Pardubice, Czech Republic: 17 July -- The GB Slowpitch Team found itself without much opposition on the first day of the European Slowpitch Championships. GB started with a 17-0 five-inning hammering of the Czech Republic this morning, followed that with a four-inning 27-4 mauling of Serbia, then finished by crushing Ireland in four innings 21-1.
GB piled up 65 runs on 59 hits over the three games, and the opposition has also been generous with walks and errors. That has made it a very easy day for a GB Team that is looking ominously like the dominant side that swept everyone contemptuously aside in Prague in 2010.
But Slovenia, the team that expects to challenge GB for the title, has kept pace, if not so extravagantly, with a 7-4 win over the Czech Republic, an 11-6 victory over a talented German team that might also have a say in the way the competition turns out and a 12-0 win over Ireland. So GB and Slovenia are tied and unbeaten at the top of the table at the end of Day 1.
For GB, the more serious action, and a measurement of their chances of winning a ninth straight European title, will come tomorrow when they play Germany at 10.30 am and Slovenia at 12.15.
GB v Ireland
Right now, the Irish National Team is in what is normally called a "rebuilding phase", and their squad features a number of young players with little or no experience at this level. Nevertheless, and despite having just come off a 12-0 whipping at the hands of Slovenia, Ireland were very fired up at the start of their game with the old enemy GB, and took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
Mark O'Fathaigh received a four-pitch walk from GB pitcher Roger Grooms to open the game, advanced to second on a ground out and scored on a single by John Leonard. Later in the inning, however, Ireland loaded the bases with two out and had a chance to take a lead that might have at least given GB pause for thought.
But Irish starting pitcher Connor Sayles struck out swinging on a 2-2 count, and there was the feeling that Ireland had blown their chance.
GB take over
GB didn't blow the Irish away as they had the Czechs and Serbians (see below), but they did take the lead with three runs in the bottom of the first inning (a lead-off double by Ben Taylor, a one-out intentional walk to Brett Gibbens, a single by Chiya Louie, a sacrifice by Steve Hazard and an Irish error).
Ireland intentionally walked Brett Gibbens all four times he came to the plate during the game, regardless of the situation (one was leading off an inning), and though they may have succeeded in pissing Brett off, it also cost them the four runs he scored, the two he drove in and possibly more. Was it really worth it?
GB scored four more runs in the bottom of the second to begin taking the game out of Ireland's reach. With out out, Lucy Binding, Ben Taylor and Nicola Duerden hit successive singles, with Nicola's driving in a run. Brett Gibbens was walked intentionally once again, driving in another, then Chiya Louie scored Nicola with a single and Steve Hazard's double drove in Brett.
The blowout
A score of 7-1 after two innings was respectable from an Irish point of view, but it was 19-1 after GB batted in the third inning, and respectability was a distant memory for the Irish. The big blow was a bases loaded triple to left field by Steve Hazard, but Dan Spinks had two hits in the inning, and Lucy Binding boomed a double over the Irish outfield. The Irish didn't help themselves by taking out pitcher Connor Sayles during the inning and bringing in Senan Dormer, who walked four and was constantly behind the hitters.
Meanwhile, after their lone run in the first inning, Ireland went down on six pitches in the second inning, eight pitches in the third and ten in the top of the fourth. Shortstop Steve Hazard had seven assists out of 12 Irish outs and made every play look exceptionally easy. GB did not commit an error.
GB needed two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to end the game at that point on the mercy rule, and two is what they got. Brett Gibbens was walked intentionally to start the inning and Steve Hazard drove him in with a sacrifice fly. With two out, Claudine Snape drove a sharp single to right field, Ian Kulka singled to right centre and Jenny Ball ended the game with a single to centre field, scoring Claudine.
GB v Serbia
This game, played at 2.00 in the afternoon, was a slaughter of the innocents. GB scored 13 runs in the first inning and 12 in the second to take a 25-0 lead. Serbia did score four times in the bottom of the second inning, but GB, while making multiple substitutions, scored single runs in the third and fourth innings and the game ended on the mercy rule after Serbia batted in the bottom of the fourth.
Serbian hits
Though the Serbians, playing in their first-ever European Slowpitch Championships, were out of their depth in the field and bombarded into submission by GB bats, they actually hit very well themselves. Serbia had 11 hits, all singles, over the course of four innings (the Czechs had managed only three hits over five innings in GB's opening game and Ireland had only four hits in GB's last game of the day). Serbia's women actually out-hit their men, 6-5.
