Avigliana, Italy: Friday 19 August – On Thursday at the European Women’s Cup, The Mix lost to the top team in the table but then beat the bottom team, and splitting that pair of games means that The Mix still have a chance of playing for the bronze medal on Saturday.
To do that, The Mix will need to win their last two round-robin games on Friday, against the Odense Giants from Denmark and the Wroclaw Panthers from Poland.
On Thursday, The Mix took on the table-topping Chicaboos from Belgium in the morning, and though The Mix led 3-2 after three innings, they ultimately went down to a 10-4 defeat.
That made victory in the afternoon essential against the winless Soders Softball team from Sweden, and though it was harder work than expected, The Mix prevailed by 5-2 and kept their playoff hopes alive.
Chicaboos 10, The Mix 4
The Mix got off to a great start in this game. After Mary Murray set the Belgians down in order in the top of the first inning on three infield groundouts, The Mix came in and scored three two-out runs.
Anna Be-Bartels led off for The Mix, reached on an error, and was sacrificed to second by Chelsie Robison. Amie Hutchison then drew a walk off Chicaboos starter Jessica Tolmie, but Tolmie struck out Megan Beard for the second out. However, Barbara Killer hit a ground rule double to centre field, followed by a double to right field by Mary Murray, and The Mix were suddenly up 3-0.
That’s the way things stayed until the top of the third inning, when a hit-by-pitch and three singles brought in two runs for the Chicaboos. But a sharp ground ball to Amie Hutchison at third base led to a double play and got The Mix out of the inning with a 3-2 lead.
For the rest of the game, however, momentum was with the Belgians. They scored three runs in the top of the fourth inning to take the lead, another in the top of the sixth inning and four more in the top of the seventh to take the game out of reach.
The only other run The Mix could score came in the bottom of the seventh inning when Anna Be-Bartels reached second on an error and scored on a single by Holly Newell. But Jessica Tolmie, who pitched a complete game for the Chicaboos, struck out Amie Hutchison and Megan Beard to end the game.
In the end, it was a deserved win for the undefeated Chicaboos, who had 14 hits against Mary Murray while The Mix could only manage five hits against Jessica Tolmie. Each pitcher gave up two walks.
Chelsie Robison and Mary Murray had two hits each for The Mix, but the British team only had a couple of mild scoring threats between the first and seventh innings, whereas the Belgians left nine runners on base in addition to the 10 runs they scored.
The loss made it essential that The Mix come up with a win in their afternoon game against the Swedish entry, Soders Softball.
The Mix 5, Soders Softball 2
Amie Hutchison pitched five strong innings and Anna Be-Bartels pitched the final two innings in relief as The Mix jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the second inning against Soders Softball and made that stand up for a 5-2 win.
The Mix had some help from the Swedes in the top of the second inning thanks to two errors by Soders second base player Emmelie Eriksson. Together with singles by Mary Murray, Kat Golik and Gayle Khoenkhoen and a triple by Chelsie Robison, this produced the four runs that got The Mix out in front early.
At this point in the tournament, Mary Murray is third in batting average in the tournament at .615, and Chelsie Robison is second in hits with 12.
The Mix added a further run in the top of the third inning without the benefit of a hit to stretch their advantage to 5-0. Three Swedish errors eventually allowed Sian Wigington to score.
After that, though The Mix had baserunners in every inning except the top of the seventh, they weren’t able to manufacture any more runs against Swedish pitcher Sofia Ericksson, who pitched all seven innings.
Soders Softball had a least one baserunner in each of the first three innings, but Amie Hutchison kept them off the board until the bottom of the fourth, when the Swedish side scored their two runs on two singles and two errors by The Mix.
Amie pitched another scoreless inning in the bottom of the fifth, then gave way to Anna-Be Bartels, and things got tense in the bottom of the sixth inning when the Swedes loaded the bases with two out on a walk and two singles.
But Anna-Be got the third out on a fielder’s choice grounder and then retired the Swedes in order in the bottom of the seventh inning to preserve a precious win.
Scores and standings
Scores on the fourth day of the tournament on Thursday were:
Vienna Wanderers 8, Wroclaw Panthers 0 (5 inns)
Angels Dupnitsa 8, Soders Softball 5
Chicaboos 10, The Mix 4
Angels Dupnitsa 8, Odense Giants 1
Wroclaw Panthers 6, Princ Zagreb 5
Chicaboos 8, Avigliana Rebels 4
The Mix 5, Soders Softball 2
Standings after Day 4 were:
Chicaboos (6-0)
Avigliana Rebels (5-2)
Vienna Wanderers (4-2)
Wroclaw Panthers (4-2)
The Mix (3-3)
Angels Dupnitsa (3-4)
Prince Zagreb (2-4)
Odense Giants (1-5)
Soders Softball (0-6)