A journey of more than 1,000 days led Dietrich Enns back to the major leagues
DETROIT — In his first inning back in the major leagues, Detroit Tigers left-hander Dietrich Enns retired the side on eight pitches. He struck out Nick Kurtz on a 94 mph fastball, generated a pulsating swing and miss, and started walking off the mound. He pointed both index fingers to the sky. This was the […]
DETROIT — In his first inning back in the major leagues, Detroit Tigers left-hander Dietrich Enns retired the side on eight pitches.
He struck out Nick Kurtz on a 94 mph fastball, generated a pulsating swing and miss, and started walking off the mound. He pointed both index fingers to the sky.
This was the validation, the culmination of a journey that spanned 1,371 days and multiple continents. It involved countless nights of uncertainty but also three-plus years of defiant belief.
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Thursday was Enns’ first major-league appearance since he threw 22 innings for the Rays in 2021. He spent two seasons pitching for the Saitama Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Last season, he logged more than 167 innings with the LG Twins of the KBO.
Such travels were really nothing new. A Central Michigan product and 19th-round draft choice in 2012, Enns debuted with the Twins in 2017 and threw only four innings. He grinded in the minors, played winter ball in Venezuela and had a stint in indy ball before returning with the Rays in ’21.
So Japan? Korea? Wherever he was, he always believed he could return to this stage.
“That was always the goal, to get back,” Enns said. “Use those stops along the way, wherever I was, to hone the craft and get better and try and be as good as I can when I’m at the major-league level.”
Such dreams do not always come to fruition for players like this. When Enns signed with the Tigers as a minor-league free agent this winter, he did so as a pitcher about to embark on his age-34 season. An Illinois native who attended Central Michigan, he had familiarity with the Tigers, even earned his lone two MLB wins against Detroit. He was given an opportunity but promised nothing. He threw left-handed, had a crafty arsenal and displayed down-to-earth people skills that made him a fast fit in the Tigers’ spring training clubhouse.
But he might not have ascended back to the game’s highest level without the tweaks he implemented over the past four months.
“He has dove right in with our pitching group,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said, “which I think is a cool story in itself. He’s not just doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a new opportunity.”
The work started early in spring. Tigers director of pitching Gabe Ribas suggested Enns start experimenting with a so-called kick change. The latest designer trend in pitching involves a pitcher spiking his middle finger and giving the ball a subtle “kick” to alter its spin axis. The goal is to catch seam-shifted wake, to create a changeup release more suitable for pitchers whose wrists supinate rather than pronate. Enns began playing around with the pitch during spring training. He liked its shape, kept experimenting until he got it down.
“From the get-to, it’s been a great organization to be a part of,” Enns said. “Their pitching development is just unmatched. … I feel like it’s the right place to find those little improvements, if they’re willing to work with guys no matter how old, how young or anything like that.”
Ballgame. Tigers 8, Athletics 0.
Check out the pitchers DET used today:
Dietrich Enns – Spent 3 years in Japan/KBO Brenan Hanifee – Minor-league FA Tyler Holton – DFA’d by the D-Backs Chase Lee – Sidearm walk-on at Alabama Will Vest – 12th rd pick, once a Mariners Rule 5 pick
Enns made other adjustments, too. Tightening up his slider. More tiny shifts in grips and movements that all resulted in a pitcher who Thursday had command of a five-pitch arsenal.
Facing the Athletics, Enns generated 13 swings and misses, including five with that changeup. He yielded only one hit in five scoreless innings. He walked two batters and struck out four in an 8-0 Tigers victory.
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“He did a really good job of just being in the zone with all his pitches and giving me the reins (to go) a lot of different ways,” catcher Jake Rogers said. “We kept them off balance. Going fastballs, in, up, down if he needed to, changeups down if he needed to. Really, it was in the zone with everything, which makes it a lot easier to call a game.”
As he vexed an A’s lineup that swung aggressively from the jump, Enns had more than 20 friends and family members in the stands. Some were relatives who traveled from his hometown in Illinois. Some were college friends who now live in Detroit and took off work to come see him pitch. Their attire was representative of his journey. A few old college teammates wore Central Michigan polos. Others wore his jersey from NPB.
Enns let loose small displays of emotion throughout his long-awaited return — there was the sky-point in the first inning, then an exclamation after he generated a double-play ball to escape the third. His day was done after the five scoreless innings, and Hinch met Enns in the dugout with a firm handshake and a tap on the chest.
