by Bob Fromer
Pardubice, Czech Republic: July 30 -- The main field 
where the 2012 European Slowpitch Cup will take place this week in the pleasant town of Pardubice, east of Prague, is the Krtkova Arena, which appears to translate as "Arena of the Moles". A walk across the lawn of the housing estate next door will tell you why....
The second field, a mile or so away, is a converted football practice field next to the town's speedway stadium, and will be used sparingly during the round-robin phase -- but it has the advantage of the stadium's bar and restaurant for use by teams when they play there.
Chromies are here to represent Great Britain and to defend the title they won last year. They could have been joined by Pioneers as 2011 Premier Nationals winners, but too many Pioneers managed to get their hands on Olympic tickets and the team had to give up its place.
Play will get underway tomorrow morning and continue through the week, with Page Playoffs for both the top and bottom four teams (a new innovation for the ESF, based on a British suggestion) on Friday afternoon and Saturday.
Strong challenge
Chomies overcame some early losses to win the tournament last year, and will have their hands full this year in an eight-team field -- a new record for this competition. Two teams from the Czech Republic will head the challengers -- league winners DNAce and the host club Pasos Pardubice -- and they will be joined by previous European Cup winners Dodder Dynamoes from Ireland, Lisicke from Slovenia, Askoe Linz Bandits from Austria, Sunville Tigers from Belgium and UCE Travellers from Germany.
Chromies won't appreciate opening the tournament at 9.15 am tomorrow on the second field against DNAce, and playing there again at the same time on Wednesday against Askoe Linz Bandits, since Chromies are not always a great morning team. But they will need to be if they don't want to give away too much ground in the early running.
The European Slowpitch Cup has always been a tournament played in a great spirit of friendship, and this year's tournament will no doubt be the same. But there should also be some excellent softball, and Chromies will have to work hard to repeat last year's triumph.
Reports
Play-by-play from all games can be found on the ESF website (www.europeansoftball.org), and there is a lot of information on the tournament website (eccs2012.softball.eu).
Daily reports on the Chromies games and the tournament in general will appear on this website.