By Frank Juzenas
Brampton, Ontario, Canada: 3 July - The GB Junior (Under-19) Women's team heads into the final day of group play at the ISF Junior World Championships still with a chance for a playoff spot following a narrow 3-2 victory over the Czech Republic.
The win over the Czech Republic in their penultimate round-robin game on Wednesday afternoon has given GB a 3-3 record with a meeting scheduled for Thursday afternoon against Korea.
New Zealand, Puerto Rico and GB could all potentially finish with 4-3 records and the victory left a number of the GB parents trying to figure out the possible scenarios for a playoff position. However, Head Coach Rachael Watkeys said she was not worried about the statistics. "I just want to put our best side out there and try to win the game," Rachel said of the upcoming contest with Korea.
GB v Czech Republic
It was a solid performance from a GB side which has won two of its last three games at the tournament.
Emma Bridge, an Australian native, led the way both on the mound and at the plate. Emma picked up her second complete-game win of the tournament, allowing six hits with three strikeouts and no walks. She was also 3-3 at the plate, driving in two of the GB runs. "It has been a while since I've had a game like this," a happy Emma said following the contest.
There were also a pair of hits from catcher Nicole Ratel, who had her best game of the tournament offensively. Nicole drove in the other run, had two hits and scored the other two runs.
The middle of the batting order provided the production for GB with Nicole hitting fourth, Emma Bridge fifth and Keeli Waugh, batting sixth, smacking a double.
"This is what we expect from them," said Rachel Watkeys of the strength from the middle. Leadoff hitter Talia Moore also had a hit as did Chloe Wigington, who bats seventh.
Fresh Start
This was the first day that Great Britain has not been on the field in the morning for either a practice or game since arriving in Canada and the first day of the tournament with just one game.
The players agreed the rest was helpful for them, especially coming off of a 6-1 loss to Puerto Rico in the team's previous contest on Tuesday afternoon. "We were able to sleep in and relax today," said Nicole Ratel.
Head Coach Rachel Watkeys said the humid conditions were difficult, as most of the players come from climates where they aren't used to that type of weather. Nicole Ratel said, despite her strong game, she found it very hot. Nicole is the only native-born Canadian on the team and lives in British Columbia on Canada's West Coast, which does not have the humid conditions that the central part of the country can experience.
Early lead
Great Britain took a 2-0 first-inning lead. Tahli Moore drew a lead-off walk before, with two outs, Nicole Ratel drove her home with a single and Emma Bridge followed with a double to score Nicole.
The team added to the lead in the third inning when Nicole Ratel belted a triple and Emma Bridge brought her in again with a single.
The game remained that way until the sixth, when the Czechs scored a pair of runs. Nikol Tabackkova hit a double to drive in the runs but was thrown out trying to go to third to end the inning.
The biggest concern for Rachel Watkeys was the number of base runners GB left on, as they stranded nine in the contest. However, this was probably the team's best overall game of the tournament and Rachel said it was the first time that Great Britain had beaten the Czech Republic in several years. "It was the battle of Europe and we won it," said Rachel.
Emma Bridge was extremely happy with the way the team are playing. "The girls are getting hits and making plays in the field," she said.
The players had their Wednesday evening off because their scheduled opponent Venezuela had pulled out of the Championships, giving each team in Section A a forfeit victory.
Potential Tie-Breaker
While Great Britain was enjoying some down time, Korea was losing to New Zealand 7-0. That leaves New Zealand third in Section A at 4-1 but with games to come on the final day against both the United States and Canada. Korea is 2-3 and also plays twice on Thursday, meeting the United States in the morning before the afternoon game with Great Britain.
Puerto Rico is in fourth place with a 4-3 record and has completed play.
The GB players remain confident that they can get a win over Korea. "From what I've heard we have the components," said Nicole Ratel.
A GB victory would, in all likelihood, leave Puerto Rico, Great Britain and New Zealand all tied at 4-3, unless New Zealand can cause an upset against one of the North American nations, and runs against would have to be used as a tie-breaker.
GB hopes to have third baseman Amanda Marshall back in the line-up on Thursday. Amanda took a ball to the face on Tuesday during the 6-5 victory over New Zealand and was taken to hospital for tests on Tuesday afternoon and has sat out the last two games. While Amanda wanted to play against the Czechs, Rachel Watkeys decided to keep her out as a precaution.