(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by World Baseball Softball Confederation)
    Parma defeats Neptunus to win first European edition Baseball Champions League
Nederlands
 BRNO (Czechia) -
1949 ParmaClima BC from Italy is the winner of the inaugural edition of the Baseball Champions League Europe.
In the Championship Game of the Final Four Weekend on Sunday-evening (September 27), Parma trailed briefly against Curaçao Neptunus, but then recorded a convincing 11-5 win against the Dutch champion.
Parma collected 17 basehits off of five pitchers to underscore it was the best team.
In the afternoon, Draci Brno (Czechia) won bronze by winning 7-1 against Marlins de Puerto Cruz Tenerife (Spain).
In the Final, iIt was Parma that opened the score in the top of the first inning off of Kevin Kelly.
The veteran righthander was a more or less surprise starter, especially with Shairon Martis and Juan Carlos Sulbaran available.
In the past season (including the postseason), Martis and Sulbaran won 25 games combined (resp. 14 and 11), while losing only once.
Kelly, who had some fine outings as a starter in recent years, has been a reliever for the majority of his career.
This year, Kelly made only one appearance for Neptunus, which was an 8-inning complete game on May 28 against Amsterdam Pirates in an 11-1 win with six strikeouts.
In the wintermonths of 2025-2026, Kelly played in Nicaragua, before re-joining Neptunus halfway in May.
In the first inning, Kelly was greeted with a lead-off single by Gabriele Angioi off of his first delivery.
Kelly followed with a strikeout and then got a flyout.
With two outs and after a walk for Ericson Leonora, Kelly gave up an RBI-single Noel González.
Angioi scored, but Leonora was eliminated at the plate when he also was waved home, but ended up way short.
Neptunus appeared to recover, as the team came alongside immediately and took the lead in the next at bat.
In the bottom of the first inning, Tyriq Kemp doubled with one out, advanced on a grounder and scored on a 2-out single by Christian Diaz.
In the second inning, Kelly retired the side.
Moments later, Neptunus took a 2-1 lead when Darryl Collins led off with a homerun off of starter Matteo Bocchi.
But the lead was shortlived, as Parma answered with a 6-run rally in the top of the third inning.
After Tommaso Battioni had led off with a single, Gabriele Angioi followed with an apparent double play-grounder.
However, a throwing error by second baseman Dwayne Kemp to his brother and short stop Tyriq Kemp led to runners on second and third base.
They went on to score on a following sacrifice fly by Anthony Concepcion Hernandez and single by Robel Garcia, which put Parma ahead, 3-2.
Hereafter, Ericson Leonora also singled and after a wild pitch, Noel González delivered a runscoring single.
With Parma now leading 4-2 and runners on second and third base, Ryan Huntington was inserted as new pitcher.
The lefthander got the bases loaded when he walked German Lou Helmig, the son of former player/coach Martin Helmig and grandson of German baseball-icon Claus Helmig.
Huntington then also walked Alberto Mineo and gave up a single to Manuel Geraldo, which led to two more runs.
After striking out the next batter, a single by Gabriele Angioi brought in the sixth run and increased the lead to 7-2.
And so, Parma had taken a convincing lead and never looked back.
Neptunus got one run back in its third at bat, which could have more productive.
Stijn van der Meer and Christian Diaz led off with singles.
The first scored on a grounder by Dwayne Kemp, but the Parma-defense then closed with a great play.
Darryl Collins hit a line drive into leftfield.
There, Anthony Concepcion Hernandez made a great diving catch and then got the ball in time to second base, where a close play complete an inning-ending double play, as Diaz had taken off and was unable to get back in time.
After the game, Concepcion was named Most Valuable Player of the Baseball Champions League Europe Final Four.
...ParmaClima BC celebrates winning the inaugural edition...
...of the Baseball Champions League Europe...
(© Photo: World Baseball Softball Confederation) |
In the fourth, Juan Carlos Sulbaran became the third pitcher for Neptunus.
He retired the side (two strikeouts), but then gave up two runs in the fifth when Parma began to take more distance.
Lou Helmig led off with a bunt-single and advanced on a throwing error by third baseman Junior Martina.
With one out, Helmig moved on a wild pitch, then scored on a double by Manuel Geraldo, who scored the next run on a single by Tommaso Battioni.
Neptunus narrowed the deficit to 9-4 in the fifth when Tyriq Kemp homered with one out.
In the seventh, Jelle van der Lelie was inserted as new pitcher for Neptunus.
But he also gave up two more runs.
With one out and Tommaso Battioni on first base, Gabriele Angioi singled.
Anthony Concepcion Hernandez followed with another single.
That brought in Battioni, but Angioi was thrown out, which marked the second time a runner was eliminated at the plate.
Next, Robel Garcia added an RBI-double to give Parma a convincing 11-4 lead.
Parma-starter Matteo Bocchi, who had thrown six solid innings, was relieved by Yomel Rivera in the seventh.
The Dominican-born righthander participated in 2022 with Italy in the Baseball Week Haarlem.
Rivera retired seven batters in a row.
In the ninth, DH Drew Janssen became the fifth (and final) pitcher for Neptunus and gave up one more Italian basehit.
Neptunus was able to score one more run in the ninth.
With one out, Junior Martina doubled, was awarded third base on a balk and scored on a grounder by Sem Kuijper.
Yomel Rivera then closed the game by striking out Drew Janssen to seal the win and earn a 3-inning save.
(September 27)
|
Final Baseball Champions League Europe Final Four 2026.