Czech Pitcher, Israel, Italy shine at EMRYT Championships
The 2025 EMRYT (European Massimo Romeo Youth Tournament) held in Collecchio, Italy, last week was a testament to how a youth tournament should be run.
In sharp contrast to the debacle that was the 18-and-under European Championships held in late July, where protests and teams were shuffled two hours away from the main field, none of those issues were present at the youth fields in Collecchio.
Instead, 18 youth teams played under the sun for the right to be called the 13-and-under European Champion.
In the Futures division, Brno, Czech Republic, defeated the host team, Italy, 2-1 in the championship game in a defensive and pitching battle.
The Futures division featured 14 teams from all over Europe, including teams from the Republic of Georgia, Ukraine, Croatia, Spain, Italy, and the Czech Republic.
Brno pitcher Lenka Holcova scattered four hits over five innings to lead BRNO over the host nation.
With the win, BRNO has now clinched the title in each of the last three years, adding a bronze in 2018 and a silver in 2019.
Zlatý hattrick.... 2023, 2024 a 2025.....
— SK Sever Brno (@skseverbrno) August 16, 2025
A k tomu bronz v roce 2018 a stříbro v roce 2019. Z EMRYTu se bez medaile neodjíždí... :)#skseverbrno #softball #emryt pic.twitter.com/5aYmt4QNI5
In the Sport Division, which featured four teams from Spain, Israel, and two teams from the Czech Republic (Eagles and Joudrs). The teams played a double round-robin format in which Israel led the way going 6-0, and Joudrs going 4-2.
In the Championship game, Joudrs pitcher Katerina Kosanova was dominant.
Kosanova, who led the Czech Republic team to the Little League Softball World Series, was dynamic in the circle.
Israel came into the game hitting well, but Kosanova was able to quiet the Israeli bats, only allowing six hits over five innings and only allowing one earned run in the fifth inning to lead her team to a 4-1 victory.
While the competition was spirited and fierce, the tournament was a reminder that sports has the ability to bring teams and countries together in mutual admiration.
Teams hung out together in the barracks, ate lunch together, rooted each other on, and shared stories and social media accounts.
It was a reminder that sports are a bridge, not a barrier.
The community of Collechchio and the country of Italy made sure that safety, security, and softball were the three most important things on display this past week.
Coach Michael Gross is the Head Coach of Southwestern College after being the lead assistant at SWC for 1 season and 7 successful years coaching at Olympian High school in Chula Vista. At Olympian, Coach Gross won 2 CIF titles (2015, 2018) and made playoffs in 5 of his 7 years at the helm. Coach Gross is well known in the South Bay softball community as he has coached for over 20 years in the community. He started coaching at Bonita Valley Girls Softball in 2004 and was a member of the Bonita Valley Board for 12 years. Coach Gross also coaches internationally as the U15/U13 National Team Head Coach for the Israeli National softball program and will ne coaching Israeli U13 National team Head Coach that will compete in Italy in the summer of 2025. Coach Gross was also the Coach for the USA open division softball team in the 2022 Maccabi games in Israel where they took home the silver medal. Coach Gross has extensive recruiting experience and has been the college recruiting advisor for the Firecracker travel ball program and has helped over 100 students commit to a college to play softball. Coch Gross has coached at every level of organized softball, from rec ball, to travel ball, to high school and now at the college level. Coach Gross is also a professional public address announcer and announces games for San Diego State, UC San Diego, Point Loma Nazarene, CIF-San Diego Section, Southwestern College, and several local high schools. Coach Gross is a University of Phoenix Graduate (2000) in Business Management and obtained his Masters Degree from Concordia University – Irvine (2021) with an emphasis in Coaching and Exercise Science. Coach Gross is a native San Diegan and lives in Chula Vista with his wife Lisa, daughters Sarah, Emily, and Alyssa, and his 3 dogs… Archie, Max and Molly.
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