By Mary Murray
ENSCHEDE, Netherlands: July 23 -- The Great Britain Under-15 Women’s team notched their second win at the European Under-15 Championship against Lithuania on Thursday before falling to the Netherlands later that day and then playing well against Italy on Friday in a game that had to be suspended in the third inning.
Due to an administrative error by the British Softball Federation, the Great Britain Under-15 Women’s team is not able to officially compete in the Under-15 European Championships and will automatically finish ninth. As such, each game played has officially been scored as a forfeit loss by a score of 7-0. In our coverage of the tournament, we are highlighting the performances of the athletes in Enschede and reporting the games as they are played out on the field.
You can see the Federation’s statement regarding this situation here.
Great Britain 12, Lithuania 6
Lithuania scored three runs straight out of the gate in the bottom of the first inning after the first three GB batters were retired in order.
A walk and an error put runners on second and third for Lithuania, and another walk loaded the bases. A sacrifice fly to right field scored one runner, and the runner from second was able to score on an errant throw. Another walk put Lithuanian runners on first and second once again, and though a strikeout brought GB within one out of getting out of the jam, an error allowed another Lithuanian run to cross the plate. Jenna Thompson ended the inning with a strikeout to get the Great Britain back up to bat.
Hope Schultz started off the top of the second inning with a single to centre field and advanced to second base on a passed ball. She moved to third on a groundout to third, and with two outs, Amy Morris hit a triple over the right fielder’s head to score Hope. Amber Frost kept the two-out rally going for GB, hitting a single through the left side to score Hope from third. The Lithuanian defense got out of the inning with a fielder’s choice from short to second to get the lead runner, but GB had cut their deficit to 3-2.
Lithuania was retired in order in the bottom of the second inning to bring GB back up to bat, and Jenna Thompson led off the top of the third with a double but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple. However, Anna Kingston hit a single up the middle to reach first, and Sydney Teague followed with a single to left field to put runners on first and second with one out. Hope Schultz then hit a single down the left field line to score Anna and tie the game. With Isla Dodson-Richi at bat, Sydney scored on an overthrow to the pitcher, and Hope advanced to third base. Isla then hit a hard line drive to second base which popped out of the fielder’s glove. Lithuania made the play to get the second out, but Hope scored, putting GB up 5-3.
And GB weren’t finished.
Emma Biles walked to extend the inning. Amy Morris hit a single up the middle, allowing Emma to advance to third and Amy advanced to second on the throw. On the first pitch of the next at-bat, Amber Frost hit a line drive single to right field, scoring Emma and Amy to give GB a 7-3 lead. Cerys Jones then beat out an infield single to keep the British momentum going with two outs. But the weather had other ideas, and the game was delayed due to rain.
After a half-hour rain delay, Lithuania and GB returned to the field and resumed the game. Jenna Thompson walked to load the bases, advancing Amber Frost to third and Cerys Jones to second. A ground ball to the pitcher ended the inning, but GB kept this momentum for the rest of the game.
In the bottom of the third inning, a walk put the lead-off batter from Lithuania on base, and a single to third put runners on first and second. An infield fly was called for the first out of the inning, but the runners both advanced to give Lithuania another run. A fly ball to Amy Morris at first was the second out, and the next batter was retired on a ground ball to Isla Dodson-Richi, who threw to Amy at first to retire the Lithuanians. GB still led by 7-4.
GB was retired in order in the top of the fourth inning and the first Lithuanian runner reached second on an error to start off the bottom of the inning. Jenna Thompson struck out the next batter, but the next hitter walked to put runners on the corners, and an error allowed Lithuania to put another run on the board. Another error on the next at-bat allowed another Lithuanian run to cross the plate, shrinking GB’s lead to 7-6.
However, a ground ball to third base turned into a great play to get the out by Amy Morris, who was pulled off the bag by the throw and still managed to make the tag. Amy then threw to catcher Hope Schultz, and GB caught a Lithuanian runner trying to take home, completing a 5-3-2 double play to end the inning.
Emma Biles led off the top of the fifth for GB with a line out to third base. Amy Morris hit a blooper over the shortstop for her third hit of the day and took second on a wild pitch. Amber Frost hit a solid line drive to first base which was bobbled, but the out was made. Cerys Jones then reached base on a throwing error by the pitcher, allowing Amy to score. A fly out to right field ended the inning.
The top of the line-up came up for Lithuania in the bottom of the fifth inning, and with two outs, there were runners on first and second from a walk and a hit. But GB was able to get out of the inning with a strikeout.
The last at-bat for GB proved to be explosive for the offense. With one out, Sydney Teague singled to left field. Hope Schultz singled through the left side to put runners on first and second, and a passed ball allowed the runners to advance to second and third. Isla Dodson-Richi reached on a fielder’s choice, scoring Sydney from third base. Emma Biles hit a single to short to score Hope from third, and a throwing error from the shortstop allowed Isla to score and Emma to advance from first to second. Amy Morris grounded out to shortstop and moved Emma to third. Amber Frost singled up the middle to notch another RBI, scoring Emma from third to put GB up 12-6.