“Dietrich came in and stayed under control,” Hinch said. “He stayed within himself with all the excitement and the return after 1,000 days or whatever it’s been and delivered a great performance at a time where we needed it. Hats off to him and everyone around him that helped get him to this moment.”
Enns mostly downplayed the idea that this was like a second debut. At his locker after the game, it seemed as though the magnitude of the moment still had not set in. He planned to find a restaurant to relax with family and friends after the game, to thank those in his circle who stuck with him throughout the journey, to cherish those who drove four-plus hours to come see him pitch.
“A lot closer than Japan or Korea,” he said.
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The Tigers’ pitching staff remains in flux. Reese Olson could return from a rehab assignment as soon as next week. It’s unclear whether Enns will remain a starter or work in relief.
But after a stellar return to the major leagues, one thing is clear.
“I told him yesterday when he got here, ‘You can help us win,’” Hinch said. “He’s earned the right to pitch again in some capacity. … Is it gonna be in the bullpen? Is he gonna be starting? I don’t know, but it’s gonna be in the big leagues.”
By: KJ Doyle The UTRGV volleyball team announced their additions to the team ahead of the 2025 season. The class includes one senior, two juniors, one sophomore, and five freshmen. The upperclassmen transferring to the team include Sujeili Mermella, a setter and defensive specialist from St. John’s, and Valentina Sarti Ciprianani, a senior right side […]
The UTRGV volleyball team announced their additions to the team ahead of the 2025 season.
The class includes one senior, two juniors, one sophomore, and five freshmen.
The upperclassmen transferring to the team include Sujeili Mermella, a setter and defensive specialist from St. John’s, and Valentina Sarti Ciprianani, a senior right side from Cal State Bakersfield. The team is also adding Martina Franco, a sophomore outside hitter who spent the 2024 season at UTSA and totaled 120 kills as a freshman.
The freshman class is headlined locally by Carmina Tijerina, a graduate of Brownsville St. Joseph Academy. She follows in the footsteps of her sister Regina, who also played for the UTRGV volleyball team several years ago.
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The UTRGV volleyball team announced their additions to the team ahead of the 2025 season.
The class includes one…
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Good sand and loud crowd, but is AVP concept missing something? – Daily News
INGLEWOOD – It was suggested in the runup to this week’s Association of Volleyball Professionals event at Intuit Dome that when Logan Dan visits an AVP venue, he should get the Mariano Rivera treatment. You know, Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” blasting through the speakers as he walks into the place. Dan is literally the tour’s Sandman, […]
INGLEWOOD – It was suggested in the runup to this week’s Association of Volleyball Professionals event at Intuit Dome that when Logan Dan visits an AVP venue, he should get the Mariano Rivera treatment.
You know, Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” blasting through the speakers as he walks into the place.
Dan is literally the tour’s Sandman, maybe the most important guy on tour week in and week out. This week he was the guy who oversaw the delivery of 300 tons of sand and its placement into a beach volleyball court in the Clippers’ not-yet-a-year-old arena.
That court, located at the west end of the arena floor, is the centerpiece for L.A.’s stop in the AVP League, a 2-year-old concept involving the eight top teams on the men’s and women’s sides and played in either big city arenas – like Intuit – or in non-beach venues like a tennis center in Palm Beach, Fla., a marina in East Hampton, N.Y., or Central Park in Manhattan, next weekend’s site.
The league format and the non-beach sites have replaced all but two of the traditional beach tournaments on the AVP schedule, both of which are located in Southern California. There are eight league events – five of them indoors – leading up to the championship round at Chicago’s Oak Street Beach on Labor Day weekend.
And not everyone plays every week, which means that if you’re a true beach volleyball fan and you look forward to the sport’s best all in one place, you seldom get that. More on that below.
As the main domestic beach volleyball circuit transitions away from, you know, actual beaches, the guy in charge of the sand becomes ever more important. Dan, a contractor for San Antonio-based Kilowatt Events, is in his second year overseeing the installation of these temporary courts. Preparing the Intuit Dome, he said, was relatively easy, unlike some places – think facilities normally used for tennis – where the sand has to be dumped one place and transferred to another.
“It’s nice to come into a brand new venue and be the first group to bring sand into it,” he said. “Obviously there’s challenges and learning for the venue with us, you know, as we’re bringing in sand and learning the trucks and paths and things. … (But) everything’s already here.”
