By Bob Fromer
Prague, Czech Republic: 9 July-- It was one of those games that have players chewing fingernails in the dugout and fans chewing whatever they could find in the stands, but in the end, Russia had too much speed and GB didn't quite have enough pitching to keep them at bay.
So after GB had hit the Russians like a bomb in the top of the first inning to lead 4-0, and then bounced back after Russia had tied the game to re-take the lead at 7-4, the Russians tied the game again in the bottom of the fifth and forced the winning run across the plate in the bottom of the sixth to fall over the finish line by a score of 8-7.
Both teams used three different pitchers, and then went back to their starting pitchers at the end of the game. So Ekaterina Eronina, who pitched the first three innings for Russia, came back with two out in the GB fifth inning and got the win. Meanwhile, Carling Hare, who pitched the first 3.2 innings for GB, came back to pitch the Russian sixth inning, gave up the winning run, and took the loss.
During that sixth inning when Russia scored the winner, they relied heavily on beautifully executed bunts, backed up with blazing speed, and they rattled a GB defense that had more than held its own up till then.
Amazing start
However, the game started with a burst of power rather than speed, and it came from GB bats.
Britain has had many a close pitching duel with Russian starter Ekaterina Eronina in the past, but the start of this game was unlike anything that had gone before. Amy Moore opened the top of the first inning with a fly ball single to centre that just eluded Russian centre fielder Daria Semenova. Laura Thompson then hit the ball sharply past second base for another single and Sarah Craig singled up the middle to drive in Amy.
Then GB first base player Alicja Wolny patiently accumulated a 3-1 count, then drove a majestic home run over the very long right-centre field fence at Svodoba Park, and in an instant GB had a 4-0 lead.
Solid pitching
And for the first three innings, GB starter Carling Hare made that lead stand up with ease, giving up only two harmless singles and consistently working ahead of the Russian batters. Carling had two strikeouts and the GB defense handled the rest.
GB had a chance to extend the lead in the top of the fourth inning. Chiya Louie lined a double to the fence in left-centre field with one out, and when Steph Pearce hit a little fly ball single down the right field line that squirted away from Verdzhniya Levich, Chiya rounded third and tried to score. But Levich gunned her down at the plate.
Turning point
Perhaps that play was a turning point. In any case, the Russians came up in the bottom of the fourth, and after Anastasia Buchenkova flied out to Laura Thompson in right field on the first pitch of the inning, things began to unravel for Carling Hare and GB.
Two singles, two walks and a sacrifice fly brought in the first Russian run and left the bases loaded with two out. Carling got two quick strikes on veteran first base player Alexandria Larionova, but the next pitch was driven deep over Amy Moore's head in left-centre field and all three runners scored.
Kori Waugh relieved Carling and got the third out of the inning, but the game was now tied at 4-4.
GB bounce back
If surrendering their 4-0 lead was in any way demoralising, GB certainly didn't let it show, as they bounced back with three runs on four hits in the top of the fifth inning.
Amy Moore led off with yet another sharp single up the middle off the third Russian pitcher, Svetlana Lagutkina, and Laura Thompson sacrificed Amy to second. Sarah Craig grounded to second base for the second out, and most people in the ballpark were expecting the Russians to intentionally walk Alicja Wolny, who had followed her mammoth home run in the first inning with a single in the third.
Instead, Lagutkina pitched to her – but at first with no intention of giving Alicja anything to hit. So the count went to 3-0, but then Lagutkina grabbed a strike, and then a foul ball and got greedy. Alicja punched the next pitch on a line up the middle and GB had regained the lead.
And there was more to come. Kori Waugh was hit by a pitch and both Karlene Headley-Cooper and Chiya Louie singled to centre field, driving in two more runs. Out went Svetlana Lagutkina and back came Ekaterina Eronina to get the third out. But GB led once again by 7-4.
But the Russians had nine outs left, and in a game like this, that gave them plenty of opportunity.
GB struggle
Kori Waugh came back out to pitch the fifth inning, but immediately got into trouble, giving up two hits sandwiched around a fielder's choice and an error, a throw in the dirt by Chiya Louie that Alicia Wolny just failed to hold.
That made the score 7-5, and Kori Waugh was replaced by her 17-year-old sister Keeli, who had joined the team on Sunday after playing for the GB Under-19s at the Junior World Championships in Canada.
Keeli gave up a sacrifice fly, a walk and a single before Tatiana Beltyukova was throw out at third trying to take an extra base by Karlene Headley-Cooper to end the inning.
