By Melinda Daniels and Neil Teague
Tuesday 1 August – Playing their third round-robin game at the European Under-18 Women’s Championship in Prague on Monday evening, Great Britain fell behind in the first inning and couldn’t quite come back in a frustrating 8-5 loss to Ireland.
Strong pitching and defense by Ireland limited GB to seven hits in the game, with Molly Blackwood and Kaitlyn Parisi leading the way with two hits each.
Meanwhile, Ireland had 12 hits off three different GB pitchers, and that was good enough to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
Long struggle
Jessica Chan started the British offense in the top of the first inning with a double, setting herself up to score on Saige Sampson’s single as GB took a 1-0 lead.
But Ireland answered with four runs in the bottom of the first, and that set up a long struggle for GB to get back in the game.
Britain’s first attempt to rally came in the top of the second inning, when Hannah Bingaman’s sacrifice bunt moved Emma Smith and Georgia Wilson into scoring position and both came in on a single up the middle by Kaitlyn Parisi.
That cut the Irish lead to 4-3, but single runs for Ireland in the bottom of the second and the bottom of the fourth inning off GB starter Saige Sampson pushed the score back out to 6-3.
Final rally
GB mounted a final comeback attempt in the top of the fifth inning. Jessica Chan led off with a walk, stole second, went to third on a groundout and scored when the next GB batter, Jenna Thompson, reached on an error.
Jenna made it to second base on the error and came home on Molly Blackwood’s single, cutting the Irish lead back to one at 6-5.
GB put two more runners on base in the top of the sixth inning but couldn’t score, and the Irish then took the game back out of reach in the bottom of the inning with two final runs. A triple by Cameron Kelly and a double by Cassidy Moriarty were the key blows.
In the top of the seventh inning, with Ireland leading 8-5, GB went down in order on three infield ground balls and Ireland had the win.
Despite the result, Britain’s defense showcased some spectacular plays. In the bottom of the fourth inning, right fielder Emma Smith launched a long throw to catcher Cara Edwards for a tag out at home to deny an Irish run, and in the bottom of the sixth inning, left fielder Hannah Bingaman made a diving play to stop a hard line drive down the left field line.
Looking ahead
Despite the loss to Ireland, the GB Under-18 Women can still qualify for the Championship playoffs that will begin on Wednesday, but only if they can beat Spain when the two teams meet at noon Czech time on Tuesday.