By Bob Fromer
Thursday 2 July – Going into Wednesday’s games at the 14th WBSC Men’s Fastpitch World Championships in Saskatoon, Canada, the GB Men’s Team had two chances left for another win that could take them to the playoffs. Now they are down to one.
Any idea that GB might pick up that win against Pool A leaders Canada, the only undefeated team left in the tournament, were crushed pretty quickly when the Canadians scored six runs in the bottom of the first inning off GB starter Rich Haldane.
Three errors kept the inning going for Canada, but there was also a two-run home run by Jeff Ellsworth and a two-run double by Brandon Horn, along with two other singles and a walk.
GB replied immediately with a run in the top of the second inning on a single by James Darby and a triple by Kenny Pregnell, who is leading the team in RBIs. But Canadian pitcher Devon McCullough shut down the threat and Canada scored four more times in the bottom of the second inning against Rich Haldane and reliever Kyle Linton.
There was one more Canadian run in the bottom of the third inning on three straight walks and a sacrifice fly, and after all three GB hitters went down swinging in the top of the fourth, the game was suddenly over.
Pool A
Here are the round-robin standings in Pool A with six days played and one day left to go:
Canada (6-0)
Czech Republic (5-1)
New Zealand (4-2)
Argentina (4-2)
Great Britain (3-3)
Guatemala (1-5)
Philippines (1-5)
Indonesia (0-6) (withdrawn from the tournament)
Today, GB plays Argentina, New Zealand plays the Czech Republic and the other two games (Canada against the Philippines and Guatemala’s forfeit from Indonesia, who withdrew from the tournament) don’t really matter.
There are two possibilities for GB, but both require a win against Argentina, who have already lost to New Zealand and to the surprising Czech Republic. Without that, GB will be consigned to the consolation playoffs that are now built into softball World Championships to determine final placings (before 2013, if you failed to make the playoffs, you were done with three days of the tournament still to go).
The best case scenario is that GB beats Argentina and New Zealand beats the Czechs, which means GB will finish fourth and grab the final playoff spot at the expense of Argentina.
If GB beats Argentina but the Czechs beat New Zealand, there will then be a three-way tie with New Zealand, Argentina and GB all on 4-3 records and 1-1 against each other. The first tiebreaker is then runs conceded in games among those three teams, and so far, GB has conceded nine runs (to New Zealand), New Zealand has conceded four runs (one to GB and three to Argentina) and Argentina has conceded two runs (to New Zealand).
So GB will need to take care of business against Argentina (their game starts at 10.00 am Canadian time, 5.00 pm in the UK), and then cheer on the Kiwis, whose game against the Czechs begins at 12.30 pm in Saskatoon.
Pool B
Here are the standings in Pool B with one round of games left to go:
Dominican Republic (5-1)
Australia (5-1)
Venezuela (5-1)
USA (3-3)
Japan (3-3)
Denmark (2-4)
Mexico (1-5)
Netherlands (0-6)
Japan has to have the inside track on that fourth playoff place, because their game today is against the winless Netherlands, while the USA has to play Denmark. Even if both teams win, Japan’s 5-4 victory over the USA last Sunday will give them the playoff spot.
Scores
Here are all the scores so far as the teams head into the final day of pool play:
WEDNESDAY POOL A
New Zealand 9, Guatemala 1
Czech Republic 7, Indonesia 0 (forfeit)
Canada 11, GB 1
Argentina 7, Philippines 0
WEDNESDAY POOL B
Venezuela 5, Denmark 4
Dominican Republic 8, Netherlands 3
Australia 8, USA 0
Japan 11, Mexico 4
TUESDAY POOL A
GB 10, Philippines 2
New Zealand 7, Indonesia 0 (forfeit)
Czech Republic 6, Guatemala 5
Canada 7, Argentina 5
TUESDAY POOL B
Mexico 12, Netherlands 0
Australia 8, Denmark 2
Dominican Republic 4, Japan 1
Venezuela 3, USA 2
MONDAY POOL A
Czech Republic 4, Argentina 2
Canada 7, Indonesia 0 (forfeit)
Great Britain 4, Guatemala 0
New Zealand 9, Philippines 2
MONDAY POOL B
USA 4, Netherlands 1
Mexico 6, Denmark 2
Dominican Republic 5, Australia 3
Venezuela 3, Japan 0
SUNDAY POOL A
Guatemala 4, Philippines 0
Czech Republic 4, GB 2
Argentina 7, Indonesia 0 (forfeit)
Canada 2, New Zealand 1
SUNDAY POOL B
Denmark 2, Netherlands 0
Dominican Republic 4, Mexico 3
Japan 5, USA 4
Australia 5, Venezuela 1
SATURDAY POOL A
Philippines 7, Indonesia 0 (forfeit)
Argentina 7, Guatemala 0
Canada 10, Czech Republic 2
New Zealand 9, GB 1
SATURDAY POOL B
USA 6, Dominican Republic 4
Japan 5, Denmark 2
Australia 8, Netherlands 0
Venezuela 6, Mexico 1
FRIDAY POOL A
Czech Republic 12, Philippines 5
GB 7, Indonesia 0 (forfeit)
Canada 6, Guatemala 0
Argentina 3, New Zealand 2
FRIDAY POOL B
Dominican Republic 8, Denmark 1
Venezuela 11, Netherlands 1
Australia 1, Japan 0
USA 7, Mexico 0