2024 High School Trip - Daily Reports
Condensed Daily Reports are listed below.
Days 1 and 2
After a rough day of travel (moreso for some!), all 21 players finally made it safely to a hot and humid Prague, arriving in time for a group dinner in the city center. We also got a glimpse of the Astrological Clock in Old Town Square and traversed a number of cobblestones. Having now receiving their gear for the trip, everyone is down for the night in their air-conditioned rooms.
We have a full day tomorrow, starting with a morning climb of Petrin Tower and a walk towards Prague Castle. We play the Czech u18 national team tomorrow - note the recent schedule changes to 2pm and Sabat Praha field (with the same time and place repeated on Sunday).
We all look forward to a good night’s sleep and our first full day together tomorrow.
Day 3
On what is expected to be the hottest day of our trip (90+), we got an early start to beat the worst of the heat and make up for some tourism lost to yesterday’s flight delays. We began with a climb of the Petrin Tower for spectacular views over Prague, followed by a downhill walk past Prague Castle to the Lennon Wall and Charles Bridge, experiencing the tourist-filled and beautiful streets of Mala Strana along the way.
Post-walk, we hopped in the bus for the short ride to the nice Sabat Praha ballpark, where we had a full pre-game workout and a hearty clubhouse meal before playing our first game against the Czech 18U National Team.
Our talented Czech opponents are preparing for the European Championships, which are at the end of next week, and final roster decisions will be made tomorrow, so the atmosphere was charged. The game itself was a back and forth affair with multiple lead changes, but the good guys (OWB) finished on top with an 11-8 win. The coaching staff was very impressed by how the ballplayers shook off travel fatigue (as well as the heat and humidity) to put forth a true team effort. We had many contributors on the mound, at the plate, and in the field, with multiple hit performances from Sage Epstein and Brody Minick, multiple RBI days from Aidan Stevenson, Kade Meyer, Nate Groff and Mikey Levey and solid pitching performances from all of our pitchers: Meyer, Ryan McWilliams, Ian Rosenshine, Charlie Zwibelman and Kaden Gustafson. Aaron Wong also snuffed a would-be Czech comeback by throwing out two runners in the 8th, thus prompting Mikey Levy to quip: “They picked the Wong guy to run on”.
Post-game, we returned to MeetMe23 for (very quick) showers before heading back through the maze of Prague to U Pravdu, a traditional Czech restaurant, where bounteous meats and starches were consumed by all.
The team is now back at the hotel to rest up for tomorrow’s activities, which will include a guided morning walking tour of Old Town and Game 2 vs the Czechs.
Day 4
After retiring relatively early Saturday night (following a post-dinner free time stroll along the river and through the city center), the weather cooperated for a great Sunday outdoors on our last day in Prague.
Our hotel building has a deep history recounted on the lobby wall, including as a residence stolen by the Nazis from a Jewish family in the 1940s. Some of the family members were sent to concentration camps, one of which was Terezin (aka Theresienstadt), a camp near Prague. This is particularly relevant because we coincidentally learned about Terezin during our Prague walking tour this morning. Somehow, history seems more close and real here in Europe.
After the tour, which also included Protestant reformation sites, a concert venue used by Mozart and the old Jewish quarter, we took advantage of 30 minutes back in air conditioning at the hotel before heading to the field for a clubhouse lunch of chicken, rice, and veggies.
The fatigue of travel (and walking all over Prague!) seemed to show early in Game 2 against the Czech 18Us. The Czechs scored 4 runs before we came to the plate, and they led 7-1 after five innings. The boys were resilient and continued to compete, and we came back to tie the game in the seventh. It wasn't meant to be, however, and the Czechs scored an additional 6 runs to pull away and win 13-7.
Offensively, Brody Minick led the charge with 3 hits and Aaron Wong also reached thrice (with a hit and 2 walks). Stephen Doty, Tommy Belman, Mikey Levy, Kyle Miltenberger, and Nate Groff all got base hits, and Aidan Stevenson’s double that one-hopped the left field wall tied the game in the 6th.
Wilson Wendt paced the pitchers, giving up a single run in 4 highly-efficient innings. Alex Tavano pitched two innings, the second being particularly effective. Tommy Belman volunteered to close out the game and did not allow a hit in 1.1 innings. The Czechs scored 13 runs, but on only 6 hits.
