rd and 1st place games took place on Sunday. BK Martin vs. Stinky Sox: fifth place game, tight until last inning with BK Martin´s first win ever! 3rd place game: Toreros Topoľčany vs. Seals Košice with changing score, where at the end Toreros were lucky.

1st place game started with 45 minutes delay and it looked easy for Piratas. 7 innings game with no time limit. Strapko pitching well, but with fielding errors we allowed Piratas to score three runs in first. We tied in third, but big inning for Piratas came. After three fielding errors and few hits, they were ahead by six. We couldn´t break good pitching and hit, therefore Piratas added three more runs. One run for Piratas could have ended the game with 10 runs difference mercy rule. Even after collision between Achberger and Maček we didn´t know if they will be able to play. Luckily only one substitution was needed and game continued. Tokunaka came back to the mound, some changes in defence done and the game started to turn. Our big inning came in 5th. After two erros in Piratas defence and our great hits we scored five runs. In sixth another four and game was tied. We were one hit away from scoring the ahead run. Piratas did not score in sixth, but so as we in seventh and Piratas could win at their last at bat if one run will be scored. With two outs and runner at third, the Weather took it´s moment. With first thunder and rain drops game was cancelled. Heavy rain made the field impossible to play on, therefore the Cup stays in Topoľčany. We are glad for the comeback after down by nine and who knows…

Final standings games:
5th place game: Stinky Sox – BK Martin 8:10
3rd place game: Toreros Topoľčany – Seals Košice 9:8
1st place game: Fighting Flies – Piratas del Caribe 12:12

Final Standings:
1-2
Piratas del Caribe
Fighting Flies Bratislava
3. Toreros Topoľčany
4. Seals Košice
5. BK Martin
6. Stinky Sox

We would like to thank Toreros Topoľčany for invitation and another great tournament Our players for their performance especially in final game, especially some not playing in their best shape. We are not the youngest 🙂 As soon as the pictures will be online, we will share.

Our following schedule will be published by the end of this week, but one thing we know for sure: Posledný Strikeout is here in 18 days.

#gofflies #toreroscup