1997 European Championship

The 1997 European Championship was held from August 30 through September 7 in Paris, France. It was the second European Championship held in France. It was the first European Championship with more than 10 entries, as 12 nations participated. It was the last Euros to feature aluminum bats instead of wooden ones. All statistics are only through the round-robin phase.

Italy went 8-0 to take home the Gold Medal. They had 7 of the top 30 in average with Roberto De Franceschi (.545, .733 SLG, 9 R, 7 RBI, 3 SB), Andrea Evangelisti (.533, .733 SLG), David Rigoli (.533, 7 R, 3B), Francesco Casolari (.476, 7 R, 9 RBI), Andrea Castri (.471, 7 R), Luigi Carrozza (.412, 7 R, 7 RBI) and Ruggero Bagialemani (.412, 7 R, 8 RBI). Alessandro Flisi was among the leaders with 10 runs. Massimiliano Masin (1-0, 0 ER in 5 IP), Alessandro Parri (1-0, 0 ER in 4 2/3 IP), Roberto Cabalisti (0 ER in 4 IP), Diego Ricci (1-0, 1.29) and Fabio Betto (1-0, 2.09) led the pitchers.

Netherlands failed to take Gold for the only time between 1991 and 2007, settling for Silver at 7-1. They lost the Gold Medal game 4-2 to Italy. They twice scored 28 runs in a game. Patrick De Lange (0 ER in 4 IP), Eelco Jansen (0 ER in 4 IP), Elton Koeiman (1-0, 1.29), Patrick Beljaards (1-0, 1.50), Geoffrey Kohl (2-0, 1.80) and Jurriaan Lobbezoo (1-0, 3.00) were key hurlers. The lineup was excellent throughout with 11 batters finishing among the leaders in MVP Johnny Balentina (.714, 1.143 SLG, 8 R, 7 RBI), Lars Koehorst (.583, 11 R, 7 RBI), Glenn Romney (.563, .688 SLG, 10 R, 7 RBI), Toine Jager (.500, .688 SLG, 9 R), Chiki Gumbs (.500, 7 RBI), Jeffrey Cranston (.471, .941 SLG, 9 R, 8 RBI), Raymond Hofer (.458, 9 R, 12 RBI), Ron Agterberg (.417, .750 SLG), Patrick van Heyningen (.688 SLG, 7 R, 7 RBI), Adonis Kemp (8 RBI) and Jurjan Koenen (7 R).

Spain got the Bronze with a 5-3 record. Félix Cano (1-0, 1.13), Jose Becerra (1-0, 1.29) and Carlos Ros (1-0, 2.57) headed the pitchers. Miguel Zoroza was 3rd in average (.643). José Arza (.467) tied for 2nd with 10 RBI. Juan Garcia tied for the lead with 11 runs and also stole 3 bases. Cano drove in 7 as a two-way threat.

Russia just missed out on their first Medal ever, going 4-4 with a 7-2 loss to Spain in the Bronze Medal game. Alexander Fedorov (.529, 8 R) and Alexandre Kossikov (.526, .789 SLG, 7 RBI) paced the offense. Iouri Jirov was 1-0 with a 2.09 ERA.

France was 5-3 to finish 5th. Jean-Philippe Miet (1-0, 0 ER in 5 IP), Maxime Leblanc (0 ER in 4 2/3 IP) and Boris Rothermundt (2-1, 2.70) anchored the staff. Jamel Boutagra (.438, 8 R) was 4th in slugging (.813) and second in steals (4) while Fabien Proust hit .444 and Sylvain Hervieux slugged .733.

Belgium went 4-4, good for sixth place. Tonny Verhaert (9 RBI) led the Euros in both average (.765) and slugging (1.294) while Gert Rosiers hit .500 with 8 runs and 8 RBI. Michael Leys (2-0) led the event with 11 2/3 shutout innings.

Czech Republic had a 7th-place finish, going 4-4 in their debut, ahead of five more established teams. Martin Duda (1.13) had their best ERA. Key hitters were Pavel Budský (10 R, 10 RBI), Tomáš Ovesný (9 R, 3SB), Roman Talda (.476, 10 RBI) and Jiri Visek (.435, .739 SLG, 10 RBI).

Sweden finished 8th at 2-6, going 2-3 in the first round but 0-3 in the 1-8 pool. Magnus Pilegård finished among the leaders in RBI (7) and average (.455). Tomas Eriksson tossed 7 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run.

United Kingdom was 9th with a 2-5 record, 0-5 in the round-robin but 2-0 in the 9-12 pool. Alan Bloomfield (.500) was 6th in the tourney with a .786 slugging percentage.

Germany finished 10th at 3-4; their 2-3 record was the best of the teams entering the 9-12 pool but they were upset by Great Britain in the 9th-10th place game. Marc Marsch led the Championship with 7 steals (in 9 tries).