By Melinda Daniels and Neil Teague
Monday 31 July – On a day of high-scoring mercy rule games, Great Britain and Germany played out an epic defensive battle on the opening day of the European Under-18 Women’s Championship in Prague on Sunday until rain ended the contest prematurely in the sixth inning, with GB awarded the 3-1 win.
The GB Team had scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to break a 1-1 tie, and after Germany was retired in the top of the sixth inning without scoring, the rain that had plagued the tournament all day returned with a vengeance. Eventually, with large puddles on the field, no possibility of further play, and with five full innings having been completed, GB gained the win and the best possible start to the tournament.
A record number of 20 teams are taking part in this Championship, and are playing round-robins in four groups of five teams over the first three days. The GB Under-18 Women are in Pool D along with Spain, Germany, Hungary, and Ireland, and only the top two teams in the group when the round-robin has finished will make it through to the Championship playoff rounds that begin on Wednesday.
The teams that are in the top three places when the tournament concludes on Saturday will not only win gold, silver or bronze medals, but will qualify for next year’s Group Stage tournaments in the WBSC Under-18 Women’s World Cup.
Strong start
Georgia Wilson started for GB in the circle, throwing four strong innings and allowing no runs on just three hits.
GB were on their game defensively from the start, with Emma Smith in right field, Jenna Thompson at second and Saige Sampson at third combining on a fantastic bang-bang relay in the top of the first inning to cut down Germany’s Jessica Weil trying to stretch a double into a triple, stealing the early momentum.
In the bottom of the first inning, Jessica Chan, fresh from playing with the GB Senior Women’s Team in Ireland earlier this month, walked with one out and reached second, then third on wild pitches from Germany’s starter Kayla Rudolph. But Rudolph bore down to get two strikeouts to end the inning.
GB threatened again in the bottom of the third inning when centre fielder Kaitlyn Parisi put down a great bunt single in front of home plate and advanced to second on a wild pitch. But strong defensive play by Germany kept the score at 0-0.
In the top of the fourth inning, Kayla Rudolph singled for Germany with two out, but the inning ended on a spectacular diving catch by Emma Smith in right field to deny Germany’s Liv Korn an extra-base hit.
Breaking the deadlock
In the bottom of the fourth inning, GB manufactured the game’s first run.
Catcher Cara Edwards led off with a double to left field, followed by Sydney Teague dropping a textbook sacrifice bunt to move Cara to third
Cara then scored on Jenna Thompson’s sacrifice fly to deep left field.
The fourth inning ended with GB holding a slim 1-0 lead.
Saige Sampson took over the pitching for GB in the fifth inning, giving up just one hit and one unearned run over two complete innings.
A walk, an infield single and an error in the top of the fifth inning quickly produced the tying run for Germany, and with one out, the Germans had the go-ahead run at third base in the person of Amelie Roth. But the GB defense held fast by turning a great double play. Jenna Thompson, now playing third base, thew a rocket to Sydney Teague at first on Emma Bieth’s ground ball, and Sydney threw to Cara Edwards at home to cut down Roth at the plate.
Winning runs
With rain threatening, GB won the game in the bottom of the fifth inning, and speed was a big factor.
With two out, Hannah Bingaman reached on an error, and on another bunt single by Kaitlyn Parisi, Hannah went all the way to third.
Kaitlyn stole second without the Germans making a throw, and Jessica Chan then hit a clutch single up the middle, plating both Hannah and Kaitlyn for two RBIs and the lead.
Saige Sampson retired the Germans in the top of the sixth inning, and with GB about to come to bat, the heavy rain began. Eventually, the game was called and reverted to the end of the fifth inning, giving GB the 3-1 win.
Overall, GB limited Germany to just four hits and one unearned run and played as a cohesive defensive unit despite only coming together in Prague two days prior to the game.
On Monday, weather permitting, GB will play Hungary at 2.00 pm and Ireland at 7.00 pm local time, and will conclude the first round-robin with a game against Spain on Tuesday.
Scores and standings
Play got underway on Sunday in the European Under-18 Women’s Championship with four groups of five teams each beginning an initial round-robin that will continue on Monday and conclude on Tuesday.
The top two teams from each round-robin will advance to Championship playoffs.
Scores on Sunday were:
GROUP A
Croatia 15, Slovakia 2
GROUP B
Ukraine 18, Denmark 0
Italy 21, Switzerland 1
GROUP C
Belgium 14, Austria 9
Netherlands 18, Finland 0
GROUP D
Spain 12, Ireland 0
Germany 20. Hungary 1
GB 3, Germany 1
The final two games of the day, between Czechia and Israel in Group A and France and Belgium in Group C, were postponed due to the rain that brought a premature end to GB’s game with Germany, and will be made up at a later date.
Standings after Day 1 are:
GROUP A
Croatia (1-0)
Czechia (0-0)
Israel (0-0)
Poland (0-0)
Slovakia (0-1)
GROUP B
Italy (1-0)
Ukraine (1-0)
Sweden (0-0)
Denmark (0-1)
Switzerland (0-1)
GROUP C
Netherlands (1-0)
Belgium (1-0)
France (0-0)
Austria (0-1)
Finland (0-1)
GROUP D
Great Britain (1-0)
Spain (1-0)
Germany (1-1)
Hungary (0-1)
Ireland (0-1)