CZECH REPUBLIC—St. Maarten’s Denzel Richardson dominated the European U 23 Championship as he led the Netherlands to victory. Netherlands won the championship going undefeated and besting Czech Republic 10-9 in the final Sunday.
“It feels awesome to be a part of the winning team,” said Richardson. “You work so hard to achieve a goal and we achieved it so it's an incredible feeling to be part of it.”
Richardson hit the first home run of the competition and ended with the team’s best batting average of .448. He led slugging percentage at .655.
Richardson did not know he had hit the first four bagger. “Yea I was told it was the first homerun of the tournament but I was just doing my job which is hitting the ball hard,” said the Netherlands’ right fielder.
Richardson led the tournament with most runs scored at 12 and had the most hits with 13. He led his team at Runs Batted in at 10, total bases at 19 and stolen base percentage with two successful steals.
After winning the championship Richardson spoke to The Daily Herald. “Physically I'm good. It just was an intense game. I had a nervous feeling in my stomach.”
In the ninth Netherlands led by two runs. Two walks and a hit by pitch later the Czech Republic tied the game.
In the 10th Netherlands scored twice. In the bottom of the inning the first two batters walked and one scored.
The home crowd began to roar. The score was 10-9. The tying run was on third. Three batters later the game was over. All three went down swinging.
Netherlands started the competition facing Belarus August 7 and won 9-0. Orange faced Russia August 8 and won 9-1. Next up was Croatia which fell 18-3.
Netherlands faced Great Britain August 11 and won 11-1 and August 12 beat BELGIUM 10-5.
“I just want to say that I'm working hard and I'm doing my best to show that our island St. Maarten has talent, and to the kids that play baseball, to keep pushing for your dreams and work hard,” said Richardson.