The sand surface for volleyball, he said, is USGA Top Dressing sand, the same stuff used by golf courses when aerating fairways and greens. Sometimes the sand used for one of these temporary volleyball courts will be given to golf courses or parks or playgrounds.
What do the players think of the temporary indoor conditions?
Kelly Cheng, USC alum and two-time Olympian, said the Intuit sand was “very shallow. We’ve played in indoor venues on the world tour, on the FIVB, and it’s much deeper than this. So, yeah, very springy sand. People are jump serving hard, jumping high. It’s fun. It’s a fast game. It’s different.”
But Cheng, who partners with Molly Shaw for the Miami Mayhem, said she misses the conditions players deal with outside, particularly the wind: “It’s so fun. It makes the game completely different. I love it. … It’s another challenge because you could go out on the beach and some days aren’t windy at all. And you’ve got to find out, find a way to win.”
A dissenting view comes from Logan Webber, who plays with Hagen Smith (son of beach legend Sinjin Smith) for the L.A. Launch. He doesn’t miss those uncertain conditions.
“It’s almost nice for us to just come in knowing that we’re going to have absolutely clean playing conditions,” he said. “Sometimes, you show up at a tournament and you just don’t know what to expect.”
As for the sand?
“This is basically the south side of the Huntington Pier (in) jumpiness,” he said. “That’s very equivalent sand to what this is. If you’re playing in Hermosa Beach? It’s a very different game from this … You sink in, two feet at a time.”
Meanwhile, the question must be asked: Has this new AVP concept, in which four of the eight teams are idle on a given weekend, thrown away the charm of the sport in exchange for regular weekly TV commitments from the CBS Sports Network and the CW?
What used to be a full summer of AVP tournament play has been reduced to only two “Heritage Event” weekends, the Huntington Beach Open in May and the Manhattan Beach Open – can we call it beach volleyball’s grandaddy of ’em all? – which will be held August 15-17. Five other tournaments are “Contender” (qualifying) events; four have already been played in Palm Beach, Fla., Virginia Beach, Va., Denver and Oshkosh, Wis., with one still to come in Laguna Beach Sept. 13-14.
AVP commissioner and chief operating officer Bobby Corvino said Friday the goal “is to continue to partner with iconic venues across this country. We want to grow the sport, and you know how beautiful it looked and incredible it was (at the 2024 Olympics) with Paris and the Eiffel Tower. … We’re strategic about the cities we’re going to right now, but we’re always looking for options and partners that see the vision with what we’re trying to do and build the sport and grow it in that geographic area.”
The fans who showed up at the Intuit Dome were enthusiastic enough, especially when the in-game host fired them up, but the matchups between geographic neighbors Palm Beach and Miami, and L.A. and San Diego, don’t exactly scream rivalry. Dodgers-Padres, this ain’t.
And much of the problem is that the true rivalries in volleyball are between individual teams, and those are deemphasized without the tournament format and the possibility that those teams could play in a Sunday final.
Example: Canadians (and Olympic silver medalists) Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes, are on site this week, playing for Palm Beach. Their rivals for No. 1, Americans Taryn Brasher and Kristen Nuss, who play for Austin, aren’t here.
“The idea seems to be that only by making our beloved game into something we don’t particularly like can the AVP attract a larger fanbase,” Mark Davis wrote in April for the “Larry Hamel’s All Volleyball” Substack.
Meanwhile, a poster on the VolleyTalk message board put it this way in a post last August: “Half the 8 teams sit out every week. What’s good about this league? Really what?”
And, a commenter/player on Reddit made this observation last winter: “(The) AVP has decided that it is going to pool its money and resources and shuffle it around the people who are already at the top of the ladder while eliminating the ability for new or growing talent to emerge.”
Did the AVP’s decision makers perhaps miscalculate?
Nylah Bibby, daughter of former Arizona basketball star, commits to UA volleyball
Another Bibby will play for the Arizona Wildcats at McKale Center, except it won’t be for the basketball program. Arizona volleyball landed a verbal commitment from Phoenix-area outside hitter Nylah Bibby, the daughter of former UA basketball star Mike Bibby. Nylah Bibby committed to Arizona’s 2027 recruiting class on her Instagram page. Bibby has emerged […]
Another Bibby will play for the Arizona Wildcats at McKale Center, except it won’t be for the basketball program.