After some much needed showers, we walked back to Old Town Prague and absolutely CRUSHED an all-you-can-meat rodizio meal at Brasiliero. No prior OWB squad (and there have been several) has brought this August establishment nearly as close to bankruptcy with its consumption of meats.
Tomorrow is a recovery and travel day. We'll leave Prague and visit Brno (the second city of Czechia) for a lunch stop, then continue to Vienna, Austria, where we’ll have a little tourism time before dinner. Monday is our only full day of the trip without baseball.
Day 5
We left spectacular Prague behind us this morning for the 4.5+ hour bus ride to Vienna, which we broke up with an extended lunch stop in Brno, the largest city in (and historical capital of) the Czech state of Moravia. In our 2 hours there, the team had a chance to explore and find lunch, with many choosing to sample doner kebabs (ubiquitous and delicious European street food) at the recommendation of the coaching staff. Brno is a much smaller city than Prague, and it is decidedly not on the tourist trail, but it offers charming squares and a beautiful cathedral (Saints Peter and Paul) without the tourist hordes.
After arrival in Vienna, we had an hour to settle into our hotel before venturing forth with “Uncle Max” to see some of the tourist attractions in the immediate area (including the Rathaus [City Hall], the Austrian Parliament Building and the University of Vienna). A hearty team dinner ensued at Centimeter, followed by an hour of free time before lights out.
Uncle Max is a Viennese friend of Coach Pags from his 1990 fall semester abroad in Vienna (a lifetime ago), and Max will join us again tomorrow morning to lead a walking tour of the city center. We’ll also visit the Schoenbrunn Palace grounds tomorrow before our evening game against the Austrians.
Day 6
Tuesday was our most casual day yet. We walked out of the hotel with Uncle Max, seeing the Austrian president’s office, the Hofburg Palace, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and the oldest Vienna synagogue to avoid destruction on Kristallnacht 1938, amongst other historical sites. The stroll ended at Badeschiff – literal translation “bathing ship” – a multi-level cafe/restaurant with deck chairs and swimming pool built onto a ship tethered in the Danube Canal.
Everyone had time to explore more of the city, go for a chilly swim, and find a lunch of their choosing. We rode the bus back to the hotel to get off our feet before leaving again for the Vienna MetroStars ballpark, where we played the Austrian u18 team, reinforced by a few older Austrian players.
The game was tight for the first few innings, with OWB taking an early lead, Austria scoring two in the second to go ahead, and OWB tying the game in third. The Austrians, however, soon retook the lead and gradually tacked on additional runs, winding up with a 7-2 victory. Each of Ryan McWilliams, Charlie Zwibelman and Ian Rosenshine threw exactly 38 pitches over 2 innings, while allowing 2 hits, with Kaden Gustafson going 1.2 innings (also with 2 hits) and Mikey Levy getting the final out.
Offensively, we had just three hits, the highlight being Mikey Levy’s line drive off the left field fence in the 2nd inning. Brody Minick had two walks and two stolen bases. Nine different OWB players reached base, but hard ground balls went at fielders and we weren’t able to string hits together.
After the game, we watched most of the first half of the Austria-Turkey soccer game in the European Championships on TV at the ballpark while having our second round of sausages/burgers, then more than half of the players joined Stephan at an outdoor viewing area local to our hotel for the last 30 minutes of the match.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) we’ll start the day in the gardens of Schoenbruenn Palace before crossing into Slovakia for some free time in the capital, Bratislava. We’ll play the Slovakian men’s national team at 5pm, then return the 50 miles back to our central Vienna hotel.
Day 7
Today was a two-country day, which began with a morning visit to the Schoenbrunn Palace grounds and panoramic views from the Gloriette monument. A one-hour bus ride later, we found ourselves at Bratislava Castle, providing an interesting point of comparison to Schoenbrunn. Before heading to the Apollo Bratislava ballpark, we strolled into Bratislava’s picturesque (but not very touristy) Old Town, where the team had some independent time to explore, eat and relax.
