By Bob Fromer
Plant City, Florida: 24 January – After two days of mainly blow-out games and a lot of indifferent softball, the 2014 ISF Slowpitch World Cup finally had a classic.
The crucial game between the GB Slowpitch Team and USA Ink Daddyz to determine second place in the round-robin phase of the tournament went to extra innings on a bitterly cold evening at the ISF complex, as first GB and then the Americans came from behind to force a tiebreak inning that turned into a heart-breaking ending for Britain.
The winning run was scored by the Ink Daddyz with two out and two runners on in the bottom of the eighth inning when Jeff Borgen's fly ball into short right centre field just eluded a desperate dive by GB's Ed Watkinson.
But the game had a mass of key moments and potential turning points as the tension ratcheted up from the fifth inning through to the end – what GB Head Coach Steve Patterson called “the serious part of the game”.
“You played with a huge amount of heart, and made a lot of clutch plays,” Steve told the team in the post-game huddle, “and you have every reason to hold your heads up very high. And Saturday is still to come.”
Saturday means the playoffs, and for GB, tonight's loss will mean a longer and harder road through the double Page Playoff to get to the final on Sunday.
Saturday schedule
Saturday will begin for GB with a final round-robin game at 10.30 am against the Turks & Caicos Islands, who are currently 1-5, and GB will win the game easily.
But when the playoffs start at 3.00 pm, GB's first game will be against the undefeated USA Fort Walton Beach, who made sure of first place in the round-robin by defeating the Ink Daddyz 15-11 earlier today, setting up the GB-Ink Daddyz game as a winner-take-all contest for second place.
Lose to Fort Walton Beach tomorrow, and GB will have to play two more games on Saturday and another on Sunday morning to even get to the final, and will face the Ink Daddyz at some point along the way. Win the game, and the path will be a little easier – but Fort Walton Beach is still likely to be the opponent when the Gold Medal game is played on Sunday afternoon.
Slow start
A fired-up GB Team began the game against the Ink Daddyz determined to get off on the right foot – and promptly got off on the wrong one.
Once again, GB was the visiting team – the result of losing six out of seven coin tosses at the Technical Meeting on Wednesday night – and Brad Gilmour got things started with a lead-off single to right field. But Kirstie Leach lined a 1-1 pitch to right fielder Gayle Borgen, who doubled Brad off first base.
So GB put a goose egg on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning, and the Ink Daddyz then came to bat and opened up with four consecutive base hits off Brad Gilmour's pitching.
By the time the inning was over, GB were behind 3-0 and after two innings they were behind 5-1 and were clearly having trouble getting good swings against Ink Daddyz pitcher Derrick Parker, who was often ahead in the count and then forced GB batters to swing at pitches in his locations rather than the ones they were looking for.
Neither team scored in the third and fourth innings, and GB had double plays in both frames to snuff out Ink Daddyz rallies. In the third inning, it was a well-executed 1-6-3 play with a great scoop by first base player Emily Clifford at the end of it. And in the fourth inning, after a line drive was snagged by Ed Watkinson in right-centre field, a relay throw nipped Danielle Crouch at the plate.
The comeback
GB began their comeback with three runs in the top of the fifth inning to pull the score back to 5-4, as the Ink Daddyz began to kick the ball around on defense. With one out, Emily Clifford, who went three-for-three in the game, singled to right and was replaced by pinch runner Areej Elmaazi. Richie Browne then hit a bouncer to third that Ink Daddyz third baseman Mark Acman first bobbled and then threw away. Areej flew around to third and started for home, but put on the brakes and was lucky to get back to third as Richie took second.
The next batter, Chloe Llewellyn, hit another ball straight to third and again Mark Acman made a mess of it, as Areej finally came in to score. A single to right centre by Brad Gilmour brought in Richie Browne and Kirstie Leach's single up the middle brought in Brad as the GB dugout erupted.
The Ink Daddyz threatened to extend their lead in the bottom of the fifth when they got runners to second and third with two out. But Ruth Macintosh hauled in a long foul fly ball down the right field line off the bat of the dangerous Robert Bull, and the Ink Daddyz had their third straight zero on the scoreboard.
Taking the lead
In the top of the sixth inning, with the tension mounting all the time, GB took their first lead of the game, and two more errors by the unlucky Mark Acman played a prominent role. Emily Clifford's two-out single was the hit that kept the rally going, Richie Browne's single brought in one run, and a Mark Acman error brought in the other.
Now it was the bottom of the sixth, and still the Ink Daddyz couldn't score, with the heart of their order producing only a harmless single amid three easy outs.