Arizona volleyball landed a verbal commitment from Phoenix-area outside hitter Nylah Bibby, the daughter of former UA basketball star Mike Bibby. Nylah Bibby committed to Arizona’s 2027 recruiting class on her Instagram page.
Bibby has emerged as one of the top underclassmen in Arizona. After transferring from Desert Mountain to Saguaro last season, the 5-10 Bibby led the Sabercats in kills (255). Saguaro fell in the Class 4A state semifinals to Mica Mountain.
The older Bibby was a Shadow Mountain product in Phoenix and signed with Arizona men’s basketball as a McDonald’s All-American in 1996. As a freshman, Bibby led the Wildcats to the program’s only national championship in 1997. Bibby ended his two-year UA career as a Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, Pac-10 Player of the Year and a consensus All-American. Bibby’s No. 10 jersey is retired by the Arizona basketball program.
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Nylah Bibby, the daughter of former Arizona basketball star Mike Bibby, committed to the Arizona Wildcats volleyball program’s 2027 recruiting class.
(Nylah Bibby / Instagram)
After Bibby was taken second overall by the Vancouver Grizzlies in the 1998 NBA Draft, the point guard carved out a 14-year NBA career. Bibby averaged 14.7 points and 5.5 assists per game in the NBA.
Bibby was recently hired as head coach of Sacramento State and inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame, along with former UA football star Ricky Hunley.
After winning the NIVC, Arizona volleyball will begin its new season under third-year head coach Charita Stubbs by taking on Alabama State in the Wildcat Classic on Aug. 29 at McKale Center.
Contact Justin Spears, the Star’s Arizona football beat reporter, at jspears@tucson.com. On X(Twitter): @JustinESports
Star-studded class inducted to U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee inducted a star-studded class of legendary athletes Saturday evening (12 July) into the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame. The class of 2025 included eight individual Olympic and Paralympic athletes, including Serena Williams, Gabby Douglas, Kerri Walsh Jennings, and Allyson Felix, along with two teams, two legends, one […]
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee inducted a star-studded class of legendary athletes Saturday evening (12 July) into the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame.
The class of 2025 included eight individual Olympic and Paralympic athletes, including Serena Williams, Gabby Douglas, Kerri Walsh Jennings, and Allyson Felix, along with two teams, two legends, one coach and one special contributor.
“It means the world. Being inducted in this class specifically is huge, and then just being inducted into this Hall of Fame in general is wild,” Walsh Jennings told Olympics.com prior to the ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colorado. “This class of Olympians is incredible.”
Another member of the class, Anita DeFrantz, was one of two legends added to the prestigious group Saturday.
The 72-year-old, who won bronze at the 1976 Olympic Games in rowing before breaking barriers in sports governance as the first African American and first woman elected to the International Olympic Committee, had a special surprise on hand for the occassion: IOC President Kirsty Coventry, who took office last month.
“I really wanted to try my best to be here, and we finally got that all figured out on, I think, Thursday evening about 5 p.m.,” Coventry told us. “I’m just really happy to be here and honour her. She deserves all of it.”
Said DeFrantz: “It’s just been quadruple-ly – if that’s a word – enhanced by the President of the IOC. I cannot believe she is here. It’s just wonderful.”
The other members of the class of 2025 are listed below:
Steve Cash (sled hockey), Susan Hagel (Para archery, Para track and field, wheelchair basketball), Flo Hyman (legend: indoor volleyball), Mike Krzyzewski (coach: basketball), Phil Knight (special contributor: Nike founder), Bode Miller (alpine skiing), Marla Runyan (Para track and field), the 2010 Four-man Bobsled Team, and the 2004 Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team.
Heroic Hull has good reason to feel at home in Monaco
Olympic heroes Jessica Hull – a New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder – and Peter Bol shattered national records under the lights of Stade Louis II, as teenage phenom Gout Gout stole the show with a blazing sprint victory putting the future and present of Australian athletics on full display at the […]
Olympic heroes Jessica Hull – a New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder – and Peter Bol shattered national records under the lights of Stade Louis II, as teenage phenom Gout Gout stole the show with a blazing sprint victory putting the future and present of Australian athletics on full display at the Monaco Diamond League.
Twelve months to the day after rewriting the world record books in Monaco over 2000m, Hull once again proved Monaco brings out her best, finishing third in the Women’s 1000m in 2:30.96, obliterating the previous Australian record by two seconds.
