Avigliana, Italy: 17 August – The British club team The Mix, competing this week at the European Women’s Cup, had a tough start on Monday, losing to one of the tournament’s top-rated teams, but recovered with two wins on Tuesday to put themselves back into medal contention.
The Mix came up against the Vienna Wanderers in the first game of the tournament at 9.00 am on Monday morning and were faced with ex US-college pitcher Racqual Espinoza, who gave up only two hits and struck out six in a 7-0 five-inning win for the Wanderers.
On Tuesday, however, The Mix pulled off two good wins, beating the host team Avigliana Rebels by 8-4 in the morning and then mercy-ruling Angels Dupnitsa from Bulgaria in the afternoon by 11-4 in five innings.
As a result, The Mix have hauled themselves back into medal contention after two days of play, with three more days of round-robin games to come in the nine-team tournament before bronze and gold medal games are played on Saturday.
The round-robin table as of Wednesday morning looked like this:
Chicaboos (Belgium) – 3-1
Avigliana Rebels (Italy) – 3-1
The Mix (GB) – 2-1
Vienna Wanderers (Austria) – 2-1
Panthers Wroclaw (Poland) – 2-1
Angels Dupnitsa (Bulgaria) – 1-2
Odense Giants (Denmark) – 1-2
Princ Zagreb (Croatia) – 0-3
Soders Softball (Sweden) – 0-3
Monday -- Vienna Wanderers 7, The Mix 0 (5 innings)
A 9.00 am start against a top American ex-college pitcher proved a tall order for The Mix, who came out on the wrong side of a 7-0 shutout.
Racqual Espinoza surrendered only two hits to The Mix in five innings of work – a first-inning single by Chelsie Robison and a line drive single leading off the third inning from Kat Golik. The only other baserunners for The Mix came on a walk to Amie Hutchison in the top of the fourth inning and a hit-by-pitch that sent Kat Golik to first base in the top of the fifth.
The Mix were able to get only two runners as far as second base as Espinoza pitched an efficient game, getting through five innings on just 82 pitches, 57 of them strikes.
Mary Murray also pitched well for The Mix, but the Wanderers chipped away with single runs in each of the first three innings before a four-run outburst in the bottom of the fifth inning brought the score to 7-0 and ended the game at that point on the mercy rule.
The Wanderers’ first run, in the bottom of the first inning, came on an error.
In the bottom of the second inning, the Wanderers added a second run on three singles, but further damage was avoided when a great throw from Mix centre fielder Megan Beard led to Matilda Gantner being caught in a rundown between second and third base which The Mix executed well.
In the bottom of the third inning, a single, a walk and a sacrifice fly produced a third Austrian run.
One of the better chances for The Mix to score in what was still a close game came in the top of the third inning when Kat Golik led off by lining a hard single to centre field and moved to second on a beautiful sacrifice bunt by Mix newcomer Lotte van der Weide. But Gayle Khoenkhoen went down swinging and Chelsie Robison lined out to third base.
The bottom of the fifth ended up being one of those innings that just got away from The Mix, with the Wanderers ultimately scoring four runs – enough to end the game on the mercy rule -- on a walk, a couple of singles that found their way through the infield and a harsh call on a play at home plate.
Despite the scoreline, The Mix could take plenty of positives from the game: some great at-bats, good defense and hard work from the whole team against a team that is one of the favourites to medal. The Mix were able to look forward to Tuesday with confidence – and that confidence was justified.
Tuesday -- The Mix 8, Avigliana Rebels 4
Long-time Mix stalwart Anna-Be Bartels pitched a strong game against the host team, holding the Avigliana Rebels scoreless over the last five innings, and The Mix had 10 hits against three Rebels’ pitchers and scored in four of their seven innings in an 8-4 win.
