Unbeaten Team Italy Juveniles repeat as U12 Euro Champ and now qualify for 2019 U12 World Cup

Team Italy Juveniles U12 manager Stefano Burato spoke highly about his young and talented squad long before the first pitch at the European Championship from June 30-July 8, 2018 in Budapest, Hungary. By remaining undefeated in eight contests and outscoring their opponents 145-8 with five shutouts, including a 11-0 rout over the Czechs in the 2018 Euro Championship on July 8, the Team Italy offensive onslaught and lights out pitching earned the Azzurri entry to the 2019 U12 World Cup. The defending U12 Euro Champion captured the title in Utrecht, the Netherlands in 2017 with finesse by winning all five of their games after a seventeen year absence in the competition and proved to doubters that the Team Italy Juveniles were not a one-year wonder. A force to be reckoned with, the Azzurri U12 squad was nearly perfect in the 2018 Euro Championship game wiith starting pitcher Luca Magnani on the mound. In his five complete innings of work, he threw 87 pitches with 10 strikeouts and had his no-hit bid broken up in the last inning when the Czech leadoff hitter sliced a single. It was a total team effort for the Azzurri offensively as only one player in the lineup did not score. Lorenzo Barbona went 2-for-4, and extra-base hits included a triple by Filippo Palmolella and doubles from Matteo Casadio, Mattia Bernardis, Luca Magnani and Edoardo Cornelli. Congratulations to Team Italy U12 manager Stefano Burato along with coaches Alessandro Rosacolombo, Ivano Licciardi, Simona Conti, and Marco Bortolotti. Forza #Italia! #LetsMakeItHappen

by Roberto Angotti