By David Morris
Weiner Neustadt, Austria: 2 August -- Both British teams competing in the European Slowpitch Super Cup in Austria ended the first day of play on Monday leading their respective groups with two wins apiece.
London Chromies 10, Mannheim (Germany) 9
The British national champion Chromies squeezed out a 10-9 win against Mannheim early on Monday morning, with a solid hitting game sandwiched between shaky fielding at either end of the contest.
Two infield errors put Mannheim runners on base in the top of the first inning, but pitcher Pat Hoey steadied things and shortstop Danny Gunn engineered a double play to end the inning with no damage.
In the bottom of the first, the Chromies put runners on the corners and Moera Flett hit a sacrifice fly to right centre field, putting the London side on the board. Then David Lee stepped up and smacked a two-RBI home run over the fence to put the Chromies 3-0 up heading into the second inning.
Both teams went down in order in the second. Mannheim batters aimed squarely at right field in the top of the third inning, but reckoned without the superb Michael O'Sullivan at second base, who took care of two hitters himself before the next line drive skidded just past him. However, Michaela Sulcova caught up with a deep fly ball at the right field fence to keep Mannheim from scoring.
The Chromies got the bats out in the bottom of the third inning, with David Lee and Enmanuel Estevez both hitting two-RBI home runs and Moe Flett's RBI double to centre field ending the scoring with the Chromies 10-0 up and cruising. But as they had now used up their allowance of three home runs, a ground rule on the second field, Chromies now had to adapt and keep the ball in the park for the rest of the game.
Cracks appeared in the fourth inning as the London team possibly relaxed a little too much, allowing Mannheim to respond with four runs despite another impressive double play orchestrated by Michael O'Sullivan, now playing shortstop.
Chromies tried to re-mount their offense in the bottom of the fourth, but catcher Hannah Pitman was tagged out at second trying to capitalise on a bad throw to first, and George Bartlett and Natalie Bailey-Clouston both flew out.
Mannheim then shortened the difference still further in the top of the fifth inning on a two-run home run by Thomas Kettner.
The game hinged on the top of the sixth inning, when an RBI double for Mannheim reduced the Chromies’ lead to 10-7. Mannheim then proceeded to load the bases with one out and the go-ahead run at the plate. The batter hit the ball weakly back to pitcher Pat Hoey, but what should have been a routine 1-2 play was somehow dropped at home, reducing Mannheim's deficit to just two runs with the bases still loaded and one out. The next batter hit the ball towards first base, where Marketa Sulcova gunned a throw home to force the runner coming from third. The next batter hit a deep fly ball to right centre field but Emmanuel Estevez was there and the inning ended with the Chromies somehow still ahead by 10-8.
Chromies failed to score in the bottom of the sixth, and Mannheim had their final chance in the top of the seventh. A catch in deep right centre by Michaela Sulcova and a ground ball to Michael Sullivan at short produced two outs, but Mannheim turned up the heat when Thomas Kettner hit another home run to centre field to make the score 10-9. But Stefanie Theismann flew out, leaving the Chromies to breathe an enormous sigh of relief and put up their first win.
H2O 27, Akademics Sofia (Bulgaria) 10​
An impressive H2O put Akademics Sofia to the sword at lunchtime to pick up a win in their first game of the tournament.
In an eventful first inning, Akademics took the lead on a three-run home run before Claude Snape knocked down a fierce line drive towards first base, then stepped on the bag to end the inning.
H2O immediately responded by batting right through the order, as the Akademics pitcher struggled to find the strike zone, giving up two walks and allowing numerous line drives and bloopers that frustrated the Bulgarian fielders. Annie Dubovec had a two- RBI double to centre field, and a looping hit just beyond third base by Pippa Saul-Harrah scored another two to put H2O 7-3 ahead at the end of the first inning.
H2O pitcher Brad Gilmour was dominant throughout, curving and knuckling his way through the game and leaving the Akademics hacking and popping up to the infield -- although a dropped catch on the warning track by Tjasa Skabar which should have ended the top of the second inning instead became a two-run triple.
