By Bob Fromer
Oklahoma City, USA: 12 August – So near and yet so far…. Georgina Corrick pitched another wonderful game against a top team at the WBSC Junior Women’s World Championships this afternoon, but a 2-1 loss to China means that GB will miss the playoffs.
In a tense pitching duel between Georgina and China’s Ping Fan, the British team had five hits to China’s four, neither team committed an error and Georgina had 10 strikeouts to six for Ping Fan. Both pitchers walked only one and both pitchers hit an opposing batter.
But two of China’s hits were a triple in the bottom of the fourth inning by left fielder Liu Yanmin and a double in the bottom of the fifth inning by catcher Xu Junyi, both driven to the fence in left centre field. Both of these batters scored – but not on subsequent hits, walks or errors. In each case they scored on a passed ball.
GB run
GB’s five hits were all singles, three of them by shortstop and lead-off hitter Chelsea D’Avilar, and two of those hits never left the infield. But Chelsea’s third hit – a slow ground ball to second base that she beat out in the top of the fifth inning -- drove in catcher Emmilee Blowers with the only British run. Emmilee had singled to right centre field with one out, moved to second when Sian Wigington was hit by a pitch and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Alana Snow.
That run tied the score at 1-1 after China had taken the lead – on the triple and passed ball – in the bottom of the fourth inning.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, China scored again – on the double and passed ball – and threatened to add more, as Georgina Corrick struggled with her control for the only time in the game. With China now 2-1 ahead and with Chinese runners on second and third and only one out, Georgina struck out Li Xueting on a 3-and-2 pitch, then had a long and agonising duel with China’s #3 hitter, Xu Yi, who fouled off eight straight pitches with the count again at 3-and-2.
Finally, Georgina threw something a little slower, and Xu Yi hit an easy bouncer to Sian Wigington at second base.
GB went down in order in the top of the sixth, and in the bottom of the sixth, Georgina Corrick had her strongest inning of the game, striking out Li Yanmin, Wang Bei and Xie Jiaxin on 12 pitches.
GB had one last chance to save their playoff hopes in the top of the seventh inning, and there was a final bit of hope.
Emmilee Blowers drew the only walk of the game issued by Ping Fan with one out, and moved to second – and potentially into scoring position -- on Sian Wigington’s groundout. That brought Alana Snow to the plate – but Alana struck out on a ball off the outside corner and a very relieved Chinese team had their win and their playoff place.
What it means
Had GB beaten China, and had China lost to Japan in their final pool game later on Wednesday (as they did, 19-0), then GB would have finished fourth in Pool A and would have made the playoff cut. As it is, they have finished fifth, as the final standings below illustrate. The top four teams have made the playoffs.
POOL A
Japan (6-0)
Canada (5-1)
China (4-2)
New Zealand (3-3)
GB (2-4)
Argentina (1-5)
Colombia (0-6)
Final standings in Pool B are:
POOL B
USA (7-0)
Mexico (5-2)
Czech Republic (4-3)
Puerto Rico (4-3)
Australia (3-4)
Chinese Taipei (3-4)
Italy (2-5)
Brazil (0-7)
Unlucky
It has to be said that the GB Junior Women’s Team has played exceptionally well at this tournament, except perhaps on offense. And even then, none of the pitchers the GB players have faced have dominated them; GB batters have consistently made contact and have had fewer strikeouts than their opponents in almost every game – which is yet another tribute to the brilliant pitching and poise of Georgina Corrick. But GB hits have been scattered, and rallies have been few. Since the 8-1 win over Colombia last Sunday, GB has scored just three runs in five games.
In that context, losing by just 4-0 to World Champions Japan, 4-0 to Canada and 2-1 to China in their last three games is both thrilling and bitterly disappointing.
A lot of GB fastpitch teams experience that so-near-and-yet-so-far syndrome, and maybe part of the reason is the unique disadvantage of never being able to train and practice together as a team until just a few days before a tournament, even a World Championship.
Perhaps it’s the lack of competition that the GB-based players suffer, never seeing enough good pitching in games that matter.
But one thing is for sure. With the clock starting to tick down towards a possible Euro/Africa Olympic Qualifier in 2019 for Tokyo 2020, it’s clear that there are a lot of very good young players in the British Senior, Under-19 and Under-16 teams right now who might just peak in four years’ time if our national team programme can find the resources to support better and more consistent preparation.
An important role in making that happen may fall to some of the parents of GB players, who consistently travel around the world to support their daughters and our teams, and who are there in force again in Oklahoma City.
Looking ahead
Meanwhile, this tournament isn’t over. The GB Juniors will now go into Placing Playoffs where the bottom seven teams – three from Pool A and four from Pool B – will effectively play quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final.
GB’s quarterfinal will be at 6.30 pm Thursday in Oklahoma (12.30 am Friday in Britain) against the bottom team from Pool B, Brazil.
If GB loses that quarter-final game, their tournament is over. If they win, they will play a semi-final at 6.30 pm Oklahoma time on Friday (12.30 pm Saturday in Britain), but the opponent is anyone’s guess.
Win that semi-final, and there will a Placing Final – effectively a game to determine ninth place – at 1.00 pm (7.00 pm in the UK) on Saturday.
All games from the tournament are webstreamed live on http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Softball/Events/2015/August/09/XI-WBSC-Junior-Womens-World-Championship/Media/Live-Streaming, and previous games now seem to be available on demand.
Results
All round-robin results except for the remaining games to be played today (Wednesday) are set out below, with the latest results shown first:
Wednesday 12 August
POOL A
Japan 9, Argentina 0
China 2, GB 1
Canada 7, New Zealand 0
New Zealand 7, Colombia 0
Japan 19, China 0
POOL B
Italy 2 Puerto Rico 1
Chinese Taipei 7, Brazil 3
Czech Republic 1, Australia 0
USA 16, Mexico 0
Puerto Rico 4, Chinese Taipei 1
Italy 5, Brazil 2
USA 7, Czech Republic 0
Mexico 2, Australia 1
Tuesday 11 August
POOL A
Japan 4, GB 0
Canada 7, Argentina 0
China 5, Colombia 0
New Zealand 5, Argentina 0
Canada 4, GB 0
POOL B
Czech Republic 5, Italy 0
Mexico 4, Chinese Taipei 1
USA 16, Brazil 0
Puerto Rico 4, Australia 1
Chinese Taipei 2, Czech Republic 0
Australia 10, Brazil 0
USA 7, Puerto Rico 2
Mexico 6, Italy 5
Monday 10 August
POOL A
GB 1, Argentina 0
Japan 5, Canada 0
New Zealand 4, GB 1
China 15, Argentina 0
Japan 20, Colombia 0
Canada 10, Colombia 0
China 3, New Zealand 0
POOL B
Czech Republic 3, Brazil 2
USA 20, Italy 0
Australia 7, Chinese Taipei 6
Puerto Rico 10, Mexico 1
Puerto Rico 7, Brazil 0
Mexico 1, Czech Republic 0
Chinese Taipei 1, Italy 0
USA 6, Australia 1
Sunday 9 August
POOL A
GB 8, Colombia 1
Canada 11, China 1
Argentina 12, Colombia 0
Japan 7, New Zealand 0
POOL B
Czech Republic 1, Puerto Rico 0
Australia 5, Italy 2
Mexico 2, Brazil 1
USA 10, Chinese Taipei 0