By Bob Fromer
After much debate and discussion early this year, the 2013 Great Britain Fastpitch League (GBFL) included three GB National Teams – the Under-19 Women's and Men's Teams and the Under-16 Girls' Team – as entrants within the league, rather than dividing their players among various club teams.
The debate was around whether doing this would weaken the fragile development of fastpitch club teams in the UK. But those in favour felt that it would give the GB Teams vital competition experience before their European tournaments this summer.
The jury is still out on whether the development of fastpitch club teams has been set back this year. But the decision has been vindicated by the excellent performances of the GB Under-19 Women at World Championships in Canada in July and the ability displayed by the GB Under-16 Girls at European Championships in August in the Czech Republic. Both teams clearly benefited from playing together against adult opposition and a variety of pitching in the GBFL.
At the GBFL Finals Day on Sunday 8 September at Richings Park, the decision was vindicated further when the GB Under-19 Women won the Female First Division, defeating recent European Cup winners London Angels with late comebacks in two thrilling games, while the GB Under-16 Girls won the Second Division title, again with two close wins over Oxford Fastpitch.
The Men's First Division title was won by London Meteors, a team that has gone undefeated in the GBFL over the past two or three years. With a number of current and former players from the GB Men's Fastpitch Team in their line-up, the Meteors were much too strong for a GB Under-19 Men's Team containing some players who have only recently started to play and are still learning the game.
Format
This year's GBFL was played in two divisions with four teams in each, with mini-tournaments played on five dates in May, June and August and with promotion and relegation for one team after each day's play.
Division 1 generally consisted of both male and female single-sex teams, while Division 2 contained male, female and mixed teams.
But when it came to the Finals Day, league organiser Stan Doney pitted the two top male teams (Meteors and the GB Under-19 Men), the two Division 1 women's teams (the Angels and the GB Under-19 Women) and the two best teams from Division 2 (the GB Under-16s and Oxford) against each other in best-of-three series to decide three titles.
Division 1 Women
The best of the action on the day was the series between the London Angels, a long-standing women's fastpitch club that won the European Women's B Pool Cup championship a few weeks ago, and the GB Under-19 Women, who finished as the ninth best junior team in the world at the ISF Junior World Championships in Canada.
Of course, neither team was exactly the same as during their overseas competitions. For a start, GB Women's Team pitching coach Megan Brown, who has been in the UK for most of the summer carrying out a pitcher development project, was the lead pitcher for the London Angels when they won the European Cup, but did some of the pitching on Finals Day (as she did during league play) for the Under-19s.
The Angels were without some overseas-based players from their Cup-winning team, while the GB Under-19s were lacking their own overseas-based players, and filled some positions with GB Under-16 players but also with the vastly-experienced former Czech Republic internationals Misha and Marketa Sulcova.
Regardless of personnel, these teams played two excellent games, and in both of them the Under-19s came from behind to win.
Game 1
In Game 1, the Under-19s came from way behind – 8-2 down after four innings – but scored five runs in the top of the fifth inning and five more in the top of the seventh off Angels' pitcher Kylie Marshall, who pitched the complete game.
For the Under-19s, Amie Hutchison from Norfolk, who played for both the GB Under-19 and Under-16 teams this summer, pitched the first two innings only, conscious that she would also need to pitch two games for the Under-16s, and gave up six runs, largely because she struggled to find the plate. Amie walked seven batters over the two innings and the Angels had only one hit, but it was a big one – a bases-loaded triple by Joelle Whitley.
Megan Brown pitched the rest of the game or the Under-19s and allowed the Angels to score two more runs in the fourth inning and another two in the sixth. But after the Under-19s had taken the lead, Megan shut down the Angels in the bottom of the seventh.
Trailing 8-2 after four innings, the Under-19 comeback began in the top of the fifth. The key hits were doubles by Amie Hutchison and Misha Sulcova, while two key errors after two were out helped to prolong the inning.
In all, five runs were scored, narrowing the gap to 8-7. But the Angels regained the momentum with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to stretch the score to 10-7. Nadya Pavlova doubled to left field with one out, Kylie Marshall hit a triple, also to left field, and Joelle Whitley's groundout scored Kylie.
So it was do or die for the Under-19s in the top of the seventh inning, and the team showed great spirit in mounting a five-run rally. Amy Trask led off with a walk and scored on a double to right centre field by Megan Brown. Marketa and Misha Sulcova both had hits, sandwiched around a couple of outs – but one of the outs was an important ground ball to second base by Lucy Hall that drove in Marketa with the tying run.
After that, Amy Wells kept the inning alive with a line drive single to centre, and when the Angels started chasing runners with throws, Misha Sulcova scored the go-ahead run and then Amy Wells came home on a passed ball to add a bit of insurance.
The Angels had a baserunner in the bottom of the seventh when Catherine Kirby singled with two out, but Milena Borisova looked at a called third strike to end the game.
Game 2
In Game 2, the Angels once again jumped out to an early lead with three runs in the top of the second inning against Misha Sulcova, who pitched the complete game for the Under-19s while Kylie Marshall again went the distance for the Angels.
But by the end of the sixth inning, the score was tied at 4-4, and the Angels' tormentor-in-chief had been GB Women and Under-19 shortstop Amy Wells, who reached base on three successive bunt singles and followed them with some smart and aggressive baserunning.
So the seventh inning decided the game. Nadya Pavlova put the Angels back in front when her sharp single eluded the right fielder and rolled to the fence, with Nadya coming all the way around to score.