“Monaco has been good to me and I hope to keep coming back in the future,” Hull said. “That was a very good race tonight and they ran very fast to win. It’s an aggressive race and there’s not much time to make up time in the last 200m, so I think it’s important to attack it and be quite aggressive in your approach to it all.
“I certainly was tonight but that last 80m was probably the longest 80m I’ve had in a very long time and I got everything I was hoping to out of it.”
In 2024, Hull led a historic 2000m race, breaking the world record in 5:19.70, a performance that became a defining moment of her career and buoyed her to silver in Paris just months later. This year, it was Kenya’s Nelly Chepchirchir who took the win in 2:29.77, ahead of American Addison Wiley (2:30.71, with Hull’s aggressive attempt at a sub 2:30 time highlighting her grit.
Also flying the flag in the Women’s 1000m was Sarah Billings (VIC) who took full advantage of the fast field to clock a personal best of 2:33.17, finishing seventh overall. In one of the fastest 800m races in Diamond League history, Bol (WA ) delivered the run of his life, placing fourth in 1:42.55, smashing his own Australian record by more than one second.
The race marks an extraordinary leap for Bol, who only dipped under the 1:44 barrier for the first time in April this year at the Australian Athletics Championships. The race was won by Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi in a meet record and world leading time of 1:41.44, with the top-five all clocking sub-1:43 times.
“I was so nervous going into this one with such a fast field. I was like, ‘I’m the slowest here!’ The pacemaker was almost as fast as I am, but I had to back myself. I had an incredible season, incredible overseas campaign. The time I was aiming for was 1:42.5 and I got 1:42.55 so I can’t ask for more than that,” Bol said.
“I’m resilient, I’ve always been. I’ve overcome a lot over the last few years, they were pretty bad for me, but I’m back and I’m better. An Australian record, I can’t be any happier.”
Bol’s performance now ranks him within the top 30 on the all-time global list of 800m performers. Closing out the meet, Kurtis Marschall (WA) once again delivered on the international stage, clearing 5.92m to claim third place in the Men’s Pole Vault.
The Olympic finalist and world championships medallist was flawless through 5.82m before needing two attempts at 5.92m. He then raised the bar to the 6.00m benchmark, coming close on all three attempts. The competition was won by world record holder Mondo Duplantis, who set a meet record of 6.05m.
“I’m just biding my time,” Marschall said. “I’m being patient, and I’m doing everything right, trying to get it done. I had really good attempts at 6m. I feel like it’s inevitable, it’s just a matter of time.”
Making a statement in a non-Diamond League event at the meet, global sensation Gout Gout (QLD) scorched to another win, running 20.10 (-1.9) in the Men’s Under-23 race to claim victory and continue his meteoric rise on the international stage.
Taking advantage of the school holidays, the 17-year-old stormed home against a world-class junior field including Olympic silver medallist Busang Collen Kepinatshipi (20.28), narrowly missing his record with strong and stubborn headwinds holding him back.
“This is obviously an Under-23 race, so it’s about getting my feet out there. I’m feeling very excited, just racing everyone out on the big league. Noah Lyles, Tebogo, everyone is out there. It’s really fun for sure and I’m love going out there and seeing what I can do.”
The Diamond League next travels to London on July 19 and can be watched live and free by Australian audiences on the Wanda Diamond League YouTube channel.
Italy and Hungary to clash for gold at Men’s U16 European Water Polo Championships
Italy’s Antonio Chianese was the hero after scoring the winning goal against Montenegro in Saturday’s semi-finals. Photo: Nikola Krstic/European Aquatics Italy and Hungary will contest Sunday’s gold medal game at the men’s U16 Elite European Water Polo Championships in Istanbul after both triumphed in their semi-finals on Saturday. Italy edged a close encounter with Montenegro […]
Italy’s Antonio Chianese was the hero after scoring the winning goal against Montenegro in Saturday’s semi-finals. Photo: Nikola Krstic/European Aquatics
Italy and Hungary will contest Sunday’s gold medal game at the men’s U16 Elite European Water Polo Championships in Istanbul after both triumphed in their semi-finals on Saturday. Italy edged a close encounter with Montenegro by one goal, while Hungary held their nerve in a shootout to get past Croatia. Elsewhere, in the Division One tournament in Ljubljana, Bulgaria and France dominated their last-four clashes to reach the grand final.
