Dupnitsa, Bulgaria: August 20 – The London Angels Women's Fastpitch Team picked up two more wins today at the European Women's B Pool Cup in Dupnitsa, Bulgaria to run their record to 4-0 after two days of play.
The wins guarantee that the Angels will head the table tonight, with the only other unbeaten team, Szostka Brzeg from Poland, just behind them on 3-0.
This morning, Kylie Marshall pitched all five innings against the Bulgarian team Akademiks as the Angels rolled to a 10-3 mercy rule win, and Kylie shared the pitching this afternoon with Megan Brown as the Angels shut out their namesakes, the Angels from Bucharest in Romania, by 4-0.
This is the best start the Angels have had in a European Cup competition, and with four pool games to go, their chances of getting to the last four and the Page Playoff are looking good.
Angels v Akademiks
The Angels were happy to draw the first game of the day for the second time in a row, since by the middle of the day in Dupnitsa the temperature is reaching 30 degrees but it feels even hotter on the field.
The British team only out-hit the Akademiks from Bulgaria by 6-5 in this game, but the real story was seven errors for the Bulgarians to none for the Angels.
And the Angels took their chances while the Bulgarians failed to take theirs.
Angels' starter Kylie Marshall gave up five hits (four of them in the first inning), walked five, hit a batter and threw two wild pitches, but the Bulgarians were only able to score a pair of runs in the top of the first inning and one more in the fifth.
In the first inning, the Bulgarians might well have scored more if the Angels hadn't pulled off a double play catching two runners trying to steal.
Meanwhile, the Angels immediately turned that 2-0 deficit into a 5-2 lead with five runs in the bottom of the first inning, thanks to three hits but four Akademiks errors. Kylie Marshall continued her torrid hitting with a double down the left field line, and she was backed up by a single from Nadya Pavlova and a double from Joelle Whitley, but all five Angels' runs were unearned.
The game settled down after the first inning and there was no further scoring until the bottom of the fourth. That's when the Angels came up with five more runs on three hits and three more errors to put the game beyond the reach of the Bulgarians, with the score now 10-2.
Milena Borisova got things started with a one-out single, and there were further singles from Kylie Marshall and a two-RBI single up the middle by Rachael Horne, but throwing errors by the Bulgarians and a failure to get outs when the ball was in the infield made it a long and costly inning for the Akademiks. The Angels batted around, and in fact Joelle Whitley made the first and last outs of the inning, both times hitting the ball back to Bulgarian pitcher Iliyana Trencheva.
In the top of the fifth inning, the Bulgarians tried hard to avoid the mercy rule and take the game to the sixth inning, and got some help from Kylie Marshall, who walked three (one intentionally), threw two wild pitches and hit a batter to force in a run.
But with two out, Teodora Simeonova flied out to left field to leave the bases loaded and allow the Angels to get off the field in five innings with a 10-3 win.
Kylie Marshall again led the Angels' offense, going 2-for-2 with a walk and two RBIs, and is making a determined assault on the tournament's Best Batter Award in the early going.
Angels v Angels
Kylie Marshall pitched scoreless four innings to get the win and Megan Brown pitched three scoreless innings to get the save as the London Angels shut out the Angels from Bucharest in Romania 4-0. Between them, Kylie and Megan combined for ten strikeouts and only allowed four hits over seven innings.
The London Angels picked up 10 hits off Romanian starter Niculina Cainar, who pitched a complete game, with Lisanne van den Berg and Joelle Whitley getting two hits each and Joelle driving in three runs. Kylie Marshall finally cooled off and went 0-for-2 with a walk and a run scored.
The game was scoreless through the first three innings, but the London Angels broke the deadlock with a run in the top of the fourth. Megan Brown led off with a triple to the fence in left field and scored on a single up the middle by Joelle Whitley.
Three more runs in the top of the fifth inning made the game safe. Lisanne van den Berg singled to centre with two out, then Kylie Marshall walked and Megan Brown was intentionally walked to load the bases. A wild pitch brought in Lisanne, and then Joelle Whitley singled down the left field line to drive in Kylie and Megan.
After that, the Romanian Angels managed only two baserunners over the last three innings on an error and an infield single, and the London Angels had their fourth straight win. But some challenging games will be coming up over the next two days.
Standings
The tournament table at the end of play on Tuesday is as follows:
London Angels (GB) – 4-0
Szostka Brzeg (POL) – 3-0
Bizkorrak (ESP) – 3-1
Les Comanches (FR) – 3-1
Eagles (Sui) – 2-1
Faros (GR) – 1-3
Princ (CRO) – 0-3
Angels (ROM) – 0-3
Akademiks (BUL) – 0-4