Kristýna El Ghannam

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 7", Weight 154 lb.

• Born December 19, 2007

Biographical Information

Kristýna El Ghannam has played for the Czech women's national team.

In the 2019 U-12 European Championship, she was the only female player on the Czech squad, hitting .375/.444/.875 with six runs and eight RBI in five games, allowing two runs in one inning. She led the Czech team in RBI and hit both their homers, showing she could compete with the boys. She hit .182/.400/.182 with four walks in five games in the 2022 U-15 Baseball World Cup, handling two putouts as the starting left fielder for the Czechs. She had a better OBP than the team mark.

She was the youngest player on the Czech team in the 2022 European Women's Championship but played a key role. It is unclear if she was related to coach Moustafa El Ghannam or player Veronika El Ghannam. In her debut for the Czech women's team, the 14-year-old started at short and hit cleanup, taking that key batting spot ahead of much older and more established players. Her first plate appearance, against Britain's Claury Scatliffe, she hit into a run-scoring error. She draw a walk from Kirstie Wright the next time up and came around to score. The next day, against defending champion France, she moved from shortstop to the mound in the 6th, relieving Tereza Šustrová with a 11-7 lead in the 6th, one on and no out. She whiffed Frédérique Noury, balked in a run and allowed a double to tourney MVP [[Coralie Guillemin. She struck out Emma Patry then got Chiara Enrione-Thorrand on a grounder to end the inning. In the 7th, she walked Léna Sellam and Marjorie Brunel singled but Sellam was thrown out trying for third. Yasmine Derbal flew out then Angelique Andre singled to put the potential tying run at the plate. She threw a wild pitch to make it 11-9 then got Leonie Pauthe on a grounder to save the win for Šustrová. It was a historic save as the Czechs had lost their first five games ever (four in 2019, one in 2022) before the upset victory. The next game, she again came up big, going 4 for 6 with two doubles, four runs and three RBI in a 24-9 win over the Netherlands to win a spot in the finals. Her first hit was a double off veteran Ciska Welboren to drive in Petra Kolkusová and Šustrová. In the finals, the Czechs fell to France. She was 1 for 3 with a double off Cassandra Vigneau. Relieving Tereza Stejspalová in the third with the bases loaded, no outs and a 3-2 deficit, she let all three inherited runners in with a walk to Julianne Laporte, a balk and a sac fly by Enrione-Thorrand. She finished the day, working the final three innings of a mercy rule loss, allowing six hits, a walk and seven runs (one earned) while striking out two (Laporte and Enrione-Thorrand). She finished the event at .385/.556/.615 with seven runs, three doubles and three RBI in eight games, a 1.40 ERA and a .938 fielding percentage. She made all kinds of leaderboards: runs (tied Kolkusová for 4th), hits (5, tied Kateřina Popelková for second, one behind Brunel), doubles (no one else had more than one), extra-base hits (tied Patry for the lead), total bases (8, tied Karolína Blažková for second, two behind Patry), slugging (5th, behind Patry, Blažková, Scatliffe and Anouk Vergunst), ERA (2nd to Welboren), games pitched (2, tied for second, one behind Vigneau), saves (the only one; Melissa Mayeux had the only prior save in a European Women's Championship), innings (tied Šustrová for 6th), strikeouts (6th) and assists (9, 3rd, behind Darier Malone and Sellam).