by Bob Fromer
Mlade Buky, Czech Republic -- The forecast rain mostly stayed away and the 2014 European Slowpitch Super Cup got off to a busy start on Tuesday 29 July in Mlade Buky and Trutnov in the Czech Republic, with the two British entries, the Chromies and H2O, mowing down every team that has so far crossed their path.
Twelve teams from seven different countries are taking part, with the tournament running across three venues within about a 10 km radius. The initial round-robin stage consists of two six-team groups playing on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the Chromies in Group A and H2O in Group B. Second-stage Playoff and Consolation round-robins will begin on Thursday.
From the way things went on the first day, don't bet against the two British teams meeting in the Grand Final.
Parade of hits
On Day 1 of the 2014 ESF Slowpitch Super Cup, the Chromies played three games and H2O played two (this pattern will be reversed for Day 2 on Wednesday).
In those five games, the British teams scored a total of 88 runs and conceded only five. Four of the five games finished on the mercy rule, with the only exception being an 11-3 win for Chromies in their opening game against Askoe Linz Bandits from Austria, which we'll come to in a moment.
Most of the games saw the British teams pounding out multiple hits, and multiple extra-base hits, in inning after inning, in a way that most Continental slowpitch teams never seem able to do.
If Team Europe Slowpitch that played in the recent Border Battle Tournament in Canada experienced what it's like to come up against – and get trounced by – genuine professional slowpitch players, the other teams in this competition must be feeling something similar about the British.
In those five games played by Chromies and H2O, the British teams had 95 hits to 23 for their opponents. The British teams had eight home runs, six of which left the ground. The opponents had none.
The scores were:
Chromies 11, Askoe Linz Bandits (Austria) 3
H2O 20, Lisicke (Slovenia) 1*
Chromies 20, Hangarounds (Germany) 0
H2O 20, Rytiri Trutnov (Czech Republic) 0
Chromies 17, Mortsel Skywalker (Belgium) 1
* Lisicke won the last European Slowpitch Cup in 2012, defeating Chromies in the final.
The Chromies
One of three games that got the tournament started at 9.00 am on Tuesday was the Chromies against the Askoe Linz Bandits from Austria on the farthest-flung of the three fields, out in the countryside south-east of Trutnov. This was the closest game a British team had all day, and the only one that didn't end early, with the Chromies winning 11-3.
But there were a couple of reasons for that.
One was that the Askoe Linz Bandits, perennial entries in European Slowpitch Cups, are not a bad team (they finished 2-1 on the day and were fairly easy winners over the Irish entry Kiely's Kegs). But the other reason was that the Chromies showed up for this game – barely – in complete disarray.
The Austrian team arrived at the field at 8.00 am for a proper warm-up, line-up ready for the scorers. Line-ups are meant to be handed in an hour before game time. The Chromies straggled in around 08.40, having got lost trying to find the field. They had no line-up, but Manager Doug Clouston eventually put one together, using 12 of his 13 players, including two extra hitters.
However, it was then discovered that Chromies' shortstop Danny Gunn, who had got in too late for Monday night's Technical Meeting and therefore hadn't presented his passport to prove eligibility, had left the passport in the hotel. Which meant a whole new line-up while Danny went to get it.
So it was no surprise that when the game finally got under way about 15 minutes late, the Chromies went down without scoring in the top of the first inning, and the Bandits came in and scored twice.
But then the Chromies pulled themselves together and dominated the rest of the game, holding the Austrians to just one further run in the sixth inning, by which time Chromies were ahead 11-2.
In the second inning, six out of seven Chromies batters rapped out hits, scoring four runs in the process, and this was followed by two more runs in the top of the fourth inning and five more in the fifth. Ryan Martin had four hits in four at-bats, including two doubles, and Lee Rowe and Jenny Ball had three hits each.
Chromies' other two games, a 20-0 win against the Hangarounds, one of two teams from Germany, and a 17-1 canter against the Mortsel Skywalkers, one of two teams from Belgium, featured an even heavier barrage of hits, and some excellent fielding plays, particularly by Jenny Ball at third base and Danny Gunn at shortstop.
The other German and Belgian teams are reportedly better – but they're in H2O's group and will be encountered on Wednesday.
The Chromies had a monstrous 15-run inning against the Hangarounds (on 12 hits and three German errors) and an 11-run opening inning against Mortel on only six hits – but the Belgians threw in two errors and a bunch of walks. Ryan Martin had two home runs over the two games and Danny Gunn had one.
Chromies will play the other two teams in their group on Wednesday – Kiely's Kegs and the host team, Sparks Mlade Buky – and the fact that the Kegs beat the Sparks 13-12 on Tuesday morning suggests they may be of a similar standard. If the Chromies don't finish top of Group A, it will be a major surprise.
H2O
Although H2O had their own problems finding the “Red Field” on the edge of Trutnov, they generally had an easier day, playing only two games.
If there was a surprise, it was the ease with which H2O disposed of the 2012 European Slowpitch Cup champions Lisicke from Slovenia by a score of 20-1. The game went six innings, and H2O put runs on the board in five of them – four in the first, three in the second, five in the third, three more in the fourth, an inning off, and then five more runs in the top of the sixth.
The Slovenians, without their pitcher, slugger and talisman Ales Mravlje, and missing a couple of other players from their strongest team, simply had nothing to offer on offense, and managed just three hits over six innings against the pitching of Roger Grooms and an errorless H2O defense.
Steve Hazard (who else?) led the offense with four hits, including two doubles and a home run , good for seven RBIs, while Roger Grooms had four singles from the lead-off spot. All 15 players on the Chromies' roster got into the game, but the hits just kept coming – 22 in all.
If Lisicke is going to even think about trying to defend their title, they will have to find a way to score some runs.
H2O's other game was a 20-0 shutout over Rytiri Trutnov, one of the host Czech teams. Again, the Czechs could only muster four singles, this time against the pitching of Brad Gilmour, and when the Czechs got two hits in the first inning and two more in the second, the rallies were snuffed out on both occasions by well-turned infield double plays.
Steve Hazard went three-for-three with another home run and another double and Jeff Swindell had three hits including a home run as an 11-run second inning put the game to bed following a five-run first.
Looking ahead
Whether there will be any tougher games for either Chromies or H2O over these first two days remains to be seen, with the top candidate being the German side UCE Travellers, who finished third in the 2012 event and who H2O will meet on Wednesday.
At this point, however, both teams are looking forward to the inevitable showdown with each other, and if both win their groups, as expected, that will come first thing in the morning on Thursday as the second stage playoff round-robin begins.
Results
Today's results so far (there were late afternoon and evening games which have not yet been reported) were:
GROUP A
Kiely's Kegs 13, Sparks Mlade Buky 12
Chromies 11, Askoe Linz Bandits 3
Kiely's Kegs 26, Mortsel Skywalkers 11
Askoe Linz Bandits 9, Hangarounds 6
Chromies 20, Hangarounds 0
Sparks Mlade Buky 16, Mortsel 4
Askoe Linz Bandits 12, Kiely's Kegs 7
Chromies 17, Mortsel Skywalkers 1
Sparks Mlade Buly 4, Hangarounds 3
GROUP B
Wayne's World 13, Rytiri Trutnov 1
H2O 20, Lisicke 1
UCE Travellers 9, Afterburners 3
Lisicke 15, Wayne's World 5
H2O 20, Rytiri Trutnov 0
UCE Travellers 7, Lisicke 5
Afterburners 8, Rytiri Trutnov 6
The initial round-robin groups will finish on Wednesday, weather permitting, so standings will be shown then.