In a basically meaningless game to complete play in Group B, France routed Croatia in Solingen via the „Mercy Rule“ by a final score of 23:0. Of course, it was known even prior to the game that France was certain to finish in 3rd place of Group B due to a favorable tiebreaker vs. 4th place Belgium - regardless of the outcome of this game. Meanwhile, winless Croatia had no chance to advance to the quarterfinals anymore anyway, so Head Coach James Summers was able to rest his best Pitchers for the upcoming games to avoid being relegated to the B-Pool.
The game turned into a one sided affair very quickly. After taking an early 1:0 lead, France scored a whopping 14 Runs in the bottom of the 2nd to make it 15:0. After tacking on 7 more Runs in the 3rd and another in the 4th, the game ended early with a score of 23:0 in favor of France via the „Mercy Rule“. France´s strong offense was led by RF Bastien Dagneau who went 3 for 5 with a HR and 6 RBI. France will meet a much stronger opponent in the quarterfinals on Friday with Israel which finished 2nd in Group A. Croatia will square off tomorrow at 3 PM already vs. Sweden which finished in last place of Group A.