Play Ball! at Rosenhöhe

At the 2016 School Baseball Classics, the First Decision on Qualification for the Final Has Been Postponed

Last Monday, the first semifinal of the second edition of the School Baseball Classics took place at Rosenhöhe Sports Center.

The School Baseball Classics is a tournament between school teams based on an American tradition. This year, four school teams are competing for the title: Bachschule from Offenbach, Schule am Ried from Frankfurt, Edith-Stein-School Offenbach and defending champion Friedrich-Ebert-Gymnasium from Mühlheim. The opening game featured Edith-Stein-School Offenbach and Schule am Ried from Frankfurt. Both teams consist of students from their respective school baseball programs, which are supported in cooperation with the Offenbach Twins Baseball Club by Gunther von Goetzen Sanchez.

In front of Eduard Schneider, the school sports coordinator of the Offenbach State Education Authority, an exciting game developed in perfect, cloudless baseball weather. The students' fighting spirit emerged as early as the first inning. The Offenbach team was clearly larger in number and had completed more training hours. Nevertheless, it was not necessarily at an advantage against Schule am Ried because the Frankfurt players could counter with a higher average age and the resulting better athletic abilities. Under the direction of Franziska Huber, the Frankfurt players scored two runs in the first inning.

The boys and girls of Edith-Stein-School were still visibly nervous. They slowly found their way into the game, but then managed to tie the score in the second inning. In the fourth inning they even took a 6:5 lead.

However, despite fierce resistance, the Frankfurt team came back and took a narrow 9:8 lead in the final inning. In their final at-bat, the Offenbach team managed to score the tying run shortly before the last out. The game therefore ended in a 9:9 draw and both teams could leave the field satisfied. Because of the high temperatures and the long playing time, an extra inning was not played out of consideration for the students' health. The winner will therefore be determined in a rematch. The date has not yet been set.

Both teams are already looking forward to the next game and the next training sessions.

In the further course of the school tournament, the winner of the rematch will face the winner of the game between Bachschule and Friedrich-Ebert-Gymnasium. The conditions for successful training at Edith-Stein-School improved only last week. A long-awaited package containing basic baseball equipment with gloves, bats and balls finally arrived. It was financed by the Edith-Stein-School support association and is now available to all students in physical education and the baseball program.

Finally, a heartfelt thank-you to Eduard Schneider for helping organize the tournament, as well as Gustavo von Goetzen Sanchez, Virgilio Fabal Fernandez and Antonio Fulgencio, who acted as umpires and assistant coach for both teams. The latter is a legend in Hessian baseball and played for many years with Claus Helmig, the first German player in the U.S. Minor Leagues and a member of the German Hall of Fame.