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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
     Borgerhout reaches final in London without playing
Nederlands
 LONDON, England (Great Britain) -
Borgerhout Squirrels from Belgium is the first finalist of the Federations Cup Qualifier in London.
On Friday (June 24), the squad had its day off, but reached the final when Stal Kutno (Poland) lost to London Mets (Great Britain).
Sofia Blues had a good day.
The Bulgarians had to play two games, one a make-up game against London, which was cancelled by rain the evening before.
Sofia won both games.
In the morning, the team won 6-4 against Athletico Alexandria (Romania), which therefore was officially eliminated.
In the afternoon, Sofia won 13-11 against London.
Day 4 was closed with a 7-4 win of London against Kutno to record their first victory.
And that could set up an interesting final day of the preliminary round, which can end up in a 3-way tie between Kutno, London and Sofia.
With one of these three teams becoming the second finalist.
(June 24)
Related Articles:
 Rouen wins CEB Cup. (June 5)
Amsterdam Pirates wins European Champions Cup. (June 4)
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Sofia Blues vs. Atletico Alexandria
In today's first game, Sofia Blues won 6-4 against Atletico Alexandria.
The game was originally scheduled to be played in the afternoon, but was moved to the morning to make room for the make-up game between Sofia and London Mets in order to give British fans an opportunity to visit this game and the following late afternoon-game of the hosting club.
Sofia Blues trailed 4-2 halfway the eighth inning, but then scored four runs to decide the game.
Sofia took an 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a double by Dimitar Nassapov, but Alexandria came alongside in the the top of the second.
A sacrifice fly by George Bela then accounted for the tying run.
The Bulgarians re-took the lead in the third thanks to an RBI-triple by Vladimir Markov.
After the pitching of Sofia had held the Romanians scoreless in four innings, it gave up two unearned runs in the seventh at bat.
With one out, a single by Costin Talangescu and a following error made it a 2-2 tie.
A throwing error then led to a 3-2 lead for Alexandria, which added another run in the eighth inning on a single by Andrei Serbanescu.
Trailing 4-2, Sofia scored four runs on one basehit and four errors in the bottom of the eighth inning to turn the game its way.
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London Mets vs. Sofia Blues
In its next game, Sofia Blues scored three runs in the first at bat, then rallied for nine runs in the second inning to take a commanding 12-0 lead against London Mets.
However, the game was far from over, as the host scored seven runs in the next innings.
Trailing 13-7 in the eighth inning, the suspense was building as the Mets scored twice in the eighth and ninth inning, but ended up empty-handed.
London outhit Sofia 14-10.
Conrad Cornell recorded four basehits, including two doubles and scored three runs for the British squad.
In the first inning, Sofia scored three runs, including two on a single by Dimitar Nassapov.
A 9-run rally then followed in the second inning on five hits, while the British defense committed three errors.
Highlight in the inning was a 3-run double by Vlaidmir Markov.
London then scored three runs in its second at bat on singles by Trevor Allen (2 runs) and Frederick Mosier.
Two runs were added in the fifth, then two more in the sixth on a foce play-grounder!
In the top of the eighth, Sofia scored its 13th run on an error and held onto its lead in the following two British at bats.
In the bottom of the eighth, a 2-run triple by Julian Somers narrowed the deficit tot 13-9, but left two runners behind.
In the ninth, back-to-back doubles by Conrad Cornell and Grant Delzoppo made it 13-11, but London again stranded two runners.
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Stal Kutno vs. London Mets
In the evening, London Mets won 7-4 against Stal Kutno, which outhit the British squad, 10-8.
Because of this result, Borgerhout Squirrels from Belgium became the first finalist of the tournament.
London opened the score with three runs in the second inning on an error, stolen base and single by Martin Tucker.
London added a run in the third on a single by Frederick Mosier.
The Polish team then cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the third inning.
Kutno scored two unearned runs, as the British defense committed two errors.
A triple by Tucker in the sixth made it 5-2 in favor of London, but in the bottom of the seventh, Kutno narrowed the deficit to only 5-4.
A wild pitch and a single by Jakub Wojtczak accounted for the runs.
But with a runner in scoring position, London-starter Tyson Walker closed the inning with two strikeouts.
London then added two insurance runs in the top of the eighth on a 2-run triple by Grant Delzoppo.
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Copyright © 1997-2016 Marco Stoovelaar / Grand Slam * Stats & News.
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