By Jodie Rushin
Collecchio, Italy: 11 August -- The Great Britain Cubs Under-13 Girls’ National Team dropped their first two games in the Sport Division at the European 
Massimo Romeo Youth Trophy Tournament to Czech and Israeli teams on Wednesday.
The Cubs opened the tournament on Wednesday morning with a 14-4 loss to Joudrs Praha Orange from the Czech Republic and then lost to the Israel Sabras by a score of 17-5 in the afternoon.
The Sabras are the only team still undefeated in the round-robin portion of the tournament and are made up predominately of USA-based players, who probably play more games in two weeks than our GB Under-13 athletes play in months, so their level of experience was clear.
Jourdrs Praha Orange 14, GB Cubs 4
GB nerves showed in this opening game among our youngest-ever team, and the Czech offense, defense and pitching all proved difficult to handle.
But the Cubs started the game well, with two runs in the top of the first inning.
Clara Fontana led off with a hard-hit ball down the third base line and reached second when the Czech third base player overthrew first base. Amelie Caesar’s sacrifice hit moved Clara to third, and she scored on a wild pitch. Lily Daniels then hit an inside-the-park home run to left field and GB led 2-0.
Megan Rollins started in the circle for the Cubs and managed to sandwich two quick ground ball outs around a walk. But a series of walks and errors followed, and Lily Daniels came in to pitch. She struck out Sara Zemanova to close out the long inning, but the Czechs had tallied five runs and led 5-2.
In the top of the second inning, Sapphire Lyon-Carroll and Clara Fontana were both hit by pitches thrown by Czech starter Emma Horakova. Amelie Caesar’s line drive single to centre field scored Sapphire and after Clara was put out in a rundown between third and home, Amelie later scored on a wild pitch. The Cubs had cut the deficit to 5-4.
But that was as close as they would get.
Joudrs scored a single run in the bottom of the second inning, the Cubs went down in order in the top of the third, and then the Czechs broke the game open with eight runs in their half of the third inning.
The Cubs had done a good job of staying close until that point.
Israel Sabras 17, GB Cubs 5
The Cubs were the home team in this game, and Megan Rollins was again the starting pitcher.
The first Israeli batter reached on an error, and then three hits and four walks followed, after which Lily Daniels took up the pitching.
By the end of the inning, the Israelis had scored nine runs and had baserunners leave early to bring the frame to a close.
However, the Cubs fought back.
Clara Fontana led off with a walk, took second on an illegal pitch and scored on Amelie Caesar’s single to centre field. A sacrifice bunt by Megan Rollins advanced Amelie to second and an infield hit by Lily Daniels put runners on first and third. Amelie later scored on an error and GB had pulled back two runs.
However, the Sabras added three more runs in the top of the second inning and five more in the top of the third to put the game well out of reach, despite a final GB rally in the bottom of the third inning.
Megan Rollins led off with a triple to right field and scored on a throwing error. Lily Daniels and Emma Lanza walked, Lily stole third, and scored on a bunt by Anna Kingston. A final Cubs’ run went up on the board when Emma scored on a wild pitch, but the game ended with Israel ahead by 17-5.
Scores and standings
Scores in the Sport and Future Divisions at the European Massimo Romeo Youth Trophy (EMRYT) Tournament on Wednesday, the opening day of the competition, were:
Sport Division
Israel Sabras 5, Italy One 3 (3 inns)
Joudrs Orange 14, GB Cubs 4 (3 inns)
Israel Sabras 17, GB Cubs 5 (3 inns)
Italy One 20, Joudrs Orange 0 (3 inns)
Futures Division
Joudrs Navy 10, Italy Two 4
Seleccion Navarra 8, Princ Zagreb 5
Joudrs Navy 15, Princ Zagreb 13
Seleccion Navarra 3, Italy Two 0 (4 inns)
Standings after Day 1 were:
Sport Division
Israel Sabras (2-0)
Italy one (1-1)
Joudrs Orange (1-1)
GB Cubs (0-2)
Futures Division
Joudrs Navy (2-0)
Seleccion Navarra (2-0)
Italy Two (0-2)
Princ Zagreb (0-2)
Watch the GB Cubs in action!
GB Cubs’ games on Field 1 on Friday and Saturday will be streamed live via the Collecchio Baseball/Softball YouTube Channel: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCEPyc-tyakxgdHKOng-nHFg. Please subscribe to this channel to watch the GB Cubs on Wednesday and Friday, and to watch medal games on Saturday.
GB Cubs’ games on Field 2 on Thursday are being web-streamed via Score Cam on https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCQ0ziE2bEzV03K9N_0J3H9A. Viewers will need to subscribe to the channel and Score Cam will go live 15 minutes prior to each GB game.