Europe Athletes of the Week: April 5, 2012
Jeff Black
Alconbury soccer
Last week - Black, a junior two-time All-European playing striker, scored hat tricks in consecutive road games Friday and Saturday. Black victimized Division II contender AFNORTH for three goals Friday in a 5-4 loss, then repeated the feat the next day in a 4-2 victory at Brussels.
According to Alconbury coach Jeffrey Black, the player’s father, AFNORTH played five defenders back in an attempt to cope with the younger Black, who has adapted well to this season’s position change.
“Playing in a 4-5-1 formation this year.” the elder Black emailed on Monday, “Jeff has been moved from his traditional midfield position to the lone striker position…He has everything you need and would look for in a player to play up front on his own – speed, strength and the skills to take players on one-on-one… His teammates have adjusted well to the new formation and have done a great job feeding him balls and putting him in a threatening position to score.”
The evidence supports the elder Black’s assertion. So far, the younger Black has registered 10 goals and two assists to help Alconbury open the season 3-1.
Bailey Loomis
Bitburg softball
Last week - Loomis, a freshman, pitched two complete-game shutouts Saturday, allowing just one hit in eight innings of work as the Lady Barons swept visiting Alconbury 10-0 in five innings and 16-0 in three innings. She fanned 12 of the 28 batters she faced, walked two and hit one for a total on the day of a mere four base runners.
According to her coach, Daniel Vasquez, Loomis “bases her success on placing her fastball on the corners and finishing off the strikeout with her developing changeup.”
Loomis yielded the hit, a single, in Game 1, ended after five innings by the 10-run rule. In Game 2, she retired the side in order in the first two innings, hit a batter with two outs in the third and then retired the side on a strikeout. The game was called by the 15-run rule.
Vasquez added that Loomis, a product of the vibrant Eifel-area youth softball program, played third base and pitched last season for the Kaiserslautern Military Community all-star team that reached the semifinals of Little League Baseball’s Junior League Softball European Regional tournament.
