The weekend just concluded was exciting and full of satisfactions for the SSD UniMe which, in the splendid setting of the Bollate baseball stadium (Milan), won the “Rookies” Baseball for the Blind tournament, an event organized by the Baseball Played by the Blind Commission of the Italian Federation Baseball Softball and by CAOS (Centro Ascolto Operate al Seno) of Varese in collaboration with ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano di Niguarda and ASST Fatebenefratelli Sacco, aimed at teams that will potentially take part in the 2023/24 Serie A championship. After a somewhat subdued start, the team coached by Luisa Colosi and Emilia Ammirato became great protagonists by defeating the competition and taking home a coveted final victory.
First outing for the university team against All Star Young, an Etna formation made up of many new recruits but also several experienced players from renowned clubs such as Patrini Malnate, Lampi Milano and Leonessa Brescia. The final result of this first qualifying match was 5-5, a match which allowed the Peloritan athletes to better prepare for the second match, won 3-0 against Rovigo. In the afternoon two more outings for the team from Messina, once again playing against the All Stars (2-0 victory) and against Rovigo (0-0 final).
At the end of the first day of competition, with two victories and two draws, SSD UniMe closed the group stage in first place and, consequently, entered right into the final on Sunday, played and won with a 3-2 final against the All Star Young. In the match that wins the tournament, the university players were the protagonists of a superlative defensive phase, with two actions completed by Giovanni Santamaria who, with two millimetric shots well collected by the sighted athlete Emanuela Pianotti, stopped the opponents’ attack phase, putting the victory in the safe.
In addition to the victory of the tournament, there are also many excellent individual results for SSD UniMe: Giovanbattista Nava was awarded as the best senior player of the tournament, while in the offensive phase excellent performances for Giovanni Santamaria and Massimiliano Neto (both authors of 7 hits).
In the picture
Standing from left: Pietro Agostino, Massimiliano Neto (player on loan from Patrini Malnate), Giovanni Santamaria, Santi Cottone, Giovanbattista Nava, Giuseppe Venuto, Raffaele Carbone. Kneeling from the left: Emilia Ammirato, Hanna Curby Emanuela Pianotti, Luisa Colosi, Loredana Garufi