The ballgame this evening was a mostly crisp affair, with multiple strong pitching performances but little offense from each team. Unfortunately for us, our experienced opponents, the Slovakian men’s national team, made fewer mistakes and prevailed 3-0. For the second game in a row, we only managed to get 3 hits, this time from Nate Groff, Kade Meyer and Will Selbach. All of our pitchers threw 2 innings, with Kade Meyer having a clean sheet and each of Alex Tavano and Keegan Smith allowing just one run. To avoid overusing any arms on the trip, we have scheduled a few guest pitchers to join us along the way. Today’s guest, who threw the final 2 innings, was Kelvis Palma, a Venezuelan who is currently pitching for the Hard Bulls in the top Austrian league. Tomorrow evening, when we play the Great Britain 18U team in Haar (near Munich) we’ll have a young Austrian guest pitcher available for a couple of innings.
Speaking of tomorrow, it will be the longest driving day of the trip as we traverse much of Austria and a portion of the Alps on our way to the Munich area, where we will play our game vs GB before checking into our final hotel. Traffic-permitting, we’ll break up the drive with a couple of hours in Salzburg. Fingers crossed!
Day 8
We left Vienna behind this morning and crossed into Germany, our 4th and final European country, and our 4th border crossing in 3 days. Before reaching Germany, however, we had long views of the Austrian Alps from our bus windows, as well as a couple of hours in the heart of Salzburg, which is truly spectacular. We walked below the city fortress and past Nonnberg Abbey (a Sound of Music location) on the way into the Altstadt. Coaches and players alike have been truly blessed these last several days to be surrounded by such beauty, and we’re not done yet!
On that note, we completed the second long leg of our drive (approx 5.5 hours total) at the ballpark of the Haar Disciples, a German Bundesliga (ie, top-level) club and our hosts for today’s first game against the Great Britain 18U National Team.
Fittingly, on Independence Day, we accepted the Brits’ surrender after 6 innings, enabling us to relish a 10-7 victory over postgame burgers and fries. After a very long and rocky first inning, which left us behind 5-4, we outpitched, outhit, outran and out-defended our opponents. Wilson Wendt’s stellar pitching (5.1 innings, 1 ER) re-set the tone of the game, and we had hits from 8 different players. Kade Meyer, Sage Epstein and Kyle Miltenberger had 2 hits each, Kaden Gustafson narrowly missed a long HR (settling for a double high off the wall in left center), and Meyer, Will Selbach and Brody Minick all had multiple RBIs.
Our day in Germany tomorrow is chock full of activities. We’ll begin the day with our second game against GB (NOTE: Gametime is 10:00, not 10:30), tour the Dachau concentration camp memorial site after lunch, return to central Munich to watch the Germany-Spain European Championships quarterfinal match and finish with a traditional German dinner at the renowned Augustinerkeller.
Day 9
Friday was an incredibly full day!
We began with breakfast nourishment at the Flemings Hotel before returning to the Haar Disciples field - it felt like we just left there… Alan Dean led the team through a needed stretch and warmup, followed by our 6th game in seven days (and fourth country since Monday, if you are scoring at home).
We jumped out to a two run lead in the first and scored in every inning but one. It was tied after 5 innings, but we scored another 7 runs from there to pull ahead. Mikey Levy led the offense with three doubles, Will Selbach added another along with a single, and Tommy Belman hit three singles.
Charlie Zwibelman, Ian Rosenshine, and Ryan McWilliams covered 5+ innings, collectively scattering seven hits. Our German ringer Jacob Schoch pitched the rest of the way to seal the win.
Immediately after the game and requisite mixed team photos, we took a short walk to Gitti’s “Forest Management” for some hearty local fare. From there, we entered the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site for a private guided tour. Given its terrible history, Dachau is a very powerful place, and it neither a fun nor easy place to visit. At OWB, however, we always attempt to expose our participants to the darker side of European history, as we fully subscribe to the concept that “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” To the great credit of this year’s team, they fully engaged in the experience and asked many thoughtful questions both during the visit and after.
To complete the rollercoaster of emotions and have a special experience of an entirely different sort, we called an audible and took the team to Munich’s Olympic Stadium (1972 Olympics) to join 20,000 soccer fans in a raucous viewing of the German national soccer team’s European Championships quarterfinal match against Spain. In honor of our German ringer (see above), the OWB ballplayers wholeheartedly supported Germany, but Spain prevailed 2-1.
