by Bob Fromer
Whitehorse, Canada: July 13 -- The GB Women's Fastpitch 
Team needed a quick and successful start in their opening game here today at the 13th ISF World Championships, because there is very little margin for error in a tough Group B if the GB Team is to finish in the top four in the group and make the playoffs.
Instead, GB got off to the worst possible start against traditional European rivals Italy. Two first inning errors and another play that should have been made but wasn't gave the Italians a 2-0 lead after one inning, and that's how things stayed until another two errors gave the Italians two more runs in the sixth inning and a 4-0 win.
All four Italian runs were unearned, as GB pitcher Stacie Townsend gave up only four hits, walked none, struck out six and deserved a better fate.
Lack of offense
But the GB offense was silent against the Italians once again: this was the fourth straight game between the two teams, going back to 2009, in which GB has failed to score, and the Italians had won the three previous games by scores of 1-0.
Today, GB managed only two hits -- a bunt single by Karlene Headley-Cooper in the third inning and a single to right field by Amy Moore in the fourth -- and Stacie Townsend and Kristi Yoshizawa both drew walks off Italian starter Mara Pappuci, who pitched all seven innings and struck out nine GB hitters.
The only GB scoring threat came in the fourth inning, when Amy Moore opened the inning with her base hit to right, stole second base, and then Stacie Townsend drew her walk. But Laura Thompson failed to get down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners up, and when they did advance to second and third on a groundout by Morgan Parkerson, there were two outs and the inning came to an end when Sarah Jones hit a soft liner to shortstop.
Last chance
Tomorrow, GB take on Chinese Taipei at 2.00 pm on the main field at the Pepsi Softball Centre, and this now becomes a must-win game if the GB Team is to keep their playoff chances alive. The only time the teams have played each other was at the 2010 World Championships in Venezuela, where the Taiwanese were a bit lucky to win 3-0, and GB will certainly have chances to win tomorrow. But they will have to take them.
If not, then the only route to the playoffs will involve beating one or more of Japan, Canada or Australia, and that's not a situation the GB Team would be in by choice.
Opening Ceremony
The GB-Italy game, which began at 3.30 this afternoon, was followed by the tournament's Opening Ceremony. At the last two World Championships, in Beijing in 2006 and Caracas in 2010, there were expensive,extravagant and long Opening Ceremonies featuring music, mass dancing, historical tableaux and (in Venezuela) the spirit of Simon Bolivar on a white stallion.
But this is Whitehorse (population 26,000), and while the 16 teams lined up on the field still made a colourful spectacle, most of the ceremony consisted of a guy bouncing up and down in the bed of a pick-up truck exhorting the crowd to applaud the teams as they entered the field, followed by the obligatory official speeches. Danny Boyle and London 2012 it was not.
Other results
The full results on the opening day at the World Championships were as follows:
Pool A
Puerto Rico 4, Czech Republic 2
USA 7, Venezuela 0
China 3, Netherlands 2 (8 innings)
Pool B
New Zealand 7, Mexico 3
Japan 3, Australia 1
Italy 4, GB 0
Canada 6, Chinese Taipei 0