At the beginning of its charmed run in the World Baseball Classic, Italy hoped its roster -- loaded with young, talented major and minor leaguers of Italian-American descent -- could stack together a few wins and sneak out of pool play. Now, the Azzurri are headed to the semifinals in Miami -- and believe they can win the whole thing.
Their latest triumph, an 8-6 victory against Puerto Rico on Saturday afternoon in front of 34,291 at Daikin Park, reinforced that their perfect run through Pool B -- which included a victory against Team USA -- was no fluke. And it left players and coaches alike beaming, not just at what they've done but what their success will do in a country with limited history in the sport.
