Czech Republic 7-0 South Africa: Kočí, Vavrečka team-up for Czech Republic's first win

A home run in the bottom of the fourth from Vit Kočí and two runs each from Kočí and Adam Vavrečka propelled the Czech Republic to their first the win of the U-18 Men’s Softball World Cup after a 7-0 victory over South Africa on Sunday.

The Czech Republic were up 4-0 when Kočí's massive hit to deep centre field put the contest to bed at 6-0 with Jan Voracek also scoring.

Earlier in the game, Adam Buchner hit to centre field for Vevrečka’s first run to get Czech Republic on the board in the first innings before Kočí then added another in the bottom of the third off the bat of Vojtěch Láska. Despite the great efforts of South African centre fielder Nicholas De Ascensao, an Adam Luňák RBI single straight to down the middle let Vavrečka and Buchner score consecutive runs to close out the bottom of the third inning with the Czech Republic ahead 4-0.

Kočí then came to the party with the third home run of the tournament in the bottom of the fourth to pull his side to 6-0, before hitting a sacrifice fly to centre field in the bottom of the sixth to let in Tadeáš Kalčv for the walk off win.

Jakub Osička and Cédric Nzambi each pitched 3 innings for the European champions, both with eight strikeouts. For South Africa, Russel Mphahlele pitched 3.1 innings (6 H, 6 R, 5 SO).