By Bob Fromer
Nuoro, Sardinia, Italy: 1 July – The GB Under-16 Girls’ Fastpitch Team went down 10-0 in four innings this afternoon to the undefeated Czech Republic at the European Cadette Championships, but the GB Team is still only two games and two wins away from a bronze medal.
Tomorrow morning, at 11.00 am, GB will play Belgium. The winner will almost certainly finish fourth in the six-team pool and make the Page Playoffs that begin on Friday.
If GB can get past Belgium, their opponent in the 3v4 game will almost certainly be Russia. The Russians are the defending champions, having won the tournament two years ago in Ostrava, but this year’s Russian Cadettes are getting worse as the tournament goes along. On Tuesday, they were dismantled 13-1 by the Czechs and this morning they let a 4-0 lead get away and lost 5-4 to Spain – the team that GB beat 6-0 on Monday.
So if GB and Russia wind up playing for third place, GB will not be afraid.
Mercy rule
In today’s game, however, though GB committed relatively few mistakes, they were second best to a very strong and quick Czech team that scored five runs in the first inning, two in the second and three in the third on eight hits, including a couple of doubles, and a bunch of stolen bases.
GB pitcher Katherine Ryan gave the Czechs four walks, and GB did commit a couple of errors in the third inning after playing admirably under fire in the first two frames. Interestingly, each of the Czechs' three at-bats followed a completely similar pattern. The first Czech batter in all three innings was out on a ball hit to the infield, but Katherine Ryan then walked the second hitter, which opened the gates for the Czechs each time. Consistency is not always a virtue!
More worrying for the GB coaching staff will be the fact that GB managed only one hit off Czech pitcher Kristyna Mala, a single to centre field by Laura Hirai in the third inning. GB had only 15 batters in the game and eight of them went down on strikes. When GB had their only scoring chance, after Kristyna Mala walked Alana Snow and Mary Racz to open the second inning, the next three hitters all struck out – Niamh Walker on a third-strike bunt attempt and Amira Solomon and Katherine Ryan taking called third strikes.
After being battered in three games over the past two days, and particularly by Italy and the Czechs, GB players are understandably a bit hesitant when the answer may be to be a little more aggressive (what is there to lose?).
Positives
As always, there are positives that GB can take away from a game against a much stronger team. Yet again, in the second inning, GB executed a perfect rundown play, their third or fourth in the tournament. This is a play that even Major League Baseball teams mess up, and the GB Under-16s have done it perfectly every time.
There was also yet another exhibition of consistent second base play from Jasmine Rushin, who handled every ground ball, as she has done pretty much all tournament, and made a nice running catch in short right centre field to close out the Czechs in the third inning. And Laura Hirai made a leaping grab of a bouncer hit towards third to get a vital force out and snared a sharp ground ball to start the successful rundown.
But this was a game where the result was never in doubt, and now GB has two more games to make a learning experience into something more meaningful. The Czechs and Italy will no doubt play for the trophy on Saturday evening, but GB still has a lot to play for.
Results
Results in the tournament through Wednesday are:
MONDAY
GB 6, Spain 0
Russia 4, Belgium 2
Czech Republic 4, Italy 3
TUESDAY
Belgium 5, Spain 0
Russia 8, GB 1
Czech Republic 13, Russia 1
Italy 10, GB 0
WEDNESDAY
Spain 5, Russia 4
Italy 13, Belgium 1
Czech Republic 10, GB 0
Italy 13, Spain 2
Standings
Standings with one result still to come from Wednesday evening are:
Czech Republic (3-0)
Italy (3-1)
Russia (2-2)
Belgium (1-2)
GB (1-3)
Spain (1-3)