Havlickuv Brod, Czech Republic -- For the GB Men's Fastpitch Team, their chance of qualifying for the World Championships next year in Canada -- as well as advancing farther in the European Championships playing out now in the Czech Republic -- depends on beating the Netherlands in the 3v4 Page Playoff game at 5.00 pm Czech time today (Friday).
On Thursday afternoon, GB defeated Israel 7-0 on the mercy rule after six innings, then blew a 4-3 lead in the evening game when Petr Vacha hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to give the defending European Champions Czech Republic a 5-4 win. So GB has wound up the round-robin phase of the tournament with a 3-3 record and fourth place in the standings, while the Dutch, also at 3-3, came third by virtue of their head-to-head win against GB on Wednesday.
Against the three other top teams in this tournament, GB has now lost by only a single run to the Czechs and Danes and went to extra innings against the Dutch. So Britain is clearly playing on the same level as the best men's fastpitch teams in Europe. But unless they can somehow conjure a victory tomorrow instead of a narrow loss, GB's tournament will be over, along with their chance of playing in a fourth straight World Championship tournament in Canada next summer.
Thursday summary
Pitcher James Darby has been Great Britain´s bread and butter for the past few years, and Thursday afternoon´s game against Israel was no exception. GB came out on top with a 7-0 win, with James throwing all six innings and striking out 13.
In the second game of the day, James Darby took to the circle once again to face the Czech Republic in a match which had no bearing on the final group standings. Both teams put on a fine display of softball, with the host team coming out on top 5-4.
So the Czechs finished first in the group standings and will face Denmark in the 1v2 Page Playoff game this evening, preceded by Team GB's all-important battle with the Netherlands to see who takes the final qualification spot from Europe for the 2015 World Championships.
GB v Israel
In GB's first game on Thursday, the team was led offensively by Darrin Newson, who had two hits, and Kenny Pregnell, with a double and three RBIs. The Israelis held off the British bats for a while, and the game was scoreless after three innings, but GB exploded for five runs in the fourth inning on four walks and one hit, the Kenny Pregnell double.
James Darby pitched six shutout innings, allowing only two hits and two bases on balls to go with his 13 strikeouts. With another game to play in the evening, GB wanted to finish this game early and, with the score 6-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning, had the bases loaded with one out, needing only one more run to end it on the mercy rule. Israel made a pitching change, brought the infield in, and got Steven Rice to hit a ground ball to first base. Alberto Scioscia cut down the run at the plate, and Darrin Newson´s slide took out the legs of catcher Gil Siegel. After a discussion by the umpires, interference was called and Rice was called out at first, ending the inning.
Undaunted, GB went back to work in the bottom of the sixth, finally getting the mercy-rule winner when Kenny Pregnell scored all the way from first on a hit by Kevin Stockford and a throwing error.
GB v Czech Republic
GB got off to a quick start in the top of the first inning against the defending European champions. Kenny Pregnell was hit by a pitch and Kevin Stockford doubled just inside the right field line. James Darby then drove in the first two runs of the game with a double of his own.
In the bottom of the first inning, James struck out the first three Czech batters, but Patrik Kolkus reached first base on a dropped third strike. This turned out to be costly as the next batter, Vaclav Svoboda, hit two-run home run to tie the score. James then struck out the next batter to record four strikeouts in the inning.
Team GB took a 3-2 lead in the second inning when Steven Rice reached base safely on an infield single, advanced to second on a fielder's choice and then on to third base when Josh Peat beat out an infield hit up the middle. On the next play Josh attempted to steal second and when the catcher’s throw hit him and went into centre field, Steven came in to score.
In the bottom of the second inning, the Czechs replied with a run of their own on a walk, a single and a sacrifice fly to Josh Peat in centre field.
Nothing happened in the third inning for either team but in the top of the fourth, Michael Lee hit a one-out double into the left field corner. Ben Easdown pinch-ran for him and scored on a fielding error, giving GB had a 4-3 lead.
The Czechs had been held to only three hits over the first four innings, but they managed another key hit in the bottom of the fifth, a two-run home run by Petr Vacha after a previous batter had been hit by a pitch. That made the score 5-4 in favour of the Czechs and that's how things stayed.
In the end, James Darby struck out eight Czech batters and limited the Czechs to four hits – but they included two two-run homers.
"I think both teams did great and this is how softball should be," said GB Coach Norm Ames. "I’m very proud of my guys, how they performed today. I think we were unlucky the last couple of days and this is how we would like to be and how we are."
As for Britain´s game against Holland today, with the winner earning a berth in next year´s World Championships, Norman said: "Holland has got a good squad, definitely a good batting line-up. It will be a great game tomorrow and I´m just glad that all of my players are on the top of their game right now."
Results
Full results from the round-robin phase of the European Championships are:
MONDAY
Denmark 5, Israel 3
Czech Republic 17, Croatia 0
Denmark 9, Belgium 0
GB 8, Croatia 3
Netherlands 13, Israel 1
Czech Republic 10, Belgium 0
TUESDAY
Netherlands 16, Croatia 2
Czech Republic 22, Israel 1
GB 5, Belgium 0
Israel 3, Croatia 2
Denmark 5, GB 4
Czech Republic 10, Netherlands 0
WEDNESDAY
Belgium 7, Croatia 5
Netherlands 8, GB 4
Belgium 6, Israel 4
Czech Republic 9, Denmark 5
THURSDAY
Netherlands 10, Belgium 3
Denmark 17, Croatia 0
GB 7, Israel 0
Denmark 10, Netherlands 3
Czech Republic 5, GB 4
Standings
Final round-robin standings are:
Czech Republic (6-0)
Denmark (5-1)
Netherlands (3-3)
Great Britain (3-3)
Belgium (2-4)
Israel (1-5)
Croatia (0-6)
