England won the Trophy competition at the 16th Softball World Series Tournament on the weekend of 13-14 September, played at the venue formerly known as the British Airways Concorde Club, holding off the USA in a tense and close final by a score of 9-8.
It was England's first win since 2009, and their third overall, after they won the first World Series Tournament played in 1999. The USA is still sitting on two wins, with the last one coming in 2005, though they have been beaten finalists in each of the past two years. For a full report on a thrilling final, see a report from Team USA captain Duncan Waugh later in this story.
Plate results
Africa, who have won the tournament four times, but not since 2004, won the Plate competition this year, defeating Scotland in the Plate final by a decisive 13-1. The Africans had one big inning in the final, and the Scots were unable to respond.
It was Africa's second win over Scotland, as they had won by a similar margin, 20-7, in the 1v2 game in the Plate Page Playoff. Scotland won their way back to the final by defeating Double-D from Holland in a close game, 8-6, after Double-D had eliminated Munster in the Plate Page Playoff 3v4 game.
Cup results
Wales, who finished last in the Plate standings in 2013, won the Cup competition this year, defeating Guernsey by 14-8 in the Cup final. It was Guernsey's first appearance at the tournament for a number of years.
Guernsey had beaten Wales by a score of 9-7 in the Cup Page Playoff 1v2 game, but Wales fought their way back to the final by defeating Geneva by a score of 10-4. Geneva had edged out Latin America by 14-13 in the Cup Page Playoff 3v4 game.
Irish improvement
Perhaps the biggest gain in the World Series standings was recorded by Ireland, who won the Cup competition last year, which means they finished in 13th place overall. This time they made it to the Trophy playoffs and finished first in their round-robin group on Saturday – the only team to win every game during the round-robin. The Irish fell away on Sunday and finished last in the Trophy section (thus finishng sixth overall), but the performance was still their best at the World Series for some time.
The tournament was distinguished by a large number of close games, with around a third of all games played finishing with a deficit of three runs or fewer. There were a number of tied games between the top teams, and the second-stage round robins on Sunday were tight affairs, with some groups decided on runs conceded.
Round-robin results
The round-robin on Saturday was played in three groups of six teams each, with the top two teams going to the Trophy competition, the middle two teams to the Plate competition and the bottom two teams to the Cup competition on Sunday.
Here is how the round-robin groups finished:
GROUP A
Anzacs
GB Masters
Munster
Scotland
Wales
Guernsey
GROUP B
Ireland
GB Development
Orcas
Africa
Japan
Latin America
GROUP C
England
USA
Canada
Double-D
The Cage
Geneva
The Final
As luck would have it, the two teams that wound up in the Trophy final, the USA and England, had started out in the same round-robin group, and so the final was the third time they had met during the weekend. And over those three meetings, there was almost nothing between the two teams. Their group game on Saturday was a 9-9 tie, and when they met in the 1v2 game in the Trophy Page Playoffs on Sunday, the USA won by 8-7.
That result meant that England had to fight their way back to the final, which they did by beating the GB Masters, 12-5. The GB Masters had proved that experience can sometimes be better than youth by defeating and eliminating last year's World Series finalists, the GB Development Team, in the Trophy Page Playoff 3v4 game.
So the stage was set for a pulsating final, with the story taken up by USA captain Duncan Waugh:
There seemed to be a karmatic poetry hovering over the Trophy final between Team USA and England, both in terms of past history and the weekend itself.
With 2013’s controversial proactive schedule change in the face of inclement weather, USA and England never got a chance to play each other in the 3v4 Page Playoff game on the Sunday, and thus England lost their chance of making the finals. Any withdrawal symptoms they might have had from not playing each other in 2013 were certainly assuaged by their schedule in 2014, with fate having paired them together in Group C and then meeting again in the 1v2 Page Playoff game, just a few hours prior to the final.
After their first two meetings on the weekend, one thing was clear: there was virtually nothing separating the two teams. Their game on Saturday ended in a 9-9 draw (with England failing to score after loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the seventh inning), and the 1v2 Page Playoff game finished with an 8-7 walk-off victory for the Americans. Would one of these teams manage to break out and pull ahead of the other, or would their third meeting in two days be just as cagey and tight as the other two?
Not if England had anything to say about it.
With the crowd beginning to fill up around the clubhouse, England came out in the Trophy final with their bats ablaze. Seven of their first eight batters got base hits off pitcher Duncan Waugh (the only out in that sequence was a sacrifice fly), and England put up four runs in the top of the first inning. The damage could have been much worse had it not been for a rare 1-2-5 double play after a comebacker to the mound to end the frame.
Not intimidated by the offensive onslaught, however, Team USA trumped England's effort by putting up a six-spot on the scoreboard. Paul Ybarra provided a big momentum swing by hitting a three-run blast to left centre field, scoring Duncan Waugh and Chiya Louie. Three more runs would come in and the Americans would bat around their line-up in the inning.