That was the final score, and it gave the GB Under-15s their second win of the tournament.
Netherlands 10, Great Britain 0
Later on Thursday, GB put up a strong fight against the Netherlands, one of the top three teams in the tournament, but ultimately fell to the host country by a score of 10-0 in four innings of play.
Jenna Thompson led off the game with a single to left field, but the offense struggled to figure out the Dutch team’s pitching throughout the rest of the game. GB was retired in order after Jenna’s hit, and the Dutch crowd came alive for their home team in the bottom of the inning.
With two outs, two runners reached base via errors, but GB got out of the jam on a fly out to second base that ended the inning. The teams headed into the second inning tied 0-0.
GB was retired in order, despite some aggressive at-bats, bringing the Netherlands back to the plate.
The first Dutch batter walked, and the second hit a single to centre field to put runners on first and second with no outs. A double scored two runs, putting the Netherlands up 2-0. An infield single allowed another run to score, and the batter moved into scoring position on an error. With one out, a triple to right field scored another Dutch run to put them up 4-0. A single with two outs scored another run for the hosts, and they came out of the second inning with a 5-0 advantage.
The Netherlands’ offense continued to build on their performance, and despite a strong effort from GB, the Dutch won by 10-0 in four innings of play. From the time GB had played their exhibition game against the host team during the training camp to the result on Thursday night, there had been a significant improvement.
Italy 3, GB 0
On Friday, the Great Britain Under-15 Women’s Team put up a valiant effort against a skilled Italian side which has qualified for next year’s WBSC Under-15 World Cup due to their top-two placement in the tournament. But the game was suspended in the top of the third inning with the Italians leading 3-0.
Amy Morris started the game in the circle for Great Britain and put in a stellar performance against a top-tier Italian offense.
The lead-off batter for Italy reached base, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. On that same wild pitch, the Italian batter walked and attempted to advance to second base. Amy threw the ball to shortstop Jenna Thompson, who then gunned out the Italian runner attempting to score from third as catcher Hope Schultz put down a great tag to keep the scoreboard blank.
The next batter put a ball out to centre field that allowed the runner from second to score, putting Italy up 1-0. A grounder to third base allowed another runner to score, and another grounder to third ended the top of the first inning with Italy up 2-0.
GB’s offense threatened the Italians early in the bottom of the first. Jenna Thompson reached on a hard-hit single back to the pitcher, but was doubled up after Anna Kingston hit a hard line drive to third base. With two outs, Sydney Teague singled to centre field and Hope Schultz was hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second for GB, but a groundout to first base ended the inning.
The GB defense made quick work of the bottom of the Italian line-up in the top of the second inning. The first two batters grounded out to third and flew out to short respectively, and after a bloop single to left field, Amy Morris recorded a strikeout for the third out of the inning.
GB managed to get one runner on base via a walk in the bottom of the second inning but couldn’t move them past first base.
Italy came back to the plate, and a substitute hitter led off the inning with a triple to left field. The next batter took two balls and drove a hard-hit ball straight at a GB player. This caused an injury that resulted in the suspension of the game.
GB was unable to continue to compete any further as they did not have a substitute able to take the field.
Next up
Great Britain will play their final game of the European Under-15 Women’s Championship on Saturday morning against Croatia at 9:30 am (8:30 am BST).
Scores and standings
Scores on Thursday at the European Under-15 Women’s Championship were:
Ukraine 12, France 0 (4 inns)
Italy 16, Lithuania 1 (3 inns)
Germany 19, Croatia 4 (3 inns)
Netherlands 20, France 5 (3 inns)
GB 12, Lithuania 6 (recorded as a 7-0 forfeit to Lithuania)
Czech Republic 15, Croatia 0 (3 inns)
Italy 4, Ukraine 3
Netherlands 10, GB 0 (4 inns) (recorded as a 7-0 forfeit)
Scores on Friday were:
France 5, Germany 2
Czech Republic 21, Lithuania 0 (3 inns)
Italy v GB (game abandoned in third inning with Italy leading 3-0 and scored as 7-0 forfeit)
Ukraine 15, Croatia 0 (3 inns)
Czech Republic 12, Netherlands 2 (4 inns)
Standings at the end of the round-robin phase of the tournament were:
Czech Republic (8-0)
Italy (7-1)
Netherlands (6-2)
Ukraine (5-3)
France (4-4)
Germany (3-5)
Croatia (1-7)
Lithuania (1-7)
GB (2-6) (0-8 due to forfeits)
Later on Saturday, after GB plays Croatia and Lithuania, Germany and France all play each other to determine places 5-7 in the tournament standings, Ukraine will play the Netherlands in the bronze medal game and then Italy will take on the undefeated Czech Republic for the gold medal.
Photos by David Morris