By Ian Tomlin
Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada: 13 July – The GB Men’s Team finally put a win on the board yesterday at the WBSC Men’s Fastpitch World Championship with a 24-1 victory over Turkey, who are making their first-ever appearance in the competition.
This was the game that GB were always going to win on paper, but in sport you can always have an Icelandic moment and the British team wanted to avoid another defeat.
There were some obvious nerves at the start, but with the Turkish pitcher, Cansin Etgu, pitching a modified slow pitch and struggling to throw strikes, GB batted around the order to put seven runs on the board in the top of the first inning.
Turkey’s response in their half of the inning was to score their only run of the tournament so far, and when catcher Ramazan Alakaoz crossed the plate, there was a celebration by the Turkish players and by the crowd, who were willing on the newcomers.
Runs at last
GB’s player-coach Kevin Stockford led off the game with a walk, and moved to second on a passed ball. Regan O’Neill then hit a line drive single and Luke Peters copied his feat, bringing home Kevin Stockford for GB’s first run of the tournament.
Then things almost went wrong, as James Darby grounded into a double play started by third baseman Hamza Tas with a slick pick-up.
But Neil Davies steadied nerves with a single and a stolen base, Ieuan Gale drew a walk from a pitcher who was obviously struggling, and so did Kelvin Harrison, which bought home GB’s second run.
Doubles from Matt Tomlin and Amit Aswani then bought in four more runs and a base hit from Kevin Stockford bought in GB’s final and seventh run of the inning.
Turkey fight back
Regan O’Neill was the GB pitcher for this game, and immediately gave up a single to opening batter Ramazan Alakaoz.
Two quick ground ball outs followed, but then a two-out rally looked possible as consecutive singles from shortstop Oguz Ates and second baseman Murat Pazan brought home Alakaoz with Turkey’s own first run of the competition.
But that was all the Turks were to get.
More runs
In the second inning, Turkey changed pitchers, bringing in Mehmet Saki Yildirim.
Yildirim appeared a little more competent, but the speed of the pitch did not stop the GB offense taking their opportunities.
Neil Davies drew a walk to open the top of the second inning, as did Ieuan Gale. Kelvin Harrison then drove a triple to right centre field to bring both runners home.
Matt Tomlin popped up to shortstop for the first out, but then Amit Aswani walked, Kevin Stockford doubled and a home run from Regan O’Neill bought the score to 13-1.
GB scored one more run in the inning before James Darby give himself up to a tag by shortstop Oguz Ates, and a fly ball by Ieuan Gale was caught by the Turkish centre fielder to end the inning.
Regan O’Neill quickly dispatched Turkey’s three batters in the bottom of the second inning with two strikeouts and ground out to first to put GB back in to bat.
Final inning
Errors by the Turkish newcomers were a feature in the top half of the third inning as GB piled on the pressure, scoring 10 more runs.
There were two singles from Kevin Stockford plus base hits from Neil Davies, Ieuan Gale, Kelvin Harrison, Matt Tomlin, Kyle Linton and Regan O’Neill, doubles from Tom Priscott and Luke Peters and home runs from James Darby and Kelvin Harrison.
This brought GB’s total to 24, and then GB runners were then instructed to leave base early to end the inning.
Two ground balls by Turkish hitters in the bottom of the third inning, sandwiched around a strikeout, ended the game on the mercy rule.
The win put GB seventh in Pool B, but they will face a very strong Venezuela side in today’s final round-robin game, whose only defeat in the tournament came on a forfeit when they arrived too late for their opening game.
Standings
The standings after the first six days of play at the WBSC Men’s Fastpitch World Championship are:
POOL A
Canada (6-0)
Australia (4-2)
Argentina (4-2)
USA (4-2)
Dominican Republic (3-3)
South Africa (2-4)
Hong Kong (1-5)
India (0-6)
POOL B
Japan (5-1)
Venezuela (5-1)
New Zealand (5-1)
Botswana (3-3)
Denmark (3-3)
Czech Republic (2-4)
Great Britain (1-5)
Turkey (0-6)