To finish, we had a traditional Bavarian dinner at Augustinerkeller, one of Germany’s most famous Biergartens, before strolling the few minutes back to our centrally-located hotel.
It was a very rewarding (and draining) day, and tomorrow is our last full day together. We’ll have a guided bike tour around Munich in the morning, then play our final game against Sweden u18s at 4:30pm in Freising.
Day 10
The heat and humidity returned on our last full day in Europe, yielding a balmy morning bike tour (under clear skies) and a final game terminated after just an inning by an impressive late afternoon rainstorm.
For safety purposes, we were split into two groups for our bike tour of central Munich, and each group cycled past and learned about sundry museums, palaces and churches, with our tour guides also helping us connect yesterday’s Dachau tour with Munich locations that are connected to the Nazi era (eg, Hitler’s office building, now used as a school for music and theater). The tour also took us through Munich’s main park, the Englischergarten, which was full of activity on a warm Saturday, as well as the permanent surfing wave in the Eisbach river.
Following the bike tour, most (if not all) of the guys used their last independent lunch opportunity to visit the Marienplatz, which is the heart of Munich and only accessible to pedestrians, as well as the Viktualienmarkt, Munich’s famous outdoor food market.
We traveled to the tranquil countryside ballpark of the Freising Grizzlies for our final game, but we were only able to complete one inning against the Swedish 18Us before the skies opened and washed us out. We took advantage of a partial lull in the rain to lug our gear as quickly as possible to our adjacent dinner venue, an Italian restaurant connected to a bowling club, where we enjoyed pizzas or pastas alongside the Swedes and several family members of the OWB ballplayers.
On the return bus ride to the hotel for our final night, each of the coaches shared a few words with the team, with a consistent theme being our appreciation for how this group invested in the overall OWB experience, on and off the field. We’re sad to be parting ways tomorrow, but the staff feels very fortunate to have had such a great group of young men, and we’ve encouraged all of them to keep in touch and let us know how we can help them in all of their future endeavors.
Days 1 and 2
After a rough day of travel (moreso for some!), all 21 players finally made it safely to a hot and humid Prague, arriving in time for a group dinner in the city center. We also got a glimpse of the Astrological Clock in Old Town Square and traversed a number of cobblestones. Having now receiving their gear for the trip, everyone is down for the night in their air-conditioned rooms.
We have a full day tomorrow, starting with a morning climb of Petrin Tower and a walk towards Prague Castle. We play the Czech u18 national team tomorrow - note the recent schedule changes to 2pm and Sabat Praha field (with the same time and place repeated on Sunday).
We all look forward to a good night’s sleep and our first full day together tomorrow.
Day 3
On what is expected to be the hottest day of our trip (90+), we got an early start to beat the worst of the heat and make up for some tourism lost to yesterday’s flight delays. We began with a climb of the Petrin Tower for spectacular views over Prague, followed by a downhill walk past Prague Castle to the Lennon Wall and Charles Bridge, experiencing the tourist-filled and beautiful streets of Mala Strana along the way.
Post-walk, we hopped in the bus for the short ride to the nice Sabat Praha ballpark, where we had a full pre-game workout and a hearty clubhouse meal before playing our first game against the Czech 18U National Team.
Our talented Czech opponents are preparing for the European Championships, which are at the end of next week, and final roster decisions will be made tomorrow, so the atmosphere was charged. The game itself was a back and forth affair with multiple lead changes, but the good guys (OWB) finished on top with an 11-8 win. The coaching staff was very impressed by how the ballplayers shook off travel fatigue (as well as the heat and humidity) to put forth a true team effort. We had many contributors on the mound, at the plate, and in the field, with multiple hit performances from Sage Epstein and Brody Minick, multiple RBI days from Aidan Stevenson, Kade Meyer, Nate Groff and Mikey Levey and solid pitching performances from all of our pitchers: Meyer, Ryan McWilliams, Ian Rosenshine, Charlie Zwibelman and Kaden Gustafson. Aaron Wong also snuffed a would-be Czech comeback by throwing out two runners in the 8th, thus prompting Mikey Levy to quip: “They picked the Wong guy to run on”.
