Dupnitsa, Bulgaria: August 23 – In a terrific pitching duel between Megan Brown for the London Angels and Spanish National Team pitcher Ane Barandiaran, Bizkorrak of Spain scored an unearned run in the top of the first inning and there was no further scoring until the Angels put together a two-out rally in their last at-bat in the bottom of the seventh to pinch the game 2-1 and advance to Saturday's final in the European Women's B Pool Cup.
The Angels' Joelle Whitley said afterwards: "In 21 years of softball, I don't know if I've ever experienced a more stressful game!"
Bizkorrak will play the Eagles from Switzerland on Saturday morning, with the winner joining the Angels in the final. Earlier this afternoon, the Eagles knocked Les Comanches from France out of the tournament by a score of 7-3.
The London Angels can now finish no lower than second in the competition. But the goal for this team, the successor to the club founded as United Nations Fastpitch by Tanya Price over 10 years ago, will be nothing less than their first European title.
Bad start
Although the Angels had beaten Bizkorrak by a score of 7-0 on the first day of competition, the Spanish team didn't lose another game during pool play, and finished with the same 7-1 record as the Angels. Clearly, Bizkorrak was going to be very hard to beat.
And the Angels, who have received great pitching and timely hitting but have been increasingly profligate in the field as the tournament has gone along, got off to an inauspicious start.
The first Spanish hitter, Olatz Zubia, reached on an error by Kylie Marshall at shortstop and advanced to third on another error by third base player Nadya Pavlova before scoring on a sacrifice fly to left field by Aroia Calvo.
But after that, there was no sign of anything resembling a run for the next six innings.
Megan Brown struck out nine, and Bizkorrak didn't even have another baserunner until the sixth inning. The Spanish team never mounted another threat.
But that 1-0 Spanish lead looked bigger and bigger as the innings went by and the Angels failed to get on the scoreboard -- though they certainly had their chances.
Missed opportunities
Joelle Whitley doubled for the Angels with one out in the second inning and her pinch-runner, Simone Zurschmitten, got as far as third base, but Gerry Leontieva grounded out to end the inning.
In the third inning, two Spanish errors and a stolen base put runners on second and third for the Angels with two out, but Lisanne van den Berg grounded out to short.
In the fourth inning, Megan Brown walked and Rachael Horne reached on an error, and after Rachael stole second, there were runners on second and third with only one out. But Ane Barandiaran reached back for something extra and struck out Gerry Leontieva and Milena Borisova and another chance had gone begging.
Finally, in the bottom of the sixth, Megan Brown tripled with one out. But Joelle Whitley lined out to first and Rachael Horne grounded out to third, leaving Megan stranded.
One last rally
After all that frustration, the Angels were determined to get something in the bottom of the seventh inning. But when Gerry Leontieva led off and looked at a called third strike and then Milena Borisova struck out swinging, it looked like the Angels were doomed to have to play the Eagles from Switzerland – the only team to beat them – in tomorrow morning's semi-final.
But Simona Cellar hit a double to centre field and the Spanish suddenly got nervous. Hopes were still slim but at least the Angels had a chance.
Up next was Nadya Pavlova. She hit a fly ball into shallow right field which the diving Spanish second baseman just failed to catch. Simona came all the way around to score, tying the game, with Nadya taking second on the throw to the plate. Cheers erupted everywhere and the Angels suddenly had life.
Now Kylie Marshall stepped up to the plate, and Kylie has been an offensive machine throughout the tournament. With a 1-and-1 count, Ane Barandiaran threw one down the middle and Kylie did what she always does when a pitcher makes that mistake. She sent the ball soaring into deep centre field, just feet from clearing the high fence. Nadya easily rounded third and scored the walk-off winning run, sending a jubilant Angels' team to the final.
Les Comanches v Eagles
The 3 v 4 Page Playoff game earlier this afternoon was a match-up between Les Comanches from France and the Eagles from Switzerland.
Les Comanches started French National Team pitcher Sarah Benchali, but the Eagles got to her for three runs in the top of the first inning.
Les Comanches scored one run in the bottom of the first inning and tied the score with two more in the bottom of the second. But after Jacquelyn Novak tripled for the Eagles to lead off the third inning and Jennifer Roessler singled Novak home, Les Comanches replaced Benchali with former GB Women's Team Assistant Coach Celine Lassaigne, but the damage was done. The Eagles added another run in the third, shut down the French team the rest of the way and scored two insurance runs in the top of the seventh.
So the Eagles eventually won 7-3, which meant Les Comanches finished in fourth place and the Eagles will play Bizkorrak in the semi-final at 10.30 am Dupnitsa time on Saturday morning for the right to meet the Angels in the 4.30 pm final.
Final round-robin standings
Final round-robin standings after the last pool games were played Friday morning were:
Angels (GB) – 7-1
Bizkorrak (Spain) – 7-1
Les Comanches (France) – 6-2
Eagles (Switzerland) – 6-2
5 - Princ (Croatia) – 3-5
6 - Akademiks (Bulgaria) – 3-5
7 - Szostka Brzeg (Poland) – 3-5
8 - Faros (Greece) – 1-7
9 - Angels (Romania) – 0-8
Since there are no further games for the bottom five teams beyond the round-robin, the standings above show the order in which they have finished in the tournament.
Les Comanches, having lost the 3 v 4 game to the Eagles, will now finish fourth.