Two British women’s fastpitch club teams will head to different destinations in Europe this weekend of to compete in European Women’s Cup competitions that will run from 20-25 August.
The Mix, the team that won the Great Britain Fastpitch League (GBFL) in 2017, will be playing in the European Women’s Cup in La Loggia, Italy, while the London Angels, who were runners-up to The Mix in 2017 but won the GBFL this year, will compete in the European Women’s Cup-Winners’ Cup in Capelle a.d. IJsell in the Netherlands.
European Women’s Cup
In the European Women’s Cup, The Mix will be part of a nine-team tournament that includes clubs from eight European countries – Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Great Britain, Italy, Poland, Slovakia and Spain – and also a guest Academy team from New Zealand.
The Mix will be in Pool B for the initial round-robin along with Fenix Valencia from Spain, Witches Linz from Austria, and the ISA Team from New Zealand.
Pool A will consist of Amager Vikings from Denmark, Hrabiny Wroclaw from Poland, the hosts La Loggia from Italy, Princ Zagreb from Croatia and the Trnava Panthers from Slovakia.
The top three teams from each first-round group will go forward to Championship playoffs, and The Mix will start the tournament on Monday 20 August with a game against Fenix Valencia at 11.15 am local time. You can see the full schedule and follow all the results here: http://competition.europeansoftball.org/2018/loggia/schedule.php.
The Mix will take the following players to the tournament:
Megan Beard
Saskia Davies
Silvia Garzon
Katie Jessop
Holly Newell
Hannah Pitman
Chelsie Robison
Gabriella Sassoli
Louisa Scott
Alana Snow
Ysa Urquiaga
Sian Wigington
The coaching staff will be:
Head Coach: Robbie Robison
Player/Coaches: Chelsie Robison and Sian Wigington
Team Manager: Michaela Wigington
Sian Wigington and Chelsie Robison, who jointly captain the team and organised the trip, recently wrote: “Organising this tour has most definitely been a challenge for the pair of us. As newbies to both coaching and organising tours, we have been faced with some hurdles that we feel we have now overcome and we’re ready to play! We have selected a team that includes The Mix players from the GBFL and have also recruited a few overseas players within the GB programme to help out! We feel we are a strong team and are determined to do well in this competition.
“Regardless of the outcome, “Sian and Chelsie added, “we chose to participate in this tournament to give The Mix as a British club, and the players involved, more international exposure. We hope to have a fun week and hopefully come back having played our best game!”
European Women’s Cup-Winners’ Cup
Twelve teams have entered this competition, including some unusually strong teams, and the London Angels will start out in Pool A for the initial round-robin along with the Dutch club Haarlem Sparks, Joudrs from the Czech Republic, Wesseling Vermin from Germany, BCF Paris from France and the host club Eurostars from the Netherlands.
Pool B consists of Royal Grays from Belgium, Bollate from Italy, Atletico de San Sebastian from Spain, Eagles from Switzerland, Kalita from Russia and a guest team Titans from Botswana.
The top three teams from each first-round group will go forward to Championship playoffs, and the Angels will start the tournament on Monday 20 August with a game against Haarlem Sparks at 2.00 pm local time.
You can see the full schedule and follow all the results here: http://competition.europeansoftball.org/2018/capelle/schedule.php.
The Angels, who won the European Women’s Cup in 2013, will take a team to the tournament that includes a number of guest players:
Leontien Bosch
Simon Cellar
Nadine Clark
Griet de Schrijvere
Sterre den Duijn
Cheska Ham
Tara Henry
Nathalie Hosten
Roos-Marijn Kramer
Sandy Lauwers
Wendy Macias
Nadya Pavlova
Judith van den Berg-Frijters
Simone Zurschmitten
The staff will consist of Evert Versloot, who currently coaches the Dutch league team Roef 2; Robin Stoevelaar, Head Coach of the second team at Olympia Haarlem (where Stan Doney coaches the first team) and Vicky Vanacker, who is a coach with the Belgian team Brasschaat Braves.
Long-time Angels player Simone Zurschmitten said, “Given the highly competitive nature of this European Cup-Winners’ Cup, we will give our utmost to rank within the eight best teams, and if possible within the six best teams.”