by Bob Fromer
Haarlem, Netherlands – The GB Women's Team came out aggressively in their second game at the ISF World Championships on Saturday evening, as their coaches had urged them to do, and took a 6-2 lead over the Dominican Republic. Then the roof fell in.
The Dominicans scored 12 runs in a nightmare bottom of the fourth inning for GB, turning that 6-2 deficit into a mercy rule margin of 14-6, and when GB went down in order in the top of the fifth inning, a game in which GB had had most of the momentum was suddenly over.
The 12 runs the Dominicans scored in the fourth inning, capped by a grand slam home run that sailed over the fence in right field by second base player Rosangela Rodriguez, was mostly about the Caribbean team's power at the plate. GB did commit a couple of errors in the inning and GB reliever Kori Waugh, who came in during the inning for starter Carling Hare, threw in a couple of walks. But the free-swinging Dominicans had nine hits, including a double, a triple and the grand slam home run, and they simply battered GB into submission.
Promising start
Before all that happened, the game was going well for the GB Women, and it was the Caribbean team that was making the bulk of the mistakes.
Amy Moore led off the first inning against Dominican pitcher Rosaury Perez with a single to left, and Laura Thompson sacrificed her to second. GB first base player Alicja Wolny then smashed a double that shot through the legs of the Dominican third base player before she could move and Amy scored. Alicja moved to third base on one wild pitch, and scored on another.
However, that 2-0 lead didn't last long.
In the bottom of the first inning, Carling Hare walked lead-off hitter Marivel Pie, and one out later, the Dominican pitcher, Rosaury Perez, hit a two-strike pitch high and deep over the fence in left centre field to tie the score.
GB add on
Neither team scored in the second inning, but GB took back the lead in the top of the third.
Laura Thompson was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, sped around to third on a single to centre by Alicja Wolny and kept on going when the centre fielder bobbled the ball. Alicja moved to third on a couple of ground outs and scored on an error.
So GB now led 4-2, and they made it 6-2 in the top of the fourth. Keeli Waugh, playing centre field, got things started with a single up the middle with one out and on Amy Moore's sacrifice bunt, Keeli made it all the way to third, just beating the throw with a good slide. Keeli scored when Laura Thompson reached on a throwing error by Dominican shortstop Anabel Ulloa, and then Alicja Wolny slammed a triple down the right field line for her third hit of the game, driving in Laura.
Momentum shift
In the pre-game meeting, GB pitching coach Megan Brown, who had scouted the Dominican Republic in their tough 3-2 loss to Italy on Friday, told the team that momentum was important to the Caribbeans. When it was with the opposition, they could crack; when it was on their side, they were hard to stop.
So far, the momentum had mostly been with Britain, and the Dominicans had made four errors and allowed a couple of unearned runs.
But everything changed in the bottom of the fourth inning, when the hits just kept on coming against both GB pitchers and a game that had seemed winnable slipped away.
Tomorrow (Sunday), GB will begin the really difficult part of their schedule with a game against Australia at 2.00 pm Dutch time, followed by games against the USA at 3.00 pm on Monday, Italy at 11.30 pm on Tuesday, the Netherlands at 8.00 pm on Wednesday evening and finally Chinese Taipei at 4.30 pm on Thursday.
Elsewhere in the tournament
The first two days of the World Championships have produced a lot of close games, and a number of teams are bunched together in the middle of each round-robin pool, as you can see from the results and standings below.
As expected, the undefeated teams after two days of play are the teams that finished in the top four places in the last World Championships in 2012: Japan, the USA, Australia and Canada.
Perhaps the biggest news so far is that the host team Netherlands, who came in ranked #6 in the world and who have been told they need to finish at least fifth to retain their funding from the Dutch Olympic Committee, are 0-2 and have their backs to the wall.
The fact that the Dutch lost to the USA on Friday evening wasn't a surprise, though the 10-0 scoreline in five innings was a blow to Dutch pride. But on Saturday, the Dutch lost what may turn out to be the game of the tournament to Chinese Taipei, 5-4, in 11 epic innings.
Chinese Taipei led 1-0 until the sixth, when the Dutch tied the game on a two-out single. In the first tiebreak inning, the eighth, Chinese Taipei, who were the home team, were trailing 2-1 and were down to their final strike but came through with a base hit to tie the score. In the ninth inning, the Dutch went up 4-2, but Chinese Taipei scored two as well. Neither team executed the standard tiebreak strategy (bunt the tiebreak runner to third) in the tenth or eleventh innings, but in the bottom of the eleventh, with two outs and runners on first and second, Chinese Taipei second base player Wang Lan flared a ball over third base and down the left field line and that was the game.
The Dutch will now have to win four of their last five games to advance to the playoffs, and they still have to play Italy, Australia and the Dominican Republic as well as GB and Botswana.
The Netherlands will play Italy tomorrow (Sunday), and will be under huge pressure to win, even this early in the tournament.
Results
Scores so far are:
Pool A
Day 1
Japan 4, China 0
Canada 3, Puerto Rico 2
Czech Republic 6, Cuba 3
New Zealand 5, Russia 1
Day 2
China 1, Puerto Rico 0
Japan 5, Russia 0
Cuba 1, New Zealand 0
Canada 8, Czech Republic 1
Pool B
Day 1
Australia 2, Chinese Taipei 1
Italy 3, Dominican Republic 2
Botswana 5, GB 3
USA 10, Netherlands 0 (5 innings)
Day 2
USA 7, Botswana 0 (5 innings)
Chinese Taipei 5, Netherlands 4 (11 innings)
Dominican Republic 14, GB 6 (5 innings)
Australia 10, Italy 0 (4 innings)
Pool Standings after Day 2
The first four teams in each pool will qualify for playoffs.
Pool A
Japan (2-0)
Canada (2-0)
China (1-1)
Czech Republic (1-1)
Cuba (1-1)
New Zealand (1-1)
Russia (0-2)
Puerto Rico (0-2)
Pool B
USA (2-0)
Australia (2-0)
Chinese Taipei (1-1)
Dominican Republic (1-1)
Italy (1-1)
Botswana (1-1)
GB (0-2)
Netherlands (0-2)
Photos by Lynda Medwell