Post-game, we returned to MeetMe23 for (very quick) showers before heading back through the maze of Prague to U Pravdu, a traditional Czech restaurant, where bounteous meats and starches were consumed by all.
The team is now back at the hotel to rest up for tomorrow’s activities, which will include a guided morning walking tour of Old Town and Game 2 vs the Czechs.
Day 4
After retiring relatively early Saturday night (following a post-dinner free time stroll along the river and through the city center), the weather cooperated for a great Sunday outdoors on our last day in Prague.
Our hotel building has a deep history recounted on the lobby wall, including as a residence stolen by the Nazis from a Jewish family in the 1940s. Some of the family members were sent to concentration camps, one of which was Terezin (aka Theresienstadt), a camp near Prague. This is particularly relevant because we coincidentally learned about Terezin during our Prague walking tour this morning. Somehow, history seems more close and real here in Europe.
After the tour, which also included Protestant reformation sites, a concert venue used by Mozart and the old Jewish quarter, we took advantage of 30 minutes back in air conditioning at the hotel before heading to the field for a clubhouse lunch of chicken, rice, and veggies.
The fatigue of travel (and walking all over Prague!) seemed to show early in Game 2 against the Czech 18Us. The Czechs scored 4 runs before we came to the plate, and they led 7-1 after five innings. The boys were resilient and continued to compete, and we came back to tie the game in the seventh. It wasn't meant to be, however, and the Czechs scored an additional 6 runs to pull away and win 13-7.
Offensively, Brody Minick led the charge with 3 hits and Aaron Wong also reached thrice (with a hit and 2 walks). Stephen Doty, Tommy Belman, Mikey Levy, Kyle Miltenberger, and Nate Groff all got base hits, and Aidan Stevenson’s double that one-hopped the left field wall tied the game in the 6th.
Wilson Wendt paced the pitchers, giving up a single run in 4 highly-efficient innings. Alex Tavano pitched two innings, the second being particularly effective. Tommy Belman volunteered to close out the game and did not allow a hit in 1.1 innings. The Czechs scored 13 runs, but on only 6 hits.
After some much needed showers, we walked back to Old Town Prague and absolutely CRUSHED an all-you-can-meat rodizio meal at Brasiliero. No prior OWB squad (and there have been several) has brought this August establishment nearly as close to bankruptcy with its consumption of meats.
Tomorrow is a recovery and travel day. We'll leave Prague and visit Brno (the second city of Czechia) for a lunch stop, then continue to Vienna, Austria, where we’ll have a little tourism time before dinner. Monday is our only full day of the trip without baseball.
Day 5
We left spectacular Prague behind us this morning for the 4.5+ hour bus ride to Vienna, which we broke up with an extended lunch stop in Brno, the largest city in (and historical capital of) the Czech state of Moravia. In our 2 hours there, the team had a chance to explore and find lunch, with many choosing to sample doner kebabs (ubiquitous and delicious European street food) at the recommendation of the coaching staff. Brno is a much smaller city than Prague, and it is decidedly not on the tourist trail, but it offers charming squares and a beautiful cathedral (Saints Peter and Paul) without the tourist hordes.
After arrival in Vienna, we had an hour to settle into our hotel before venturing forth with “Uncle Max” to see some of the tourist attractions in the immediate area (including the Rathaus [City Hall], the Austrian Parliament Building and the University of Vienna). A hearty team dinner ensued at Centimeter, followed by an hour of free time before lights out.
Uncle Max is a Viennese friend of Coach Pags from his 1990 fall semester abroad in Vienna (a lifetime ago), and Max will join us again tomorrow morning to lead a walking tour of the city center. We’ll also visit the Schoenbrunn Palace grounds tomorrow before our evening game against the Austrians.
Day 6
Tuesday was our most casual day yet. We walked out of the hotel with Uncle Max, seeing the Austrian president’s office, the Hofburg Palace, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and the oldest Vienna synagogue to avoid destruction on Kristallnacht 1938, amongst other historical sites. The stroll ended at Badeschiff – literal translation “bathing ship” – a multi-level cafe/restaurant with deck chairs and swimming pool built onto a ship tethered in the Danube Canal.
