Cathedral Catholic’s Giovanni Garbella an U18 European Baseball Champ and MVP

Giovanni Garbella, who attends Cathedral Catholic High School in Carmel Valley, played for the Italian National Team that recently won the European Junior U18 Baseball Championship held in Prague, Czech Republic. In recognition of his outstanding tournament, Garbella received the MVP award. Giovanni ended with a .407 BA, .452 OBP, and .778 SLG with 1 HR, 2 triples, 3 doubles, 8 runs, 8 RBIs and 21 total bases in six games.

Italy beat the Czech Republic 9-3 in the final game and Holland beat Spain for 3rd place. Other participating teams were Germany, Sweden, Russia, France, Belgium, Ukraine (in order of final standings).

The next tournament for Giovanni and the Italian team will be the U18 Baseball World Championship in Taiwan on Aug. 30-Sept. 8 where they will compete in Pool B with Australia, Colombia, Cuba, South Korea and the USA (defending champions). Pool A includes Canada, Czech Republic, Japan, Mexico, Taiwan and Venezuela. Giovanni is interested in studying Physics and holds a 3.83 GPA. Giovanni has been elected to Cathedral’s ASB as Executive Treasurer. Giovanni has not committed to a college yet.