At the end of two innings the score was tied at 4-4, but after that, Anna-Be Bartels allowed the Italians only two singles and two baserunners over the final five innings as The Mix pulled away with two runs in the top of the third inning and single runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
Chelsie Robison with three hits, and Sian Wigington with two, led the attack for The Mix, but Holly Newell contributed a double and Amie Hutchison a triple, and Amie had four RBIs.
After having been shut out the previous day against the Vienna Wanderers, The Mix hit the ground running in this game with four runs in the top of the first inning.
Anna-Be Bartels reached on an error, Chelsie Robison singled, Barbara Killer walked to load the bases, and then Amie Hutchison unloaded them with a three-run triple to centre field. Amie then scored on a groundout by Megan Beard and The Mix had a 4-0 lead.
However, the Italians cut the lead in half with two runs in the bottom of the first inning on two singles, a walk and two sacrifice flies hit by sisters Dall’o and Agro Arianna, and tied the score in the bottom of the second inning on a couple of singles and an error.
After that, however, Anna-Be Bartels kept the Italian offense under wraps while The Mix continued to score.
Two Avigliana errors led to two unearned runs for The Mix in the top of the third inning and gave them the lead back at 6-4.
In the top of the fifth inning, an infield hit by Sian Wigington and a double to left field by Holly Newell took the lead to 7-4.
And in the top of the sixth inning, Chelsie Robison singled for her third hit of the game, took second on a wild pitch, went to third on a groundout and scored on Amie Hutchison’s sacrifice fly to make the lead 8-4 – which turned out to be the final score.
Tuesday -- The Mix 11, Angels Dupnitsa 4 (5 innings)
This was a close game that blew up for Angels Dupnitsa at the end, when The Mix scored six runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take the score from 5-4 to 11-4, which brought up the mercy-rule win.
In fact, The Mix should probably have settled the game earlier: they had 17 hits against Angels pitcher Vera Esmeijer, led by Anna-Be Bartels, who went 5-for-5, while Megan Beard and Crista Reed-Thomas had three hits each, and left 12 runners on base. The Mix did score in four of the five innings, but only in ones and two until their fifth-inning explosion.
Amie Hutchison pitched all five innings for The Mix, and though the Bulgarians had eight hits, Amie struck out six and didn’t issue a walk.
Both teams scored twice in the first inning. Angels Dupnitsa got their two runs on three singles plus a stolen base; The Mix plated two on a lead-off single by Anna-Be Bartels, a sacrifice by Mary Murray, a Bulgarian error and a triple by Megan Beard.
After Amie Hutchison held Angels Dupnitsa scoreless in the top of the second inning, two more runs in the bottom of the frame gave The Mix a 4-2 lead.
Cristra-Reed Thomas led off with a single, moved up second on a sacrifice by Emanuela Vischetti and to third on a fly out. Singles by Anna-Be Bartels and Mary Murray, sandwiched around a Bulgarian error, brought in the two runs.
Both teams scored single runs in the fourth inning to take the score to The Mix 5, Angels 3, and the Angels added a run in the top of the fifth on two singles and two stolen bases to close the gap to 5-4.
Then, suddenly, a thriller became a laugher as The Mix scored six times in the bottom of the fifth inning for the walk-off mercy-rule win.
With one out, Anna-Be Bartels singled, Chelsie Robison doubled down the right field line and Mary Murray was walked intentionally to load the bases. That strategy backfired when Amie Hutchison singled to right field to bring in two runs and Megan Beard singled to centre field for two more.
Four more singles followed, two of them infield singles, by Lotte van der Weide, Crista Reed-Thomas, Barbara Killer and Anna-Be Bartels, and Anna-Be’s single drive in Lotte with the run that made the score 11-4 and ended the game.
The Mix, who won a silver medal at this tournament in 2019 and came fifth last year in the aftermath of the pandemic, were back on track.
On Wednesday, The Mix will have one game – at 1.30 pm local time against the Croatian team Princ Zagreb, followed by doubleheaders on Thursday and Friday.