By Bob Fromer
Saturday 4 July – The adventures of the 2015 GB Men’s Fastpitch Team at the 14th WBSC Men’s World Championships in Saskatoon, Canada came to a close today when they went down to Mexico 7-5 in a consolation playoff semi-final.
The result means that GB will finish 11th at the World Championships after finishing ninth, eighth and ninth in their first three appearances -- but that was when your placing depended only on pool results instead of having to fight through consolation playoffs. Still, GB will finish as the second highest-placed European team, and was the last European team still standing in today's play.
Mexico went on to lose 4-3 to the USA in the consolation final and will finish tenth while the USA will finish ninth.
GB Head Coach Norman Ames decided to start Rich Haldane, back from a one-game suspension after the brawl with Argentina on Thursday, against the Mexicans and save Kyle Linton for the possible consolation final. But the move backfired as Mexico rocked Haldane for four runs on five hits in the top of the first inning, on two-run homers by Ruben Delgadillo and Alan Salgado.
After Salgado’s home run, Haldane gave up successive singles to Marco Gonazlez and Jorge Rios, and that brought Norman Ames to the circle and Kyle Linton into the game to get the final out and pitch the remaining 6.1 innings of the contest.
Quick comeback
Going behind by four quick runs can be daunting, but GB wasn’t fazed and came right back in the bottom of the first inning against Mexican starter Eduardo Escobedo.
With one out, Kevin Stockford singled to left, Rich Haldane walked, James Darby singled to score Stockford, and Kenny Pregnell slashed a double to right centre field to drive home Haldane and Darby. GB might have tied the score then and there when Darrin Newson smashed the first pitch he saw on a line to centre field, but Marco Gonzalez made a diving catch and Nopera Stockford grounded out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the second inning, GB took the lead and drove Eduardo Escobedo out of the game.
David Hutton singled to open the inning and advanced to second on a balk as Ben Easdown struck out swinging. Ryan Martin followed with another single, Hutton stopping at third, and that was all for Escobedo. Samuel Vilalvazo, who was to pitch the rest of the game, came on and was promptly greeted by Kevin Stockford’s single and Rich Haldane’s double, with Hutton and Martin scoring to give GB a 5-4 lead.
But after that Vilalvazo shut down the GB offense, giving up just four scattered singles and a walk over the final five innings, and while GB had baserunners in four of those innings, only in the fourth inning did they have more than one. Ryan Martin led off the bottom of the fourth with a single and after a Kevin Stockford strike out, reached second after a bloop single from Rich Haldane. But Martin was caught too far off second base and was tagged out, and that could have been the turning point in the game.
Late flurry
Kyle Linton had kept the Mexicans in check in the second, third and fourth innings, though the tying run was averted in the fourth when Ismael Pena was tagged out by Kevin Stockford on an attempted steal of home. But the Mexicans broke through in the top of the fifth, when a walk and a single put runners on first and third and Ruben Delgadillo scored the tying run as GB was executing a 6-3 double play.
In the top of the sixth, Mexico took the lead, 6-5, on a double by Jorge Rios, a wild pitch and a single by Rene Cardona.
And Mexico added an insurance run in the top of the seventh on a walk, a sacrifice bunt and a single by pinch-hitter Alex Garcia.
James Darby singled for GB with one out in the bottom of the seventh to bring the tying run to the plate with two power hitters coming up. But Kenny Pregnell flied out to left and Darrin Newson grounded out to third, and GB had come to the end of the road.
GB out-hit the Mexicans 11-10 in the game, and the top four batters in the GB line-up – Ryan Martin, Kevin Stockford, Rich Haldane and James Darby – all had two hits each. But Mexico made their hits pay towards the end of the game and GB didn’t, and the GB Men will probably come away from this tournament feeling they have under-achieved.
Achievement
However, Team Manager Steve Fullan wouldn't agree: "In the end, the GB Men finished 11th, but we were the second-best European team here. This is a great achievement, especially since the team only got together two weeks ago and certainly has had nowhere near the preparation other teams have. The Netherlands spent months, especially during the winter, doing intensive training as a team but ended up winless.
"The GB Men also were down to 12 players," Steve added, "as one player was injured two weeks before the tournament started, Morgan Ottridge had to leave early for personal reasons after the Canada game, and the team was missing a solid offensive threat at the plate in Luke Peters after he was injured in the brawl with Argentina two nights before. So all in all, this was a great achievement for the team and it all boils down to the individual skills each player has and the ability of coaches such as Norman Ames and Erik Vrugr, plus Christine Jacka and the other staff and volunteers who have helped the players get prepared."