“We’re going to see top-level baseball on our field. A great thing”, Phil Weller, chairman of the Schwechat baseball club Blue Bats, excitedly awaits the U23 European Championship. This will be held from August 7th to 12th in Schwechat and Wiener Neustadt. The anticipation in the region is great.
The fact that this international tournament can also take place in Schwechat is mainly thanks to the initiative of the “Diving Ducks”. Since a European Championship has to take place at two locations, the Wiener Neustädter contacted the “Bats”. “Schwechat isn’t that far from Wiener Neustadt and the new facility turned out to be ideal,” reported Weller of a joint application. The European association has now agreed.
Mobile grandstand for the big event
“We expect a few hundred spectators every day,” Weller knows that the club now has major organizational tasks ahead of them. A sufficient number of spectator seats and changing rooms as well as the implementation of a live transmission require new investments in the infrastructure.
“The community will support us,” confirms the club chairman that a mobile grandstand will be purchased. Seating around the pitch cannot be constructed as the facility is located on a flood plain. Part of the investment costs should flow back with the entrance fees and the income from the canteen.
A total of eight teams duel for the European Championship title. In addition to the reigning European champions, the Netherlands, and the vice-European champions, Germany, Austria is also part of the game thanks to its victory in the qualifying tournament in Ljubljana, Slovenia last year. Back then, the red-white-red team beat Ukraine in the final. A Blue Bats pitcher may also make it to the European Championship. The U18 player Felix Stephan is currently in the extended squad.