But Amy Wells led off the bottom of the seventh with her third successive bunt single, and when her twin sister Charlotte followed with a sacrifice bunt, Amy raced all the way to third on the play. A moment later, the game was over. Misha Sulcova hit a long triple to the fence in left centre field to score Amy with the tying run, and when the throw back in got away from the catcher, Misha came home to win the game and the Division 1 Women's title for the Under-19s.
And there was more than just the title at stake, because the GB Under-19s will now go on to represent Britain in the 2014 European Women's Cup.
Division 1 Men
The Division 1 Men's title was won, as expected, by the London Meteors, who defeated a game but inexperienced GB Under-19 Men's Team by scores of 15-0 and 11-4.
The Meteors have not lost a game in the GBFL in recent memory and are clearly too strong for the other teams in the league. But the GBFL gives the Meteors' players their only opportunity for competitive games in the UK, which is valuable for those playing in the annual Zeist Tournament in Holland and with the GB Men's Fastpitch Team.
Conversely, for teams like the London Angels and the GB youth teams, playing the Meteors gives them the chance to hit against high-level pitching and to be forced to play defense against players who will put pressure on them throughout each and every game.
Division 2
The GB Under-16s, the youngest players in the GBFL, started the season in Division 2, but played well throughout the summer and at one point were promoted to Division 1.
On Finals Day, the Under-16s had only five of their regular players available -- Ella Henson, Chelsie Robison, Sian Wigington, Amie Hutchison and Immy Thomas -- and were joined by Under-16 squad member Lauren Church and a 15-year-old slowpitch player from Maidenhead Softball Club, Ellie Wheeler. So in Game 1 against Oxford, the Under-16s borrowed some GB Under-19 Women and in Game 2, some GB Under-19 Men.
Oxford had similar problems, giving a debut to three rookie male players, and had guest appearances from Hannah Pitman in Game 1 and recruited GB Men's Team player Josh Peat to pitch for them in Game 2.
But Amie Hutchison, who was the Under-16s' #1 pitcher at the European Championships and throughout the GBFL season, recovered from her slow start pitching for the Under-19s against the Angels and held off a mixed-sex Oxford team twice by scores of 9-8 (Oxford came back at the end of Game 1 to make for a nervous finish) and 9-5.
Of the 18 runs scored by the Under-16 Team in the two games, 14 came from Under-16 players, and as Head Coach Jeremy Thomas was quick to point out, "most of the errors actually came from our guests, especially in Game 2!"
Game 1
Brooke Simmons pitched for Oxford in Game 1, and the Under-16s made a quick start against her, as both lead-off batter Ella Henson and second-place hitter Chelsie Robison scored in the top of the first inning. Brooke’s experience showed as she struck out two of the next four batters, but the Under-16s would have scored even more runs if Lucy Hall hadn't been hit by a ground ball heading towards left field off the bat of Amy Wells as she ran from second to third.
Oxford came right back in the bottom of the first. Beth Perkins led off with a single and stole her way round and there was a three-run home run later in the inning. So even though Amie Hutchison recorded all three outs on strikeouts, Oxford led 4-2 after the first frame.
Neither team scored again until the top of the third inning, when Sian Wigington came home for the Under-16s on Amie Hutchison’s double. More runs were scored on singles by Lucy Hall and Ellie Wheeler and a double to left centre by Immy Thomas, returning to action after a torn knee ligament. But Oxford countered in their half of the inning and remained in the lead by a score of 7-6.
Ella Henson led off the top of the fourth for the Under-16s with a double to right field and came round to tie the score on a hit by Sian Wigington. Sian and Amie Hutchison eventually scored as well and the GB Team had a 9-7 lead.
Neither team scored again until the bottom of the fifth and final inning when Oxford built the tension with a home run from their first batter that brought them to within a run at 9-8. But Amie Hutchison took a deep breath and got the next three batters on a strikeout, a pop fly to shortstop and and an infield groundout to finish the game.
Game 2
Oxford opened the scoring in Game 2, with guest pitcher Josh Peat plating the first run. But that was all they could manage in the top of the first inning after two catches by guest first baseman Callum Church plus a strikeout.
In the bottom of the first inning, Ella Henson continued her fine form for the Under-16s with a bunt single down the third base line and ended up scoring on a combination of steals and passed balls. Ella finished the day with an excellent batting average of .625, with three runs scored.
The game stayed at 1-1 until the bottom of the third inning as the Under-16s struggled against Josh Peat’s speed, and at one point he struck out five out of six hitters.
But the Under-16 offense blossomed again when Josh was replaced, and hits by Chelsie Robison, Sian Wigington and guest players Damon Brown and Jack Broddle gave GB a 3-1 lead.
That didn't last very long. With two outs in the top of the fourth, a bizarre series of events including a missed tag, a missed force out, a close call and a home run led to four Oxford runs and a 5-3 Oxford lead.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Oxford gave Simon Gower a chance to pitch his first-ever inning and GB took full advantage as Lauren Church’s run capped a maximum five-run outburst. So the advantage was back with GB at 8-5, and another run scored by guest player Ieuan Gale in the bottom of the sixth gave Oxford too much to do and they weren’t able to dent the final margin, which was 9-5 to the Under-16s.
The doubleheader gave both teams a chance for extended game time for new and less experienced players, and a fine summer for the GB Under-16s ended with the Division 2 title.