Everyone had time to explore more of the city, go for a chilly swim, and find a lunch of their choosing. We rode the bus back to the hotel to get off our feet before leaving again for the Vienna MetroStars ballpark, where we played the Austrian u18 team, reinforced by a few older Austrian players.
The game was tight for the first few innings, with OWB taking an early lead, Austria scoring two in the second to go ahead, and OWB tying the game in third. The Austrians, however, soon retook the lead and gradually tacked on additional runs, winding up with a 7-2 victory. Each of Ryan McWilliams, Charlie Zwibelman and Ian Rosenshine threw exactly 38 pitches over 2 innings, while allowing 2 hits, with Kaden Gustafson going 1.2 innings (also with 2 hits) and Mikey Levy getting the final out.
Offensively, we had just three hits, the highlight being Mikey Levy’s line drive off the left field fence in the 2nd inning. Brody Minick had two walks and two stolen bases. Nine different OWB players reached base, but hard ground balls went at fielders and we weren’t able to string hits together.
After the game, we watched most of the first half of the Austria-Turkey soccer game in the European Championships on TV at the ballpark while having our second round of sausages/burgers, then more than half of the players joined Stephan at an outdoor viewing area local to our hotel for the last 30 minutes of the match.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) we’ll start the day in the gardens of Schoenbruenn Palace before crossing into Slovakia for some free time in the capital, Bratislava. We’ll play the Slovakian men’s national team at 5pm, then return the 50 miles back to our central Vienna hotel.
Day 7
Today was a two-country day, which began with a morning visit to the Schoenbrunn Palace grounds and panoramic views from the Gloriette monument. A one-hour bus ride later, we found ourselves at Bratislava Castle, providing an interesting point of comparison to Schoenbrunn. Before heading to the Apollo Bratislava ballpark, we strolled into Bratislava’s picturesque (but not very touristy) Old Town, where the team had some independent time to explore, eat and relax.
The ballgame this evening was a mostly crisp affair, with multiple strong pitching performances but little offense from each team. Unfortunately for us, our experienced opponents, the Slovakian men’s national team, made fewer mistakes and prevailed 3-0. For the second game in a row, we only managed to get 3 hits, this time from Nate Groff, Kade Meyer and Will Selbach. All of our pitchers threw 2 innings, with Kade Meyer having a clean sheet and each of Alex Tavano and Keegan Smith allowing just one run. To avoid overusing any arms on the trip, we have scheduled a few guest pitchers to join us along the way. Today’s guest, who threw the final 2 innings, was Kelvis Palma, a Venezuelan who is currently pitching for the Hard Bulls in the top Austrian league. Tomorrow evening, when we play the Great Britain 18U team in Haar (near Munich) we’ll have a young Austrian guest pitcher available for a couple of innings.
Speaking of tomorrow, it will be the longest driving day of the trip as we traverse much of Austria and a portion of the Alps on our way to the Munich area, where we will play our game vs GB before checking into our final hotel. Traffic-permitting, we’ll break up the drive with a couple of hours in Salzburg. Fingers crossed!
Day 8
We left Vienna behind this morning and crossed into Germany, our 4th and final European country, and our 4th border crossing in 3 days. Before reaching Germany, however, we had long views of the Austrian Alps from our bus windows, as well as a couple of hours in the heart of Salzburg, which is truly spectacular. We walked below the city fortress and past Nonnberg Abbey (a Sound of Music location) on the way into the Altstadt. Coaches and players alike have been truly blessed these last several days to be surrounded by such beauty, and we’re not done yet!
On that note, we completed the second long leg of our drive (approx 5.5 hours total) at the ballpark of the Haar Disciples, a German Bundesliga (ie, top-level) club and our hosts for today’s first game against the Great Britain 18U National Team.
Fittingly, on Independence Day, we accepted the Brits’ surrender after 6 innings, enabling us to relish a 10-7 victory over postgame burgers and fries. After a very long and rocky first inning, which left us behind 5-4, we outpitched, outhit, outran and out-defended our opponents. Wilson Wendt’s stellar pitching (5.1 innings, 1 ER) re-set the tone of the game, and we had hits from 8 different players. Kade Meyer, Sage Epstein and Kyle Miltenberger had 2 hits each, Kaden Gustafson narrowly missed a long HR (settling for a double high off the wall in left center), and Meyer, Will Selbach and Brody Minick all had multiple RBIs.
