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By Ian Tomlin
GB Junior Men's Team Manager
Stenlose, Denmark: 8 July – It was a tough start for the GB Junior (Under-19) Men's Fastpitch Team this afternoon at the European Junior Men's Championships in Stenlose, Denmark. GB opened against the tournament favourites the Czech Republic and came out on the wrong end of a 16-1 mercy rule defeat.
The newly-formed GB Team was not expected to win this opening game, but had hoped to fare better on a beautiful sunny day at the fantastic facilities of the Bulls Softball Club in Stenlose.
Nervous errors
The Czechs scored four times in the top of the first inning, all of which was down to fielding errors. However, some good fielding by Jack Broddle at third base helped limit the damage.
When GB stepped up to bat in the bottom of the first, the first three batters were quickly despatched by a very competent Czech pitcher.
In the second inning, the Czechs built up a healthy lead, scoring eight runs. Again, some nervous GB fielding helped the Czechs' cause.
A run scored
GB’s second at-bat proved to be much better. A lead-off walk to Carl Sharpe got things started and a well-executed bunt by Jack Broddle led to a wild throw to first, allowing Carl Sharpe to score the one and only GB run.
The Czechs scored four more in the third inning, however, before some good outfield catches by Damon Brown in centre field closed things out.
GB was now facing an uphill battle and needed to score runs to avoid a mercy-rule defeat after three innings.
The final three GB batters, George Blaskett, Amit Aswani and Matt Tomlin, started to find the ball, but some good fielding by the defending champions finished off the game after just three innings.
GB line-up
The GB line-up for the game was:
Matt Tomlin (2B)
Callum Church (1B)
Ben Easdown (C)
Carl Sharpe (P)
Jack Broddle (3B)
Damon Brown (CF)
Iuean Gale (LF)
George Blaskett (SS)
Amit Aswani (RF)
Upcoming games
The GB schedule for the rest of the week, as they play out a double round-robin, is as follows:
Tuesday 9 July
09.00: Israel v GB
16.30: Croatia v GB
Wednesday 10 July
11.30: GB v Denmark
16.30: Czech Repubic v GB
Thursday 11 July
11.30: GB v Israel
16.30: GB v Croatia
Friday 12 July
09:00: Denmark v GB
Playoffs will begin Friday afternoon, and GB will have to finish no lower than fourth in the round-robin (out of five teams) in order to take part.