By Bob Fromer
Nuoro, Sardinia, Italy: 4 July – The European Cadette Under-16 Girls’ Fastpitch Championships finished tonight in Nuoro with the Italians overcoming the Czech Republic 4-3 in a pulsating final played before a large and enthusiastic crowd.
This was a real European softball night, of the kind we never see in Britain. Hundreds of people filled the stands to overflowing, and dozens more looked in from centre field and packed the street outside, looking through the fence along the left field line. There were painted faces, waving flags and a whole section of women wearing Italian blue. From long before the game began until the last out sent the Italian team and crowd into a frenzy, the noise never stopped – the drums and horns and whistles, the Mexican waves and the back and forth chants of “Ee-tal-ya” and “Che-chi”.
How so many Czech supporters were able to make their way to this roasting Mediterranean island (39 degrees today) is a mystery, but an awful lot of them did.
The game began in evening light, but by the third inning the floodlights were turned on, adding to the carnival atmosphere. Outside, the police had diverted traffic so the main road that runs by the ground was closed to traffic. Softball, at least on finals night, is taken seriously in Sardinia.
It’s an amazing atmosphere for young teenage girls to play in, and it must be exhilarating and terrifying in equal measure. But the two teams produced a memorable game, long but full of incident – one of those games where every pitch seems to be important.
Prelude
Two games were played earlier in the day in unforgiving heat.
The first game was the Page Playoff “semi-final” between Russia, who beat GB 5-0 yesterday afternoon, and the Czech Republic, who lost 2-0 in extra innings to Italy last night. It was a game filled with errors from both teams, but the Russians committed a whole lot more of them and were smashed 12-2 in four innings.
Then Belgium and Spain played the consolation game to determine fifth place and Belgium won 6-1. So the final placings in the tournament are:
1. Italy
2. Czech Republic
3. Russia
4. Great Britain
5. Belgium
6. Spain
The final
Here are the bare facts of the final. The Czechs scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning, the Italians scored four runs in the top of the second, and that’s the way things stayed to the very end.
But the bare facts conceal a massive amount of tension and drama that kept everyone engaged all the way through the game.
Whether the crowd and the atmosphere put the players on edge isn’t clear, but it may well have affected the starting pitchers, because neither one lasted very long.
Czech starter Kristyna Mala got through the top of the first inning without allowing a run, but Italy’s left-handed starter Anita Minari only lasted two-thirds of an inning. The first two Czech hitters, Barbora Saviola and Anezka Bartonova, singled to left field. Gabriella Slaba bunted the runners up. Then the Italian coaches had Minari walk Adela Simunkova intentionally to load the bases.
This is a strategy that cost Belgium the game when they did it against GB on Thursday, and it could have cost the Italians the game here, because Minari then walked the next batter as well to force in the first Czech run. That was all for Minari, and another left-hander, Susanna Soldi moved from first base to the pitcher’s circle and promptly gave up a two-run single to Kristyna Mala to put the Czechs up 3-0 before Soldi finally got out of the inning.
So the Czechs had established some early daylight between themselves and the Italians, but it didn’t last very long. Luna Olivetti opened the top of the second inning for Italy with a long double to centre field and Giorgia Migliorini then blooped a little single into centre. Luna had to hold up in case the ball might be caught, and when she finally broke for third, she would have been out by 15 feet if the throw hadn’t sailed miles over the head of Ema Vodickova.
With Italians on second and third, no one out, the Czechs brought the infield halfway in, so when Carlotta Andorno bounced to second, Barbora Saviola made a great throw home to nip Olivetti at the plate.
The Italians still hadn’t scored – but now Kristyna Mala lost the strike zone. First she hit Elisa de Trompetti with a pitch to load the bases, then she walked Marta Ciadaroli to force in a run, and then she ran up a 3-1 count on Susanna Soldi before Czech coach Eva Rendlova came out, gave the distraught Mala a hug and sent her to first base, with Adela Linkova coming in to pitch.
In a big game like this – crowd, lights, noise – Under-16 players can look bigger and older and tougher than they are, with all the softball mannerisms and swagger. But they are still young, and emotions come to the surface quickly.
At first, things got even worse for the Czechs. New pitcher Adela Lindova, looking very nervous, promptly threw ball four to Susanna Soldi to complete the walk and force in the Italians’ second run. Then she walked Alessandra Rotondo to tie the score and then she threw a wild pitch that brought in Marta Chiadaroli and gave the Italians the lead. In these situations, the Italians go for the jugular, and the next hitter, Chiara Bassi, drove the ball into the gap in right centre field for what looked like two more runs. But Czech centre fielder Natalie Kopicova made the catch of the tournament, a full-length diving stab for the second out, and Elisa Princic then grounded out to end the inning.
Adventures
So that was all the scoring, and both Susanna Soldi for Italy and Adela Lindova for the Czechs kind of settled down after that and both pitched the rest of the game -- but the rest of the game was full of adventures for both teams.
First, the Italians. In the fourth inning Alessandra Rotondo singled, but tried to stretch it to a double and was thrown out at second by Czech left fielder Adela Simunkova. In the sixth inning, a double by Giorgia Migliorini, an infield single by Carlotta Andorno and a bunt by Elisa de Trompetti where the Czechs threw to third but too late loaded the bases with no outs. But the Czechs then pulled off a nifty 5-2-3 double play on a ground ball hit by Marta Chiadaroli and Susanna Soldi lined out to end the inning.
Then, the Czechs. In the bottom of the second inning, they wasted a double by Anezka Bartonova. In the bottom of the third, they thought they had tied the game when Natalie Kopicova hit a high infield chop towards second base with two runners on and the ball eluded Elisa de Trompetti – but Ema Vodickva, who ran right in front of de Trompetti just as the ball got there, was called out for interference, nullifying the run. Where else Vodickova might have run wasn’t clear.
In the fourth and fifth innings, the Czechs finally went down in order. But in their do-or-die at-bat in the bottom of the sixth, pinch-hitter Tereza Novotna reached on an error with one out and Natalie Kopicova singled to right field. But Novotna made the fatal mistake of trying to get to third on the hit and was gunned down by Italian right fielder Luna Olivetti. Natalie Kopicova moved up to second and into scoring position on the throw to bring Adela Linkova to the plate with two out, but all of Linkova’s body language said “Why me?” She grounded out to second to end the game.
So an outstanding final game, played in a great setting and atmosphere, was spoiled only by the interminable speeches afterwards that drove most of the crowd away.
As for the GB Cadettes, they can reflect on our highest-ever finish at this age level and some positive play (along with some luck) that gave them two well-earned wins.