Lars Liguori turned in his second dominant pitching performance of the Federation Cup in Slovakia and Vålerenga exploded for nine runs in the fifth inning to win the championship of the WBSC Europe tier four tournament. Stal Kutno could not recover after taking an early lead, falling short after an otherwise strong performance. Keyberth Mejías and Jonathan Whistler went yard for the victors.
Liguori was the easy choice for MVP and Best Pitcher after striking out 11 in five innings in the title game, allowing two earned runs on six hits and a walk. That performance came only three days after a no-hitter in which only an error separated the left-hander from a perfect game. In total, the southpaw fired 12 innings of two-run ball, punching out a whopping 25 against only one walk and six hits (for an opponents’ line of .136/.174/.204). Among pitchers, Liguori led in almost every major statistical category. Meanwhile, while also serving as a first baseman and centerfielder, Liguori hit .563/.650/.688 with two stolen bases and no strikeouts in five games. His total of six RBI was tops in the Federation Cup, while his six runs were second.
Stefan Beshkov was named Best Batter after leading the tournament in average. The Sofia Blues’ third baseman and pitcher went 6-for-9 in three games and was No. 1 with a .700 on-base percentage.
Other top offensive performances are as follows:
- Joe Rollwagen (Vålerenga) led in hits (10) and was tied for second in RBI, and tied for third in runs (5). He hit .588/.632/.706.
- Gary Camarillo (Trnava) led in OPS (1.560) and was second in slugging percentage (.917) and third in OBP (.643) as a two-way player for the Angels.
- Samuel Camacho (Kutno) led in slugging percentage (.929), doubles (3), and total bases (3). He was No. 2 in OPS (1.492), all the while serving as Kutno’s ace.
- Keyberth Mejías (Vålerenga) led in home runs (2), finishing tied for second in RBI (5) and tied for third in total bases (11) and stolen bases (3) while slashing .313/.421/.688.
- Jonathan Whistler (Vålerenga) led in stolen bases (5) and hit .364/.533/.727, the latter figure good for No. 4.
- Herts Toucans’ top hitter was ex-minor leaguer Carlos Torres, who went 5-for-10 with two doubles and a walk
In addition to Liguori, there were several pitchers who delivered strong results at the Federation Cup. Note that on the statistics page, all ERAs are calculated incorrectly (earned runs are divided by seven, rather than nine). They are rendered correctly here.
- Camacho was a strong contender for MVP and Best Pitcher, topping the event in ERA (0.82) and wins (2-0, the same as Liguori). He struck out 17 in 11 innings and was third with a .147 opponents’ batting average.
- Camarillo was nigh unhittable, topping the Federation Cup with a .083 batting average against and whiffing 13 in 7.2 frames. He allowed only one unearned run for a 0.00 ERA.
- Jakub Wojtczak (Kutno) gave Stal a second ace, sending down 15 on strikes in 11 innings with a 3.27 ERA.
For more on the Federation Cup, see our coverage of the Slovakia Group: Introduction https://www.mister-baseball.com/federation-cup-slovakia-2026-mvp-liguori-pitches-valerenga-to-title/, Day 1 https://www.mister-baseball.com/federation-cup-slovakia-2026-mvp-liguori-pitches-valerenga-to-title/, Day 2 https://www.mister-baseball.com/federation-cup-slovakia-2026-mvp-liguori-pitches-valerenga-to-title/, Day 3 https://www.mister-baseball.com/federation-cup-slovakia-2026-mvp-liguori-pitches-valerenga-to-title/, Day 4 https://www.mister-baseball.com/federation-cup-slovakia-2026-mvp-liguori-pitches-valerenga-to-title/, Day 5 https://www.mister-baseball.com/federation-cup-slovakia-2026-mvp-liguori-pitches-valerenga-to-title/. Box scores can be found here [link]. Updates from the Lithuania Group are here: Day 1 https://www.mister-baseball.com/federation-cup-slovakia-2026-mvp-liguori-pitches-valerenga-to-title/, Day 2 https://www.mister-baseball.com/federation-cup-slovakia-2026-mvp-liguori-pitches-valerenga-to-title/, Day 3 https://www.mister-baseball.com/federation-cup-slovakia-2026-mvp-liguori-pitches-valerenga-to-title/. All games played to seven innings, rather than nine.
Results
June 8
Herts 0 – Kutno 10 (5)
Trnava 4 – Sofia 7
June 9
Herts 2 – Vålerenga 16 (5)
Kutno – Trnava (PP)
June 10
Kutno 1 – Trnava 5
Vålerenga 8 – Sofia 0
Trnava 5 – Herts 0
June 11
Sofia 15 – Herts 2 (6)
Kutno 9 – Vålerenga 1
June 12
Sofia 1 – Kutno 6
Vålerenga 4 – Trnava 0
June 13
First: Vålerenga 13 – Kutno 3 (5)
Final Standings
| Team | W-L | RF | RA |
| Vålerenga B.C. (Norway) | 4-1 | 42 | 14 |
| Stal Kutno (Poland) | 3-2 | 29 | 20 |
| Sofia Blues (Bulgaria) | 2-2 | 23 | 20 |
| Angels Trnava (Slovakia) | 2-2 | 14 | 12 |
| Herts Toucans (G.B.) | 0-4 | 4 | 46 |