And the Serbians were a bit unlucky: they had four hits in the first inning and loaded the bases with no one out, but failed to score. A double play started by Jenny Ball at third base was the main reason, and there was another double play started by Lucy Binding at third base in the fourth inning that again help keep Serbia off the scoreboard.
But in those first two innings, GB simply pounded the ball and the Serbians struggled. Second baseman Danny Gunn, who went four-for-four against the Czechs with two doubles and two inside-the-park-home runs, kept it up in this game with a single, double and triple in three bat-bats. Emily Clifford had two singles and a bases-loaded tripl and six RBIs and pitcher Dan Spinks had a pair of doubles. Ben Taylor, Claudine Snape, Ruth Macintosh and Lucy Binding had two hits each.
The Serbian cause was not helped by five errors and two walks in the first inning and three errors and a walk in the second.
GB v Czech Republic
In the morning, GB served notice of intent in their opening game of the 2013 European Slowpitch Championships with a five-inning 17-0 mercy rule rout of the host Czech Republic that was, as one GB Team member put, "too easy".
For GB Slowpitch Head Coach Steve Patterson, "It was preparation." In slowpitch, the Czechs are well known for reserving their ammunition for the end of the tournament and the Page Playoffs, and though they do not appear a very strong team, the line-up they put out against GB was weaker than the one with which they played the opening game of the day at 8.45 am against Slovenia.
Scary field
Slovenia, along with Germany, is the team most likely to challenge GB for the title here, but the Slovenians only beat the Czechs by 7-4 and both teams showed some defensive frailties on the main pitch at Krtkova Arena -- a pitch with a rock-hard infield prone to bad bounces and a bumpy outfield that makes every hard-hit ball on the ground an adventure. During three training sessions on the pitch before the tournament, both Lucy Binding and Jenny Ball suffered injuries from bad hops (Lucy needed six stitches beside her left eye) and several other players took balls off various parts of their bodies.
Throughout all the games on the first day, both infielders and outfielders approached every ball with the fear and caution of someone defusing bombs, with the result that few plays were made cleanly and many balls kicked away from fielder.
But GB had no problems with fielding against the Czechs. The Czechs managed only two singles off Roger Grooms, who pitched the first four innings, and one more off Dan Spinks, who pitched the fifth. GB's fielding was generally crisp, with the only error being a throw from Chiya Louie at third to Jenny Ball at first that the umpire ruled had pulled her off the bag. The Czechs did not get a single runner beyond first base.
First-inning explosion
GB effectively settled the game with a seven-run explosion in the bottom of the first inning.
Danny Gunn set the tone with a lead-off inside-the-park home run into the right field corner, and this was followed by singles from Ruth Macintosh, Brett Gibbens and Chiya Louie (Brett's single one-hopped the left-field fence but Chiya thought it might be caught and could only get to second). Czech right-centre fielder Petr Nemecik then dropped Steve Hazard's long fly ball to make a bad situation worse for the Czechs, and later in the inning there was a single by Nicola Duerden, a walk to Roger Grooms (and the automatic two-out walk taken by Claudine Snape, and then a two-RBI double by Danny Gunn).
Danny Gunn went four-for-four with two inside-the-park home runs, two doubles and six RBIs and Chiya Louie had three singles (having obviously recovered her slowpitch stroke after two weeks with the GB Women's Fastpitch Team). Brett Gibbens had two singles and had a home run taken away by a fine catch at the left field fence and Nicola Duerden chipped in with two hits.
GB failed to score in the second inning, but added seven more in the third and a final three in the fourth to ensure that the game would end early.
But GB's harder days and games are yet to come.
Scores
Scores on the first day, with only tonight's Czech Republic v Germany game left to come, were:
Slovenia 7, Czech Reublic 4
Germany 15, Serbia 0
GB 17, Czech Republic 0
Ireland 5, Serbia 1
Slovenia 11, Germany 6
GB 27, Serbia 4
Slovenia 12, Ireland 0
GB 21, Ireland 1
GB influence
GB (and Irish) influence at this tournament extends beyond the British and Irish teams, with former GB Slowpitch GB Fastpitch player Moe Flett on the Irish coaching staff, and former GB Assistant Manager John Lehmann and Irish Head Coach Derek Ward among the Slovenian coaches.
A lot of inside information is potentially being passed around.
But right now, GB looks too powerful for any of that to matter.