Wednesday 22 August – The London Angels lost their final two first-round pool games today at the European Women’s Cup-Winners Cup in Capelle a.d. IJsell in the Netherlands, and finished with a 1-4 record that puts them into the Placement playoffs.
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In their first game of the day, the Angels came up against a strong Czech team, Joudrs Prague, and stayed with them until the fifth inning. But the Czechs then took the game out of sight – and the Angels were no-hit into the bargain.
The evening game against the host team Eurostars from the Netherlands was a completely different affair, with both teams getting plenty of hits and runs. But the Dutch team got more and finished 13-7 winners.
The Angels are already guaranteed a win when the Placement playoffs begin tomorrow, a 7-0 forfeit over the Titans from Botswana, who never turned up for the tournament, already in the books.
Later on Thursday, at 6.00 local time, the Angels will play the Luzern Eagles from Switzerland, and on Friday evening they will play the Russian team Kalita. The aim, if they can win those games, will be to get to the Placement final on Saturday morning.
Joudrs Prague 11, London Angels 0
Joudrs Prague, one of the top club teams in the Czech Republic, scored eight runs in the top of the fifth inning to break up a relatively tight game, and Joudrs pitcher Adela Linkova threw a no-hitter as the Czech team won 11-0 in five innings.
The only three baserunners the Angels had in the game came on walks in the second and fifth innings and a Czech error in the third inning, but none of those runners advanced beyond first base.
The loss left the Angels with one more game to play in the opening round-robin phase of the tournament, against the Dutch team Eurostars, but even had they won that game, theywould not have able to make the Championship playoffs.
Marjolein Merkx started for the Angels, and Joudrs Prague, featuring a number of Czech National Team players, quickly scored two runs on three hits in the top of the first inning, helped by an Angels’ error on a bunt.
After that, however, Marjolein escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the second inning, restricted the Czechs to one more run in the top of the third inning after Julie Coufalova’s double and then retired them in order in the fourth inning.
But the Angels hitters could no nothing against Adela Linkova, and the dam finally burst in the top of the fifth inning when the Czechs scored eight runs on six hits, two walks and two errors.
After three runs had scored, and both Tereza Jakesova and Tereza Kubicova had hit triples, Judith van den Berg relieved Marjolein Merkx, but the onslaught continued until the Czechs were well past their mercy rule target.
Adela Linkova issued a one-out walk to Nadya Pavlova in the bottom of the fifth inning, but then retired the next two Angels to end the game.
Eurostars 13, London Angels 7
The Angels started this game like a house on fire, and built up a 6-0 lead after two innings.
Angels starting pitcher Roos-Marijn Kramer kept the Dutch team off the scoreboard in the top of the first inning despite two singles, and then the Angels put up a four-spot against Chantal Fehling, who lasted for only six batters before being replaced by Shomayra Franka.
With one out, Cheska Ham tripled to right field, Wendy Macias singled to drive in the run, and Roos-Marijn Kramer was hit by a pitch. A single by Sterre Duijn brought in a second run and Griet de Schrijvere’s triple to right field scored two more and brought about the pitching change for the Dutch.
Shomayra Franka was immediately effective, getting the next two batters on infield outs.
Eurostars went down in order in the top of the second inning, and then the Angels added two more runs for a 6-0 lead.
Simona Cellar led off the inning with a walk and Tara Henry followed with a bunt single. The Dutch then threw the ball away on Cheska Ham’s sacrifice bunt, allowing Simona to score, and Tara Henry later came in on a groundout by Roos-Marijn Kramer.
But after that, the game changed completely.
Over the last five innings Eurostars scored 13 runs on 13 hits, while the Angels could only add one more run in the bottom of the fifth inning, by which point they were already trailing 11-6.
There were four Dutch runs in the top of the third inning to cut the lead to 6-4, and five runs in the top of the fourth inning, during which Wendy Macias came in to relieve Roos-Marijn Kramer and Wendy pitched the rest of the game. But by then the Angels were behind, and the Dutch only pulled further away with two more runs in the fifth inning and a final two in the top of the seventh.
Meanwhile, further pitching changes by the Dutch shut the Angels down.
Romy van der Ham pitched the third and fourth innings, and had to get out of a bases-loaded situation in the third inning but had a relatively easy fourth.
Then Dutch National Team pitcher Lisa Hop came in for the last three innings and allowed two hits and one last run while striking out five.
The run came on back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the fifth inning by Tara Henry and Cheska Ham, but by then the game was pretty much over. Lisa Hop then retired the Angels in order in the sixth and seventh innings.
Scores
Scores from the third day of play, which concluded the initial round-robin, are:
Pool A
Joudrs Prague (Czech Republic) 8, Wesseling Vermins (Germany) 2
Eurostars (Netherlands) 4, BCF Paris (France) 2
Joudrs Prague 11, London Angels 0
Sparks Haarlem (Netherlands) 15, BCF Paris 1
Eurostars 13, London Angels 7
Pool B
Royal Greys (Belgium) 7, Titans (Botswana) 0 (forfeit)
Atletico San Sebastian (Spain) 11, Kalita (Russia) 0
Eagles (Switzerland) 7, Titans 0 (forfeit)
Bollate (Italy) 5, Kalita 1
Atletico San Sebastian 6, Eagles 2
Standings
Final first-round pool standings at the European Cup-Winners Cup are below:
Pool A
Sparks Haarlem (5-0)
Joudrs Prague (4-1)
Wesseling Vermins (2-3)
Eurostars (2-3)
London Angels (1-4)
BCF Paris (1-4)
Pool B
Bollate (5-0)
Atletico San Sebastian (4-1)
Royal Greys (3-2)
Eagles (2-3)
Kalita (1-4)
Titans (0-5)
The final three days of the tournament, starting on Thursday, will be taken up with Championship and Placement playoffs, and a Page Playoff to determine the medals.
The full schedule and all results from the tournament can be seen here: http://competition.europeansoftball.org/2018/capelle/schedule.php.