The Israeli women's national softball team took a surprising fourth place out of 12 in the European B Pool Championships held in Zagreb, Croatia. The top two teams in the pool, Spain and France, will move up to the A Pool for the next tournament.
Israel qualified for the final playoff round after beating Slovenia, Ukraine, Belgium, and Serbia and despite a loss to France.
The final playoff round against France, Spain and Croatia were played in temperatures reaching 46 degrees Celsius and determined the rankings of the teams.
The Israeli team, which finished in eighth and seventh place in the previous two European Championships, continued its steady improvement this year. The team features three players with USA college experience: pitcher first-base Shyella Mayk (Quinnipiac University), pitcher-outfielder Maiya Chard-Yaron (Columbia University), and shortstop-outfielder Jennifer Jacoby (Rutgers University).
Although softball is not a well-known sport in Israel, the Israeli team, founded in 2002, has a lot to be proud of from this tournament. Despite the lack of financial support, and the fact that the focus of the Israel Softball Association is on creating an Olympic team composed of Jewish American softball players, the dedication of the women team players and their persistence, paid off as the team stood out among the other European nations in the realm of fastpitch softball.
Details of the games can be found on www.softballechwb2007.com
To find out more about the Israeli women's national softball team, please visit www.israelsoftball.org
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