Men’s U16 European Water Polo Championships Semi-Finals Elite Division Istanbul, Türkiye Saturday 12 July 2025
Italy 13-12 Montenegro Hungary 11-11 (5-4P) Croatia
5th-8th Classification
Türkiye 11-17 Spain Greece 14-14 (5-4P) Serbia
9th/10th Final
Netherlands 9-17 Germany
11th/12th Final
Romania 10-7 Georgia
13th-15th Play-offs
Moldova 13-10 Poland
Day 6 DivisionOne Semi-Finals – Ljubljana, Slovenia Saturday 12 July 2025
Bulgaria 11-8 Bosnia & Herzegovina Ukraine 9-16 France
5th-8th Classification
Slovenia 12-11 Lithuania Switzerland 9-7 Cyprus
9th-12th Classification
Slovakia 25-2 Latvia Czechia 11-12 Portugal
Italy’s Pedro Puleo struck once to help steer his team to victory against Montenegro.Photo: Nikola Krstic/European Aquatics
In the first thrilling semi-final in Istanbul, Italy, the lonely survivors among the top-ranked sides in the group stage, took on Montenegro, the team that had staged the biggest upset of the tournament by ousting Spain in the quarters.
Both sets of players didn’t hold anything back as they produced a flurry of goals in the opening period. Italy led 6-5 when the eighth minute was finally over.
Francesco Corelli’s man-up goal early in the second gave Italy a two-goal lead for the first time and they could hold on for almost the entire quarter, what’s more, after Antonio Chianese’s great goal from a counter, Italy had a fine chance to go up by three.
However, a save denied them and Luka Popovic’s brilliant backhander halved the distance at half-time, as Italy led 9-8.
Not for long, though, as Danilo Roganovic’s pin-point shot brought the Montenegrins back to even early in the third, then Francesco Maffei put away a man-up, but Roganovic scored from a lucky rebound for 10-10.
Chianese buried a penalty, which was earned through a well-timed drive and assist, then the Montenegrins missed a crucial six on five.
Later, they managed to kill a man-down, but not the next one, which also brought a penalty and Bruno Bordone doubled Italy’s advantage for 12-10. The Italians survived another man-down and brilliantly shut their rivals out in the last five minutes of the quarter.
Missed six on fives kicked off the fourth and it was more painful for the Montenegrins as they wasted three in a row.
Italy also missed one, then had two clear chances from counters, but Jaksa Milanovic came up with some tremendous saves.
These were invaluable, as it turned out, as his team-mates could equalise in 47 seconds. Luka Dragovic’s 6m blast and Roganovic’s sensational centre-shot brought them back to 12-12 with 4:03 remaining.
They even had a six on five to go ahead, but their finishing wasn’t clinical enough, which brought another crucial twist in the plot as they lost Roganovic via a 3rd foul right away and Chianese sent the ball home to retake the lead at 13-12.
The Montenegrins seemed helpless in their extras, missing two more, six altogether in the fourth period, though all credits go to Italy as they defended like giants – and ultimately those efforts sent them to the final.
It was celebrations all round for the Italy players after their hard-fought semi-final victory. Photo: Nikola Krstic/European Aquatics
Hungary and Croatia kicked off their campaigns with a series of defeats, only to hit top form when it mattered the most, in the quarter-finals. Fans were eagerly waiting to see which side could maintain the superb levels they had reached on Friday.
It was the young Hungarians that got off to a flyer. Following Deni Sappe’s opening strike for Croatia, the response was swift and precise – four unanswered goals, with two coming from the powerful arm of Adam Ofner.
Duje Burazin pulled one back for the Croats, but Marton Czirok had the last say of the quarter with a fine finish that just beat the buzzer to hand Hungary a three-goal advantage at 5-2.
Ante Peric struck at the start of the second for 5-3, but Hungary’s lead had soon stretched to four, as two shots from the perimeter – by Oliver Kormany and Benedek Gogh – evaded Petar Radman’s grasp in the Croatian goal.
Burazin then started to single-handedly haul Hungary back in, as he fired in three in a row after exclusions to expertly cut the deficit to one.
Oliver Tidrenczel reset the Magyars’ lead to two from a six on five, and although Nikola Feric hammered in from distance, Levente Stogicza made it 9-7 just before the turnaround.
In the third, Burazin, who was causing the Hungarians all kinds of problems, was on target once again, this time from a penalty and then from action to level the scores at 9-9.
