In the fifth-place game for Honkbalweek, Spain got its first win, defeating Italy 13-4.
The game was scoreless for the first four innings behind good performances from Spain’s Pablo L. Guillén and Italy’s Federico Virgaduala. Both starters went three innings with no runs allowed.
Spain pounced on the Italian bullpen at the top of the fifth inning. Lefty Francesco Pomponi could not get in a rhythm, allowing six runs, with Jesus Ustariz doing most of the damage with a grand slam with two outs.
Spain continued the onslaught with two outs as Francesco Bonvini came in to relieve Pomponi. He had a similar result, with three runs attributed to him before getting out of the inning, leaving Italy in a 9-0 hole.
Italy managed to get three runs in succession. The first came via a Ricardo Paolini sacrifice fly to center field, the second by a Samuele Gamberini single, and the third from a Filippo Agretti push single. Italy cut the deficit to six, with 9-3 being the score at the end of five.
After a scoreless sixth, Spain slowly crushed Italy’s hopes with a run in the seventh, two in the eighth, and one in the ninth.
Both teams finished with one win and five losses, with Spain claiming fifth place and Italy going out with a loss to finish last.
The semi-final matchups occur today of Honkbalweek, with Japan taking on Chinese Taipei and the United States battling the Netherlands to see who will advance to the final.
Follow World Baseball Network for great coverage of Honkbalweek Haarlem, and watch along at honkbalsoftbal.tv.
Photo credit: David Mulder
