Thursday 23 August – The Luzern Eagles from Switzerland cut down the tying run at the plate in the top of the seventh inning against the London Angels today at the European Women’s Cup-Winners Cup in Capelle a.d. IJsell, Netherlands and held on for a 4-3 win.
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Taking results carried forward into account, plus a forfeit win that the Angels gained earlier today against the absent Titans from Botswana, the Angels now have a 2-2 record in their Placement playoff pool (2-5 overall), with one game to come tomorrow (Friday) against the Russian team Kalita.
However, not even a win tomorrow can get the Angels to the Placement final on Saturday morning: the Luzern Eagles and the host team Eurostars from the Netherlands have already locked up their places in that game, as the standings below will show.
Nevertheless, this was one of the best games the Angels have played in the tournament, a hard-fought low-scoring contest that was close throughout.
Marjolein Mekx pitched all six innings for the Angels, while Samantha Jarmusch went seven innings for the Eagles, and both pitchers bent but did not break when they had runners on base. Unfortunately, the Angels spurned more opportunities than the Eagles, with 10 runners left on base to the Eagles’ six.
Tara Henry led the Angels’ offense with three hits, and scored all three of their runs, while Sandy Lauwers, Cheska Ham and Wendy Macias all had RBIs, taking turns to drive Tara home.
Tit for tat
Both teams scored a run in the first inning.
For the Angels, Tara Henry singled to open the game, went to second on a wild pitch, was sacrificed to third by Sandy Lauwers and scored on a single to right centre field by Wendy Macias.
The Eagles replied with a run on singles by Leandra Simitovic and Sarah Edwards sandwiched around an error.
Neither team scored in the second inning; both teams scored in the third.
The Angels scored one when Tara Henry reached on an error, stole second and scored on a single by Sandy Lauwers.
But the Eagles scored two runs to take a 3-2 lead on two walks, a single by Sarah Edwards and an infield RBI single by Danielle ten Donkelaar.
The Eagles added another run in the bottom of the fourth inning, but the fifth and sixth innings were scoreless. So the score was still 4-2 to the Eagles when the Angels came up for their last at-bat in the top of the seventh inning and made a serious bid to tie the game or take the lead.
Inevitably, Tara Henry led off the inning with a single to centre field, and both runners were safe when there was an Eagles’ error on Sandy Lauwers’ ground ball to second base.
Cheska Ham then singled to left field, scoring Tara Henry and moving Sandy Lauwers to second base as the tying run, still with no one out.
Wendy Macias flew out to right field for the first out, but Sandy Lauwers tagged up and advanced to third and Cheska Ham then stole second base. So now the Angels had the tying and lead runs in scoring position.
But Sandy Lauwers was thrown out at the plate on Sterre Duijn’s ground ball to third base, and Griet de Schrijvere, the last hope for the Angels, grounded out to second base.
Scores
Below are the scores from Thursday in the Championship and Placement playoffs:
Championship Playoffs
Wesseling Vermins 11, Royals Grays 0
Joudrs Prague 2, Bollate 1
Sparks Haarlem 16, Atletico San Sebastian 1
Wesseling Vermins 10, Atletico San Sebastian 0
Joudrs Prague 12, Royals Greys 5
Bollate 2, Sparks Haarlem 1 (8 inns)
Placement Playoffs
Eagles 8, BCF Paris 6
London Angels 7, Titans (forfeit)
Eurostars 10, Kalita 6
Eagles 4, London Angels 3
Standings
Below are the Championship and Placement playoff standings after Thursday's games. Results from the first round pools have been carried through to this round.
Championship Group
Bollate (3-1)
Sparks Haarlem (3-1)
Joudrs Prague (2-1)
Wesseling Vermins (2-2)
Atletico San Sebastian (1-3)
Royal Greys (0-3)
Placement Group
Eagles (4-0)
Eurostars (3-0)
London Angels (2-2)
Kalita (1-2)
BCF Paris (0-3)
Titans (0-3)
The schedule, results and standings for the tournament can be seen here: http://competition.europeansoftball.org/2018/capelle/schedule.php.