Wednesday, 5 July -- Both the GB Under-18 and Under-16 Men’s Fastpitch Teams were back in action today at their concurrent European 
Championships in Sezimovo Usti in Czechia, and it was the Under-18 Men who broke through with an emphatic 20-9 mercy rule win over Croatia.
Meanwhile, the new GB Under-16 Men’s Team, playing in Europe for the first time, faced a doubleheader today against Denmark and Czechia, the two dominant powers in European men’s fastpitch, and not surprisingly went down to a pair of defeats, 14-1 to the Danes and 16-0 to the Czechs. GB put a run on the board against the Danes, but Czech pitching was just too dominant for GB hitters who have never played at this level before. The Under-16s have not managed a hit against the Czechs in the two games the teams have played, but that’s why the Under-16s are here: to learn what European softball is all about.
GB Under-18s
When the first three GB Under-18 batters went down in order in the top of the first inning against Croatia, and then Croatia came to bat and scored six runs on a couple of hits, some walks, an error, a few wild pitches and a third strike passed ball, the GB Team and their supporters could be forgiven for thinking, “Here we go again”.
But after that first inning was over, everything turned on its head and GB completely dominated the rest of the game.
GB scored six runs of their own in the top of the second inning to tie the score, then piled on six more in the top of the third and eight in the top of the fourth to turn that 6-0 deficit into a 20-6 lead. The Croatians were held scoreless in the second and third innings by GB starter Connor Buxton, who pitched a complete game, and by the time Croatia managed a final three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, it was too little and too late to prevent the mercy rule being applied with GB ahead 20-9.
Until today, walks issued by GB pitchers have been one of their problems, but this time the shoe was on the other foot. The GB Under-18s were the beneficiary of 15 walks given up by the first three of four Croatian pitchers, as well as five Croatian errors.
GB’s comeback in the top of the second inning started with a walk to Edan Lord and an error that allowed Kyle Johnson to reach first base. After that, there were singles by Luis Allan Arrevillagas and Connor Buxton, but two Croatian pitchers, starter Mark Vusic and reliever Jerko Balic, threw in three more walks, a hit batter and a bunch of wild pitches, and there was a further Croatian error.
It was more of the same in the GB third inning – more walks and more wild pitches – but the inning also featured a grand slam home run by Connor Buxton and a double by Kyle Johnson.
GB bats were now in the groove, and their eight-run outburst in the top of the third inning started with a two-run home run deep to left field by Danny Casey-Wright, followed shortly by back-to-back doubles from Connor Peberdy and Connor Buxton. After that, more walks, wild pitches and errors allowed GB to build up the score.
There are five teams contesting this European Under-18 Championship, and only four of them can get to the playoffs on Saturday. If GB can beat Croatia again when the teams meet again at 9.00 am on Friday morning, GB will claim a spot in the bronze medal game.
Results today in the European Under-18 Men’s Championship were:
Denmark 12, Israel 5
Great Britain 20, Croatia 9
Czechia 19, Denmark 0
Standings after Day 3 are:
Czechia (5-0-0)
Denmark (3-2-0)
Israel (2-2-0)
Great Britain (1-3-0)
Croatia (0-4-0)
GB Under-16s
Denmark 14, GB 1
Nathan Wyborn was first up pitching for GB on a fantastic Wednesday morning. After a slow start, with a number of batters walked, and four runs scored, Noah Hickling-Fox took over the pitching, and a fly ball to left field caught by Rory Casey-Wright ended the Danes’ first at-bat.
Jacob Henry led off for GB against Danish pitcher Mathias Rigtrup in the bottom of the first inning and hit a fine line drive to reach first base. After Rory Casey-Wright and Freddy Henry struck out, Noah Hickling-Fox hit a single to left field to put two GB runners on base, but Luca Taylor flew out to right field.
After another three Danish runs scored in the top of the second inning, Jacob Henry came in to pitch for GB, and a line drive right into Ben Acton’s glove at second base resulted in a fine double play that got GB out of the inning.
In the bottom of the second inning, Jack Ashby-Lloyd reached on an error, went to second on a wild pitch, went to third on Lucas Harrison’s groundout and scored on Ben Acton’s groundout to the pitcher, putting GB on the scoreboard.
GB made some good defensive plays in the top of the third inning, but the Danes scored five more runs on a number of hits and walks.
GB mounted a bit of a threat in the bottom of the third inning when Freddie Henry walked and stole second base to put himself in scoring position. But Noah Hickling-Fox struck out to end the inning.
Denmark scored two final runs in the top of the fourth inning, leaving GB needing to score four runs to avoid a mercy-rule ending. Luca Taylor opened the bottom of the fourth by reaching base on an error, took second on a wild pitch, and then stole third.
But two strikeouts followed and then Luca was out trying to steal home.
The final score was 14-1 to Denmark after four innings.
Czechia 16, GB 0
Jacob Henry led off GB’s second encounter with the mighty Czechia by drawing a walk off starting pitcher Tobias Hoffmann, but three strikeouts followed.
Ethan Hull, in his first game as a GB pitcher, got Czech leadoff hitter Jan Katz to line out to Jonah Lord-Taylor at third base, but the Czechs then scored five runs before the end of the inning.
Jack Leslie drew a walk for GB in the top of the second inning after two strikeouts, but a third strikeout followed.
The Czechs then scored 11 runs in the bottom of the second inning, including home runs by Simon Sykora and Adrien Spacek.
Beau Arnold drew a two-out walk for GB in the top of the third inning, but Jonah Lord-Taylor struck out after a hard-fought at-bat and the game was over on the mercy rule with the Czechs 16-0 ahead.
Mention should go to Ethan Hull for recording two strikeouts against the Czechs in his pitching debut.
Results today in the European Under-16 Men’s Championship were:
Denmark 14, Great Britain 1
Denmark 7, Israel 3
Czechia 16, GB 0
Standings after Day 3 are:
Czechia (4-0-0)
Denmark (3-1-0)
Israel (1-3-0)
Great Britain (0-4-0)