But the bottom of the second inning brought more of the same as H2O again batted around, kick-started by Chris Yoxall’s monster solo home run into the trees way beyond the fence. Good discipline at the plate earned a further three walks for H2O, who picked their pitches well and put a further six runs on the board.
Akademics were not giving up, and pulled one back in the top of the third inning. But with runners on first and second, Mike MacDowell made a running catch on a bloop fly ball for the third out.
Captain Roger Grooms began to ring the changes and introduced new faces at first, second and shortstop in the bottom of the third inning, and a two-RBI sacrifice fly by Stewart Butcher put H2O ahead by 15-6.
Defiant, the Bulgarians rallied with two two-run home runs in the top of the fourth before Neil Silvester made a running catch in left field for the third out.
Sensing a way back into the game, Georgiana Handjiska took over the pitching for Akademics and they switched to a three-player outfield with a rover in shallow centre field to try to contain the H2O hitters. However, two walks and several line drive hits, with Andraz Skabar and Katherine Golik driving in two runs each, brought the score to 21-10 going into the fifth inning.
Roger Grooms then came in to pitch, and had no trouble shutting out Akademics, leaving Andraz Skabar to smash a grand slam home in the bottom of the fifth to cap a six-run rally and end the game early, with H2O winning by 27-10.
London Chromies 14, Sparks Mlade Buky (Czech Republic) 8​
While H2O were enjoying their first game, Chromies played out their second game of the day on Field 2. In a much-improved performance, Chromies were 10-1 up by the fifth inning, with pitcher David Lee keeping the Sparks batters in check.
Michael O’Sullivan continued to impress, with a hand in two more double plays, while David Lee helped his cause with a two-run homer.
Danny Gunn effectively put the game out of Sparks’ reach with a grand slam in the sixth inning to put Chromies up by 14-5 and the game ended at 14-8.
“We are having a great tournament so far, but playing on the smaller field with a three home run limit today has made us work hard with our hitting,” said David Lee. “We are confident going into our games tomorrow and hope to remain unbeaten in the group stage. And we definitely look forward to a playoff game with H2O!”
H2O 19, UCE Travellers (Germany) 4​
Another strong outing for H2O saw them destroy the defending European Slowpitch Cup champions UCE Travellers in six innings, and again it was a combination of lethal offense and precision pitching.
Roger Grooms toed the rubber for this game and was involved in numerous plays, with his wicked knuckleball tying the Travellers in knots.
Already 5-2 up after the first inning, the defensive combination of Roger Grooms and Kirstie Leach at first base repeatedly frustrated the Travellers through the early part of the game.
But this was a whole-team performance, and H2O extended their lead in the top of the second inning when Claude Snape drilled a single to left field and was brought home by a deep home run by Chris Yoxall. Chris excelled again in the bottom of the inning, diving to grab a hard-hit ball to shortstop -- but arguably the play of the game came from Annie Dubovec, making an athletic catch in left centre field to keep H2O ahead at 7-2.
There were solo home runs from Andraz Skabar, Mike MacDowell and Chris Yoxall over the next four innings. H2O then loaded the bases in the top of the fifth and Stewart Butcher come off the bench to hit a grand slam to right centre field, much to his teammates’ delight. H2O finished the inning 17-3 up.
The Travellers tried to claw their way back into the game with aggressive base running, but it backfired when Felix Schwan was tagged out at second base trying to stretch a single.
H2O increased their lead in the top of the sixth inning with another solo home run from Neil Selvester, and Roger Grooms completed an excellent game with an RBI triple, taking the score to 19-3 going into the bottom of the sixth.
The Travellers’ Wolfgang Walther managed to clear the fence but it was not enough to keep them in the game, which ended on the mercy rule at 19-4 at the end of the sixth inning.
Coming up​
On Tuesday, H2O will take on DNAce from the Czech Republic and TNT from Ireland, while the Chromies will play the Afterburners from Belgium and Linz from Austria, after which the pool standings will start to take shape.
After more pool play on Wednesday, the tournament will enter the playoff stage.
The weather looks set to be bright and breezy, as it was on Monday, and both British teams will look for more success on the field as the tournament progresses.
Photos by David Morris