It wasn’t just Hungary’s defence that was faltering at this point, it was also their attack, as Croatia managed to shut them out for all of the third and they also edged back in front through Feric’s 6m blast with 29 seconds on the clock.
The second-half record for the Magyars in Istanbul was far from great in their opening games, and their third/fourth quarter woes looked to be returning when Feric added another early in the fourth.
Benedek Gogh had other ideas though, and his fine finish made it 10-11 with 4:57 remaining. Feric was then excluded and Levente Stogicza took full advantage, dramatically equalising for Hungary with 2:49 still left to play.
Croatia immediately had a six on five chance to retake the lead – and probably win the game – but they blew it, and the decision was ultimately left to penalties.
Hungary are well-known for their shootout successes at senior level, and now their juniors are looking to continue that tradition.
With five pin-point finishes, coupled with a sensational save from Csaba Kiraly in the second round of shots, the Magyars sealed a memorable 16-14 victory to book their spot in Sunday’s grand final.
In the classification clashes between the losers in the quarter-finals, Spain and Greece managed to overcome their pains to win their respective matches.
The Spanish did a lot better against Türkiye than they did in the group stage when they had some hard times against the hosts. This time they were in full control throughout the match and set themselves up to leave Istanbul with their heads held high.
The Greeks took a 4-3 lead against Serbia in eight minutes and added another one to go 5-3 up. The Serbs found their rhythm soon and hit four goals in a row before the middle break and scored two more in three minutes in the third to lead 5-9.
Greece managed to score again after 12 minutes, but then they quickly halved the gap to trail 7-9 before the final quarter. Soon in the fourth, they were back at even, converting three penalties in a row, and with 4:24 to go, they went ahead with Maximos Mantzouridis’ action shot for 11-10.
The Serb defence was in ruins – after limiting the Greeks to seven goals in three periods, they conceded seven alone in the last one.
Still, they didn’t let it go as they managed to put away their man-ups, so it stood 12-12 with 2:18 remaining. It went on, possessions ended in goals, one after the other, then the Serbs could survive one and Nikola Pavlovic hit one from action to regain the lead at 13-14 with 1:09 remaining. Next came Mantzouridis and a 6m blast, it was his 6th of the evening which levelled it up once more, at 0:46.
After four straight goals from as many possession, the Serbs couldn’t add the 15th, the Greeks had 20 seconds to seal the win after a time-out, but, at the end, penalties were needed to separate the two teams. It was interesting to see how the goalies would fare after they could barely make a save in the 12-goal surge in the fourth.
Well, they couldn’t really recover – Georgios Pilichos indeed went too far with his moves and was ejected before the third shot. In the end, it wasn’t a save that decided the shootout – as in the fourth, Pavlovic hit the post, while the Greeks didn’t make any mistake and scored to win the game.
Germany claimed the 9th place with a commanding win over the Netherlands, while Romania downed Georgia to finish 11th.
In the round robin tournament for the 13-15th places, Moldova beat Poland and need a point on the last day against Malta to finish 13th.
Bulgaria’s joys – and Leon Kaszan’s – continued in Ljubljana as they reached the final with a stunning win against Bosnia & Herzegovina. Photo: European Aquatics
The Division One tournament in Ljlubljana had almost the same schedule as Istanbul on Saturday. In the semis, Bulgaria stormed to a 6-0 lead against Bosnia and Herzegovina and seemed to be a safe bet before the Bosnians staged a late surge to climb back to 10-8 with 1:26 remaining.
However, Kaloyan Draganov sent the ball home in a six on five, 24 seconds from time, to close down the contest once and for all.
In the other semi, France won all four quarters against Ukraine, as an excellent team performance sent them through to Sunday’s final in style.
10 different French scorers helped dismantle Ukraine, who fought valiantly and only trailed 6-7 midway through the third, but from then on, they couldn’t keep up with their superior opponents.
In the crossovers for the 5-8th places, hosts Slovenia came from behind to beat Lithuania, with David Beric’s action shot 13 seconds from time proving to be the decider. They will now face the Swiss, who staged a strong finish against Cyprus.
For the 9-12th places, Slovakia cruised to victory against Latvia, while the Portuguese edged out the Czechs.
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Watch all the action live from Istanbul and Ljubljana for free on the European Aquatics TV channel, which can be found by clicking here.
For the full results/tables and schedule from Istanbul, click here.
For the full results/tables and schedule from Ljubljana, click here.