So GB led 6-5 as the game went into the seventh inning, but the last thing they wanted to do was defend a one-run lead in the bottom of the seventh. GB had to give themselves more breathing room. And they just about managed it, again with some generous help from the Americans.
There were two out and none on when Ink Daddyz shortstop Justin Davies bobbled pinch-hitter Gelske Huyer's grounder. Up stepped another pinch-hitter, Michael Williams, and the result was the same – another grounder to short and another error. Ruth Macintosh then delivered a clutch single to right field, but Kath Golik, running for Gelske Huyer, would never have scored if right fielder Gayle Borgen hadn't launched a wild throw to the plate. That was the end of the gifts, as Ed Watkinson grounded out to end the inning. But GB now had a two-run lead to defend.
American rally
The Ink Daddyz hadn't scored a run in four consecutive innings, but they got right down to the job of saving themselves in the bottom of the seventh. Danielle Crouch led off with a single up the middle and Derrick Parker pushed a double into short right field with the GB outfielders playing deep. Marcie May's sacrifice fly brought in Crouch and sent Parker to third. Michael Crabb bounced a single up the middle to bring in Parker.
Now GB were on the verge of losing the game after Ande Williams singled Crabb to second with only one out. But Brad Gilmour bore down and got Justin Davies to fly out to right centre and Karen Hunger to bounce back to the pitcher. The game was tied at 7-7, setting up extra innings and the tiebreaker.
Unhappy ending
Ed Watkinson, one of GB's fastest players, was the tiebreak runner at second base as the top of the eighth inning began, and when Claudine Snape pushed a single into short right field to send Ed to third, it looked like GB was set up for a big inning.
The next batter, Ian Kulka, had a long conference with Head Coach Steve Patterson, stepped to the plate, and hit the first pitch he saw to the worst possible place. It was a ground ball straight back to the pitcher, and though Ed Watkinson scored, the Ink Daddyz turned a rally-killing 1-6-3 double play and the inning ended shortly thereafter with GB holding only a one-run lead, 8-7. Could they defend it?
In the end, they almost did.
Karen Hunger started as the tiebreak runner at second base for the Ink Daddyz in the bottom of the eighth, and she moved to third when Robert Bull again hit a long fly ball down the right field line that Ruth Macintosh caught in foul territory. The next batter was Kellie Berning, and when she popped out to shortstop, victory for GB was just one out away.
The batter was Mark Acman, he of the four errors at third base and not much to show on offense either. But all of that was forgotten as he steered a bouncing ball between third and short to drive in Hunger with the tying run.
It was suddenly vital to end the inning with the next batter, right fielder Gayle Borgen. But Gayle pushed a single into right field to bring up her brother Jeff. Brad Gilmour worked carefully, and the count went to 3-and-2. And then Borgen drove the ball towards right centre, Ed Watkinson dived and rolled over, and the ball showed white on the ground as Mark Acman scored the winning run.
It was a great game, and it was always going to be a cruel game for the team that lost.
It will be particularly galling to GB that they committed only three errors while the Ink Daddyz had nine miscues. But they did have 19 hits against only 12 for GB.
“It's the kind of experience this team needs,” Steve Patterson said, “and they'll come back stronger after this game.”
Saturday – with the temperatures forecast to climb to something more like you expect in Florida -- should be an interesting and dramatic day.
Previous games
Reports on GB's previous games in the ISF Slowpitch World Cup can be found on these links:
http://www.britishsoftball.org/news/view/gb-slowpitch-opens-world-cup-with-win-over-canada
http://www.britishsoftball.org/news/view/gb-slowpitch-looks-towards-playoff-run
http://www.britishsoftball.org/news/view/gb-slowpitch-grabs-another-easy-win
Day 2 results
Canada 7, Turks & Caicos 4
France 9, Curacao 7
GB 24, Bulgaria 8
Canada 9, Bulgaria 7
USA Fort Walton Beach 15, USA Ink Daddyz 11
Curacao 18, Turks & Caicos 9
Curacao 8, Bulgaria 5
USA Fort Walton Beach 17, France 5
USA Ink Daddyz 15, Canada 8
USA Ink Daddyz 9, GB 8 (8 innings)
Canada 14, Curacao 9
USA Fort Walton Beach 23, Turks & Caicos 7
Standings after Day 2
1 – USA Fort Walton Beach (7-0)
2 – USA Ink Daddys (5-2)
3 – Great Britain (4-2)
4 – Canada (4-3)
5 – France (2-4)
6 – Curacao (2-5)
7 – Turks & Caicos (1-5)
8 – Bulgaria (0-6)