by Steve Fullan
Havlickuv Brod, Czech Republic – After a relatively easy start to the European Championships against Croatia on Monday, the GB Men faced a couple of tricky games on Tuesday as they played both Belgium and 2010 European Champions Denmark.
GB ended up splitting the games, winning the first against Belgium 5-0 on a complete game no-hitter by pitcher Kyle Linton, who struck out 17 of the 22 Belgian batters he faced. Offensively, the team was led by Morgan Ottridge with two hits plus a sacrifice bunt, while GB Under-19 graduate Ben Easdown had two key RBIs.
In the evening match, however, Team GB lost a tough battle to Denmark by a score of 5-4. The Danes won the game by posting four runs in the fifth inning, including a three-run home run by Daniel Julenon.
With four teams – the Czech Republic, Denmark, GB and the Netherlands – fighting for the three qualification places for next year's World Championships in Canada, the loss to Denmark has slightly narrowed GB's margin for error as the tournament progresses.
GB v Belgium
The game against Belgium was tight to begin with, as GB was unable to score any runs in the first three innings despite singles from Morgan Ottridge, Kevin Stockford and Darrin Newson and a double by Kenny Pregnell. The lack of offense wasn't a concern because Kyle Linton was pitching a gem, striking out the first nine batters he faced. The GB pitcher was clocked at 123 km/h.
GB's offense came to life in the top of the fourth inning as Ryan Martin led off with a double. Kenny Pregnell reached base on an error by the Belgian shortstop and Kyle Linton walked. Ben Easdown, the former GB Under-19 player from Chatham, Kent, then drove a single up the middle to bring in two runs and advance Kyle Linton to second.
The rally stopped there, as the Belgian left fielder made a great catch on a line drive into the gap by Darrin Newson and pinch-runner Curt Taylor was picked off second base. But still, GB had a 2-0 lead and with the way Kyle Linton was pitching, it looked like that would be enough.
Kyle's bid for a 21-strikeout game ended when the first Belgian batter in the fourth inning grounded back to him for the first out, but he followed this up with two more Ks.
In the top of the fifth inning, GB added on. Morgan Ottridge led off with a single but was out at second on a Kevin Stockford fielder's choice. Luke Peters then doubled to move Kevin to third and Ryan Martin was hit by a pitch to load the bases. All three scored on wild pitches during the next few at-bats and GB had a 5-0 lead.
Going into the bottom of the fifth inning, Kyle Linton still had a perfect game. But after striking out the first batter he ended up walking the next Belgian hitter.
Team GB couldn't manufacture any more runs over the last two innings but Kyle proceeded to strike out four of the next six batters to close out his no-hitter, with a total of 17 strikeouts.
"It was his first time pitching for GB and that was a great no-hitter," said a very pleased Coach Norm Ames afterwards. "His speed was good, his movement was good on the ball and he did an awesome job."
"I tried to keep it out of my mind but I started thinking about it in the sixth inning," said Kyle Linton, who gave lot of credit to his teammates for supporting him defensively. "The guys really rallied behind me whenever there was anything hit out there."
GB v Denmark
The evening game on Tuesday was pivotal for both teams, as the winner would be looking good for a place at the 2015 World Championships if they could manage to win one of the remaining games against the tougher teams, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.
James Darby was in the circle for great Britain, opposed by long-time Denmark star Kim Hansen.
GB went up and down in order in the top of the first inning, but the Danes managed a run in the bottom half after the lead-off batter walked and eventually came around to score on two wild pitches and a passed ball.
In the second inning, GB tied the score. Luke Peters singled, advanced to second on a passed ball and scored on a James Darby single.
Darby was the story of the first half of the game, as he didn't allow a Danish hit over the first four innings. Taking in his six innings of work against Croatia on Monday, James had given up only one hit in his first 10 innings of work.
Everything changed in a decisive fifth inning.
Kyle Linton led off with a single in the top of the inning, and after a Ben Easdown strikeout, Ryan Martin hit a triple off the left centre field wall to score pinch runner Gareth Jooste. Kevin Stockford singled a couple of batters later to score Ryan and GB had a 3-1 lead.
James Darby looked to have things under control in the bottom half of the fifth, throwing pitches clocked at 131 km/h. The first two Danes went down – but then the rally began. Two walks and a single by Frederik Terkelsen -- Denmark´s first hit of the game -- produced one run. Then, following a disputed ball-strike ruling, Daniel Julenon hit a laser over the center field fence to score three more and make the score 5-3 Denmark.
GB got one run back in the top of the sixth inning when James Darby hit a solo home run to left centre, but Kim Hansen struck out the side in the seventh to end the game.
Both Kim Hansen and James Darby went the distance. Kim gave up four runs on seven hits, striking out 12 and walking only one, while James gave up five runs on three hits, striking out nine but walking eight.
"It was a very even game," GB Coach Norm Ames said afterwards. "I think it was good softball. Both teams were strong. I just hope we get a better result in our remaining games."
Today (Wednesday), GB will play just one game, at 12.30 pm against the Netherlands, and the result could be critical in the quest for World Championship places.
On Thursday, GB will play Israel at 2.30 pm and the defending champion Czechs at 7.30, before the Page Playoffs begin on Friday.
Results
Full results for the tournament so far 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