Dupnitsa, Bulgaria: August 22 – Winning a game 2-1 when you commit six errors and your opponents don't commit any is no easy feat, but that's what the London Angels pulled off at lunchtime today in the European Women's B Pool Cup, defeating the dangerous Les Comanches from France.
This was followed by a slightly more routine 7-3 win late this afternoon over the Croatian team Princ, though the Angels did have to come from two runs down after four innings. But the Angels have now completed pool play with a 7-1 record and will go into the Page Playoff that begins tomorrow afternoon as the #1 seed and will likely play Bizkorrak from Spain in the 1 v 2 game.
This means that the Angels are guaranteed a medal in the competition, as they cannot finish lower than third.
Angels v Les Comanches
The reason the Angels were able to beat Les Comanches despite averaging almost an error per inning was clutch pitching.
GB Women's Team pitching coach Megan Brown gave up only two hits, didn't walk anyone, struck out eight and continually got her defense off the hook.
And she did so most dramatically in the top of the seventh inning, with the Angels defending that slender 2-1 lead. A hit, an out, and then a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt put the tying run on third and the winning run on second for Les Comanches with just one out. But Megan struck out Margaux Magnee on a called third strike and then Camille Lemaire struck out swinging and catcher Lisanne van den Berg fired the dropped third strike down to first base to give the Angels had a very precious win.
Les Comanches countered Megan Brown with French National Team pitcher Sarah Benchali, and she threw an excellent game, giving up just three hits and walking one.
Extra-base hits
But Benchali was undone by two huge extra-base hits by the Angels: a triple over the centre fielder's head by Lisanne van den Berg in the first inning that drove in Simona Cellar, who had opened the game with a single; and a massive double to right centre field by Megan Brown in the fourth inning that drove in Kylie Marshall, who had received Benchali's lone walk to lead off the inning.
That was all the scoring and all the offense the Angels could muster, as they went up and down in order in every other inning.
Thanks to all those Angels' errors, the French side had baserunners in every inning except the second and sixth, but the only run they were able to score – inevitably unearned – came in the top of the fourth inning when Sophia Zouine singled, went to second on a ground out and scored on yet another throwing error by an Angel infielder.
But apart from that one breakthrough, Megan Brown snuffed out every other scoring threat by the French team, who had Sarah Jones from the GB Women's Team at second base.
Les Comanches are also liable to make the Page Playoffs, though this defeat will probably condemn them to fourth place in the round-robin group. They are likely to play the Eagles from Switzerland in the single-elimination 3 v 4 game tomorrow, whereas the Angels can lose a game and still remain in the tournament.
Angels v Princ
For much of this game, the final game for the Angels in pool play, the team from Croatia threatened to make it an anti-climax as they built up a 3-1 lead at the end of four innings.
But the Angels mounted a two-out rally and scored four runs on four hits, two errors, two stolen bases and a pair of wild pitches in the bottom of the fifth inning, then added two more in the sixth to make the game safe.
Kylie Marshall started for the Angels and pitched the first five innings, giving up all three Croatian runs (two unearned) on four hits and five walks while striking out three. Megan Brown took over in the sixth inning to nail the game down and pick up the save, pitching two perfect innings and striking out five of the six batters she faced, ending the game with a swinging strikeout of the Croatian team's wonderfully named Barbara Killer.
At this point in the tournament, Megan is the runaway leader in strikeouts with 51, while the second-placed pitcher is 20 strikeouts behind.
For Princ, Tihana Zupanic pitched a complete game and gave up nine hits and two walks while striking out five. But her defense committed five errors behind her (the Angels committed three), and six of the Angels' seven run were unearned.
Slow start
The Angels opened the scoring, as they have so often in this tournament, in the first inning. Milena Borisova doubled to right field with one out and scored on Lisanne van den Berg's single.
Princ tied the score with an unearned run in the top of the third inning. Barbara Killer singled to centre with two out and scored when Tihana Zupanic's fly ball was dropped in left field. The throw home was too late to get Killer, but the throw back to second by Angels' catcher Simona Cellar nailed Zupanic.
In the next inning, the Croatians scored twice more to take a 3-1 lead. Ema Vrancic walked with one out and scored on a triple by left fielder Tira Keranovic, who later scored on an error.
Coming back
At this point, the Angels could see the #1 record in pool play that they had worked so hard for slipping away, and they tried to start a comeback in the bottom of the fourth inning. But despite a single and a Croatian error, the Angels had Nadya Pavlova cut down at the plate and the score remained the same.
Instead, the breakthrough came in the fifth inning, but at first it didn't seem very likely. There were two outs and only Simona Cellar on second base when it all fell apart for Princ. Kylie Marshall singled, Lisanne van den Berg reached on an error with Simona scoring, and then Kylie Marshall scored on the front end of a double steal. Lisanne van den Berg went to third and then home on wild pitches, Nadya Pavlova walked and went to second on another wild pitch, and then scored on a single by Rachael Horne.
Suddenly, everything had changed and the Angels had a 5-3 lead, with Megan Brown now in to do the pitching.
The Angels added a final two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on singles by Catherine Kirby, Vasilka Georgieva and Lisanne van den Berg, mixed in with an error, a stolen base and a walk. But Megan Brown didn't really need the extra runs as she mowed the Princ batters down in the sixth and seventh innings.
While the Angels have finished their pool games, and can rest until the Page Playoff starts on Friday afternoon, all of the other eight teams will play a final pool game on Friday morning. But none of them can catch the Angels, who will go into the Page Playoff as the team to beat.
Round-robin standings
Standings at the end of the Day 4 of the nine-team round robin are:
Angels (GB) – 7-1
Bizkorrak (Spain) – 6-1
Eagles (Switzerland) – 5-2
Les Comanches (France) – 5-2
Princ (Croatia) – 3-4
Szostka Brzeg (Poland) – 3-4
Akademiks (Bulgaria) – 2-5
Faros (Greece) – 1-6
Angels (Romania) – 0-7