Our day in Germany tomorrow is chock full of activities. We’ll begin the day with our second game against GB (NOTE: Gametime is 10:00, not 10:30), tour the Dachau concentration camp memorial site after lunch, return to central Munich to watch the Germany-Spain European Championships quarterfinal match and finish with a traditional German dinner at the renowned Augustinerkeller.
Day 9
Friday was an incredibly full day!
We began with breakfast nourishment at the Flemings Hotel before returning to the Haar Disciples field - it felt like we just left there… Alan Dean led the team through a needed stretch and warmup, followed by our 6th game in seven days (and fourth country since Monday, if you are scoring at home).
We jumped out to a two run lead in the first and scored in every inning but one. It was tied after 5 innings, but we scored another 7 runs from there to pull ahead. Mikey Levy led the offense with three doubles, Will Selbach added another along with a single, and Tommy Belman hit three singles.
Charlie Zwibelman, Ian Rosenshine, and Ryan McWilliams covered 5+ innings, collectively scattering seven hits. Our German ringer Jacob Schoch pitched the rest of the way to seal the win.
Immediately after the game and requisite mixed team photos, we took a short walk to Gitti’s “Forest Management” for some hearty local fare. From there, we entered the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site for a private guided tour. Given its terrible history, Dachau is a very powerful place, and it neither a fun nor easy place to visit. At OWB, however, we always attempt to expose our participants to the darker side of European history, as we fully subscribe to the concept that “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” To the great credit of this year’s team, they fully engaged in the experience and asked many thoughtful questions both during the visit and after.
To complete the rollercoaster of emotions and have a special experience of an entirely different sort, we called an audible and took the team to Munich’s Olympic Stadium (1972 Olympics) to join 20,000 soccer fans in a raucous viewing of the German national soccer team’s European Championships quarterfinal match against Spain. In honor of our German ringer (see above), the OWB ballplayers wholeheartedly supported Germany, but Spain prevailed 2-1.
To finish, we had a traditional Bavarian dinner at Augustinerkeller, one of Germany’s most famous Biergartens, before strolling the few minutes back to our centrally-located hotel.
It was a very rewarding (and draining) day, and tomorrow is our last full day together. We’ll have a guided bike tour around Munich in the morning, then play our final game against Sweden u18s at 4:30pm in Freising.
Day 10
The heat and humidity returned on our last full day in Europe, yielding a balmy morning bike tour (under clear skies) and a final game terminated after just an inning by an impressive late afternoon rainstorm.
For safety purposes, we were split into two groups for our bike tour of central Munich, and each group cycled past and learned about sundry museums, palaces and churches, with our tour guides also helping us connect yesterday’s Dachau tour with Munich locations that are connected to the Nazi era (eg, Hitler’s office building, now used as a school for music and theater). The tour also took us through Munich’s main park, the Englischergarten, which was full of activity on a warm Saturday, as well as the permanent surfing wave in the Eisbach river.
Following the bike tour, most (if not all) of the guys used their last independent lunch opportunity to visit the Marienplatz, which is the heart of Munich and only accessible to pedestrians, as well as the Viktualienmarkt, Munich’s famous outdoor food market.
We traveled to the tranquil countryside ballpark of the Freising Grizzlies for our final game, but we were only able to complete one inning against the Swedish 18Us before the skies opened and washed us out. We took advantage of a partial lull in the rain to lug our gear as quickly as possible to our adjacent dinner venue, an Italian restaurant connected to a bowling club, where we enjoyed pizzas or pastas alongside the Swedes and several family members of the OWB ballplayers.
On the return bus ride to the hotel for our final night, each of the coaches shared a few words with the team, with a consistent theme being our appreciation for how this group invested in the overall OWB experience, on and off the field. We’re sad to be parting ways tomorrow, but the staff feels very fortunate to have had such a great group of young men, and we’ve encouraged all of them to keep in touch and let us know how we can help them in all of their future endeavors.
