Friday 24 August – The London Angels played their final game this afternoon at the European Women’s Cup-Winners Cup in Capelle a.d. IJsell in the Netherlands, and ended the tournament on a high with a convincing 14-4 win over the Russian team Kalita.
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Roos-Marijn Kramer pitched a complete game for the Angels, holding the Russians to only one run until the bottom of the seventh inning, when the Angels already had a 14-1 lead. Only one of the runs the Russians scored was earned, and Roos-Marijn struck out seven while scattering nine hits and walking two.
Kalita mounted their biggest threats in the third and fourth innings, leaving the bases loaded both times without scoring, and when they finally managed one run in the bottom of the fifth inning, and then three in the bottom of the seventh, it only amounted to consolation.
The Angels, having taken a 5-0 lead after the first two innings against Russian starter Dana Zimina, were comfortable throughout the game, but put the icing on the cake with two more runs in the top of the sixth inning and then a seven-run explosion in the top of the seventh inning against Zimina and then relief pitcher Elizaveta Savina.
In the end, the Angels had 17 hits, by far their biggest output of the tournament, including a three-run inside-the-park home run by Sterre Duijn as part of the seventh inning onslaught. Cheska Ham went 4-for-4 with a double and six RBIs and Roos-Marijn Kramer was 4-for-5, also with a double, and drove in two.
The Angels failed to make the Championship playoffs, but finished the tournament with a 3-5 record and are likely to finish ninth.
The Angels finished sixth in team batting and seventh in team pitching, but last in team fielding percentage, with 21 errors in eight games, which may be one reason why they weren’t more successful.
Roos-Marijn Kramer, Cheska Ham and Tara Henry all finished the tournament with batting averages of .500 or better, and Cheska Ham currently stands third in the tournament in RBIs with 11. Marjolein Merkx was eighth in the pitching table with an ERA of 4.11.
The Angels will be spectators for the rest of the tournament, but the first two games on the Page Playoff will take place on Friday evening, with everyone looking forward to the 1 v 2 game: Bollate from Italy against Sparks Haarlem from the Netherlands. These two teams, both full of Italian and Dutch National Team players, met on Thursday night in the Championship round-robin and the game went to eight innings before Bollate squeezed out a 2-1 win.
The betting will be on these two teams to meet again in Saturday’s final.
Scores
Scores on Friday in the Championship and Placement playoff groups were:
Championship Playoffs
Atletico San Sebastian 7, Joudrs Prague 0
Bollate 8, Wesseling Vermins 1
Sparks Haarlem 15, Royal Greys 1
Placement Playoffs
Kalita 15, BCF Paris 8
Eurostars 7, Titans 0 (forfeit)
BCF Paris 7, Titans 0 (forfeit)
London Angels 14, Kalita 4
Luzern Eagles 11, Eurostars 7
Standings
Below are the final standings in the Championship and Placement playoff groups:
Championship Group
Bollate (4-1)
Sparks Haarlem (4-1)
Joudrs Prague (3-2)
Wesseling Vermins (2-3)
Atletico San Sebastian (2-3)
Royal Greys (0-5)
Placement Group
Eagles (5-0)
Eurostars (4-1)
London Angels (3-2)
Kalita (2-3)
BCF Paris (1-4)
Titans (0-5)
Page Playoffs
The Page Playoffs, involving the top four teams from the Championship playoff group, began on Friday evening, and the scores were:
3 v 4 Game: Joudrs Prague 10, Wesseling Vermins 0
1 v 2 Game: Bollate 1, Sparks Haarlem 0 (9 inns)
The results mean that Bollate will play in tomorrow’s final, while Wesseling Vermins are eliminated and will finish fourth. Joudrs Prague and Sparks Haarlem will play on Saturday morning to see who finishes third and who will join Bollate in the gold medal game.
The schedule, results and standings for the tournament can be seen here: http://competition.europeansoftball.org/2018/capelle/schedule.php.