But the game was tied once again at 7-7.
The denouement
After GB went down in the top of the sixth on three fly balls to the outfield, including a deep drive to left by Alicja Wolny, the Russians came up in the bottom of the inning and promptly put the game on the line when the first batter, Alexandra Larionova, belted another double to left centre field and took third base when the GB infield bobbled the relay.
Now it was over to the short game. Lead-off hitter Tatiana Zhuchkova bunted and reached base safely, though Larianova stayed at third. Daria Semenova then laid down another perfect bunt back towards the pitcher. Larionova had broken on contact and Carling Hare's toss to home plate was late. The Russians had what proved to be the winning run with an 8-7 lead, their first of the game.
There was no further scoring in the inning. But Russia had come all the way back from the dead, just as they had yesterday in beating Germany from three runs down in extra innings.
GB went down in order in the top of the seventh.
What it all means
Following GB's easy win over Israel this morning (see below), it was guaranteed that both GB and Russia would go through to the playoffs.
What was at stake was who would get the supposedly harder schedule – two first place teams and a #2 – in the next round, as opposed to two second place teams and a #1.
So had GB won, they would have been playing the Netherlands, Austria and Sweden over the next two days. Instead, Russia will take that on and GB will play Italy, Spain and the Czech Republic.
To go through to the Page Playoff and qualify for the World Championships, two of those three games need to be won.
It could all come down to a dramatic encounter between GB and the Czechs at 1.30 pm on Thursday.
GB played their hearts out against Russia and demonstrated that they can score runs off good teams and top pitchers. GB had 11 hits in the game (Russia had 10), both teams left six runners on base and both committed two errors. And neither pitching staff could hold the other team's offense.
But the Russian had a little more in the tank at the end.
GB crushes Israel
Earlier in the day, GB took on a weak Israeli team and had their second straight mercy-rule win.
Israel hadn't won a game in the European Women's Championships to that point, and yesterday had a heart-breaking extra-inning loss to Denmark in which their only competent pitcher was injured.
The result was that Great Britain had a gentle three-inning workout against the Israelis, winning 15-0 after scoring 14 runs in the bottom of the first inning and adding the one more run they needed to trigger the three-inning mercy rule in the bottom of the second.
Another no-hitter
For the second straight day, GB pitchers threw an abbreviated no-hitter. Yesterday, Carling Hare and Kori Waugh combined to no-hit Denmark over four innings; today, it was Kori Waugh and her younger sister Keeli, who no-hit the Israelis over three.
Israeli pitcher Irina Sorokina tried her best, but struggled through a debilitating first inning in which she gave up six walks and seven hits, while her teammates committed three errors behind her and GB turned all of that into 14 runs.
Shortstop Chiya Louie led the GB attack with a triple and a double, both in the first inning, and both hit deep to right-centre field, good for five RBIs.
Seven other GB players – Laura Thompson, Sarah Craig, Naomi Jones, Sarah Jones, Karlene Headley-Cooper, Steph Pearce and Amy Moore – had RBIs in the inning, some on hits and some on bases-loaded walks.
Amy Moore reached base on a walk in her first at-bat and singled in her second trip to the plate, running her consecutive on-base streak since the tournament began to nine (five hits and four walks). But as the 19th batter in the first inning, Amy flied out to left field to end her streak and, mercifully for Sorokina and Israel, end the inning.
One of the hardest-hit balls by a GB player in the inning was actually turned into an out. Left fielder Naomi Jones smashed a line drive at Israeli third base player Yehudit Nosgorodsky. The ball struck her glove, and flew straight up into the air, and Nosgorodsky took a simple catch when it came back down.
Getting noticed
ESF President Andre van Overbeek was talking about the GB Team this morning. “I liked to watch the team you had before,” he said, “and they were very good. But I like to watch this team better. There is something vivid about them. They have a great energy.”
With the first playoff round -- the one that decides who qualifies for next year's World Championships -- coming up over the next two days, we will now see how far that energy -- and a considerable amount of talent -- can take the 2013 GB Team.
Other scores
Other scores from today's games were:
Pool A
Belgium 11, Switzerland 2
Austria 5, Belgium 1
Czech Republic 13, Hungary 0
Pool B
Spain 9, Croatia 0
Netherlands 17, Slovakia 0
Pool C
Germany 5, Denmark 4
GB 15, Israel 0
Germany 7, Israel 0
Russia 8, GB 7
Pool D
Sweden 2, France 1
Italy 7, Sweden 0
Poland 4, Ukraine 3