After that dynamic first inning (6-4 to USA), it seemed that the two teams would engage in a punch and counter-punch slugfest. However, it was the gloves and pitching that dictated the next three frames, with both pitchers facing 11 batters or less from the second through the fourth innings. Some defensive highlights included a clutch 5-4-3 double play turned after a tidy pick-up from England’s Lucy Binding to finish the second inning, a great scoop at first base by USA’s Tara Feeney on a throw from shortstop, an inning-ending comebacker to pitcher Duncan Waugh from Steve Hazard, and a huge leaping catch from England left fielder Ché Porteous to finish the fourth.
With both teams making substitutions in the fifth inning, England finally managed to break the scoring drought by putting three runs up against USA’s new pitcher Kevin Quincey, taking the lead for the first time since the top of the first inning. Desperate to respond, Team USA managed to put a run on the board in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI single from shortstop Adam Mullins, making it 7-7 with two innings to play.
It was clear that this game would come right down to the wire, just like their previous two encounters.
With the bottom of the order due up in the sixth inning for each team, both defenses managed to shut out their opposition with relative ease. For England, Michael Lee grounded out to Chiya Louie at third base, Felicity West smacked a single to left, but then Dan Spinks and Lucy Binding stranded the baserunner by flying out to Fleeta Seigel and Bryan Tavares respectively. Similarly, the Americans couldn’t get the ball on the ground, as Sylvie Varadi, Fleeta Seigel and Raquel Tacub flew out.
The denouement
This left everything to play for in the seventh and final inning. This was exactly the same situation as in their Group C fixture on Saturday, except this time Team USA had the final at-bat.
The top half of the inning started excellently for the Americans, as #3 hitter Steve Hazard fouled out to deep left field and first base player Emily Clifford grounded out to shortstop. Next up was Steven Lovell from the Blitz, and with the pressure mounting he slapped a vital single through the infield. The next batter was H2O’s Kirstie Leach, who drove a perfectly-placed shot down the right field line, just under the reach of a diving Jackie Strey, for a huge RBI triple. Sean Spinks then singled in Kirstie to give England a 9-7 lead going to the bottom of the seventh.
Team USA were poised for the comeback, with the top of their line-up due to bat. Duncan Waugh re-entered the game to bat for Kevin Quincey, and hit a sharp line drive up the middle, but England pitcher Dan Spinks impressively snagged it for the first out. Chiya Louie then doubled (her fourth hit of the game) and Paul Ybarra singled her home, cutting England's lead to 9-8. This brought Michelle DeCarlo (from the American Air Force base in Mildenhall) to the plate. She zipped a line drive towards first base which just eluded Emily Clifford’s glove, putting USA runners on first and second, still with just one out. This brought the uber-consistent Adam Mullins to bat. Adam had made a weekend of zipping line drives to all fields, and now, with the tying run on second and the winning run on first, he scorched a line drive right back at Dan Spinks, just as Duncan Waugh had done. Dan, perhaps the best fielding pitcher British softball has ever seen, caught the ball handily, nearly doubling off Michelle DeCarlo on first in the process!
This brought Jackie Strey to the plate, who had hit the huge triple in the seventh inning of the 1v2 Page Playoff page game that essentially gave Team USA the win. This time, she hit a ground ball to the right side of the infield that Dan Spinks fielded with a diving stop. The throw to first base was in time, and England had held on become the 2014 World Series champions.
In the end, England and USA had scored 25 runs apiece in their three games, but England pulled out the clutch result when it counted. The MVP’s for the game were both H2O players, as the awards deservedly went to Paul Ybarra (3-for-4, two singles, one HR, four RBIs, ) and Kirstie Leach (2-for-3, one single, one triple, two RBIs).
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Results
Final Trophy Standings
1 -- England
2 – USA
3 – GB Masters
4 – GB Development
5 -- Anzacs
6 – Ireland
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Final Plate Standings
7 – Africa
8 – Scotland
9 – Double-D (Holland)
10 – Munster (Ireland)
11 – Orcas (Switzerland)
12 – Canada
Final Cup Standings
13 – Wales
14 – Guernsey
15 – Geneva (Switzerland)
16 – Latin America
17 – Japan/Asia
18 – The Cage (Belgium)
World Series Winners
1999 – England
2000 – Africa
2001 – Africa
2002 – USA
2003 – Africa
2004 – Africa
2005 – USA
2006 – Rest of the World
2007 – Anzacs
2008 – Anzacs
2009 – England
2010 - Lakenheath Eagles
2011 – Lakenheath Eagles
2012 – Anzacs
2013 – Anzacs
2014 – England
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Photos by Phil Kielthy