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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar) Game-schedules announced for European Softball Competitions Nederlands ANTWERP (Belgium) - The European Softball Federation (ESF) announced the official game-schedules of this years events on Thursday (April 12) after these were finalized by the Technical Commission of the European body. This year, the ESF (the softball-division of WBSC Europe) organizes four European Championships and five European Cup Tournaments for club-teams. There are two Women's Softball European Championships, one for Men's Softball and one for Men's Slowpitch. Women's clubteams will play in three European Cup Tournaments. There also is one Men's Cup-event and one Coed Slowpitch-tournament. The Netherlands will be represented with a National Team in all four European Championships. The women's softball-teams of FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem, Sparks Haarlem and Euro Stars and the men's softball-teams of Quick Amersfoort and Hoofddorp Pioniers will participate in the European Cup Tournaments. For only the fifth time in European Cup-history, Terrasvogels is not participating this year in one of the tournaments. The Dutch club is the most successful Europan softball-club and is the record-holder with 36 participations in European Cup Tournaments since the first event was organized in 1978. Terrasvogels participated in 23 Premiere Cup (formerly European Cup I) and 13 Cup Winners Cup (formerly European Cup II) Tournament. (April 16)

The international season kicks off on Tuesday, June 12 and it is the Netherlands Slowpitch Softball Team that will play the very-first game. On that day, the Orange slowpitch-squad meets Great Britain at 9 AM (!) on the opening day of the inaugural Men's Slowpitch European Championship, which will be held June 12-16 at Choceň (Czech Republic). Later on the day, the Netherlands plays against Italy. On the next two days, the team will play two more games daily in the Preliminary Round. On June 13, it faces Ireland and Germany and the following day, the team closes the Preliminary Round against Belgium and the Czech Republic.

A week later, Havlíčkův Brod and Kostelec nad Orlicí, also in the Czech Republic, will be the sites of the 14th Men's European Championship (June 25-30). There, the Netherlands will play in Pool B and respectively meets Slovakia, Sweden, Denmark, Croatia and Israel in the Preliminary Round. The Netherlands plays its first game on Monday, June 25 against Slovakia, starting at 6:15. The Orange squad then will play two games on each of the following two days before the start of the Play-Offs. Playing in Pool A are Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Lithuania. The Czech Republic is the defending champion after capturing the title two years ago in Montegranaro (Italy).

In July, the first tournament will be the 15th edition of the Under19 Women's European Championship in Staranzano, Ronchi dei Legionari and Cervignano (Italy), which will be played July 16-21. In the 13-team event, the Netherlands will play in Group A. In the Preliminary Round, the Orange squad opens on Monday, July 16 at 11:45 AM against Israel in Cervignano. In the evening, the Netherlands meets Italy at 8:45 PM in Ronchi dei Legionari. The following day, the Netherlands Team closes the First Round against Spain and Ukraine, both in Staranzano. Playing in Pool B are the Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Serbia. In Pool C, Denmark, Great Britain, Ireland and Russia will play. Croatia, France, Germany and Poland will play in Pool D. Two years ago in Sant Boi de Llobregat (Spain), Great Britain captured the title.

July 23-28 will be the dates for the next Championship, which is the sixth Under22 Women's European Championship in Trnava (Slovakia). There, defending champion Netherlands will play in Pool B in the First Round of the event. On Monday, July 23, the Netherlands opens against Ukraine at 3:45 PM. On the second and final day of the First Round, the Orange squad meets Israel and Italy. Playing in Pool A are Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Slovakia and Turkey. In Pool C, Austria, Belgium, Lithuania and Russia will play in the First Round. Pool D will be formed by the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Switzerland. Two years ago, the Netherlands captured the European title when the event was held in Pardubice (Czech Republic).

In August, three European Cup Tournaments are scheduled. They all will start on August 20 and close on August 25. In two of these events, teams from the Netherlands will participate. No Dutch team is participating in the 25th Women's European Cup in La Loggia (Italy). Forlì in Italy will be the location for the 41st edition of the Women's European Premiere Cup. There, Bussolengo (Italy) will defend the Premiere Cup. Last year in Haarlem (Netherlands), Bussolengo captured the Cup after winning the Final against Terrasvogels. FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem will be the representative of the Netherlands. Last year, the team captured the Dutch Championship-title and also won the European Cup Winners Cup. Olympia Haarlem opens the event on Monday, August 20 against Carrousel from Russia at 10 AM. Later in the day, the team meets Les Comanches (France) at 5 PM. In the following days, Olympia Haarlem plays against Therwil Flyers (Switzerland), Hoboken Pioneers (Belgium), Forlì (Italy), Žraloci Ledenice (Czech Republic), Mannheim Tornados (Germany) and defending champion Bussolengo (Italy). The game against Bussolengo will be played at 8 PM on Friday, August 24 and will be the closing game of the Preliminary Round. Complete Game Schedule European Premiere Cup

The 27th edition of the Women's European Cup Winners Cup will be played at the site of Euro Stars in Capelle a/d IJssel (Netherlands). There, Dutch vice-champion Sparks Haarlem will play in Group A, which also includes host Euro Stars. Sparks Haarlem opens the event on Monday, August 20 at 10 AM against Wesseling Vermins (Germany). At 2 PM, Sparks Haarlem plays against London Angels (Great Britain). In the following days, Sparks Haarlem meets SK Joudrs Praha (Czech Republic), host Euro Stars, Titans Softball Club (Botswana) and BCF Paris (France) in the Preliminary Round. Euro Stars also plays in one of the two opening games on Monday. At 10 AM, the team meets Titans. Last year, in Caserta (Italy), the Cup Winners Cup was won by FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem, which won the Final against Mediterraneo from Malta. Complete Game Schedule European Cup Winners Cup

The seventh edition of the Men's European Super Cup will be held September 3-8 in Czech capital Prague. Dutch champion Quick Amersfoort will play in Group A, while Dutch vice-champion Hoofddorp Pioniers plays in Group C. On Monday, September 3, Quick Amersfoort plays its first game at 12:30 PM against Brasschaat Braves (Belgium) and against Amager Vikings (Denmark) at 5:30 PM. These two teams were the winners of last years event, which then was organized in Amersfoort (Netherlands). Brasschaat captured the Super Cup, while Vikings won the ESF Cup. Hoofddorp Pioniers meets Cavigal Nice (France) at 9 AM on the opening day and later meets Hørsholm Hurricanes (Denmark) at 3:45 PM. On Day 2, Quick Amersfoort will play against Hoboken Pioneers (Belgium). Hoofddorp Pioniers then meets MRKI Medvedi (Croatia) and Hippos Havlíčkův Brod (Czech Republic). Quick Amersfoort closes the First Round on Day 3 with two games, meeting Meteors London (Great Britain) and Žraloci Ledenice (Czech Republic). Hoofddorp Pioniers then will play one game with Borgerhout Squirrels (Belgium) being the opponent. Last year, four National Teams participated in the Super Cup/ESF Cup Tournament in Amersfoort, being Germany, Italian All Stars, Argentina Under19 and Czech Republic Under23. This year, only club-teams are participating.

Besides these European Championships and European Cup Tournaments, there are two more big international events on the European calender. Starting on August 28 and ending on September 1 will be the first edition of the Intercontinental Cup Men Softball, which will be held in Prague (Czech Republic). The international season in Europe will be concluded September 18-23 in Hoofddorp (Netherlands), where the inaugural edition of the Super 6 Baseball Softball will be organized. Complete Game Schedule Super 6 Softball

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