by Bob Fromer
Rosmalen, Holland: July 26 -- When you bring a squad 
of only 12 players to a major European Championship, and then your best pitcher is too ill to pitch more than one inning and your catcher pulls a back muscle and then you have players playing out of position against a team that knows your weaknesses and is prepared to exploit them -- well, you may have a few too many obstacles to overcome.
Thus the GB Junior (Under-19) Women's Fastpitch Team at the European Junior Championships today, when the team played Germany in a game that GB had to win to retain any chance of finishing in the top three places here and qualifying for next year's Junior World Championships.
Moreover, this was a German squad that had 
done its scouting homework, and knew that a relatively inexperienced GB team (all our youth teams are inexperienced; we never get to play enough competitive games) would be vulnerable to bunts, slaps and speed.
All of this added up to another rough afternoon for the GB Juniors and a 7-0 German mercy rule win in five innings.
The best that Team GB can now hope for would be a fifth place finish, but this is still a target worth shooting for -- it would be GB's highest-ever placing in this competition and four places better than in 2010 in Vienna.
Illness
The GB Juniors' #1 pitcher, Carling Hare, had come to this tournament fresh from playing with the GB Women's Team in the Canadian Open Championships and World Championships in Canada, and her final outing there had been two effective innings against the team that went on to win the World Championships, Japan.
Carling was hoping to achieve big things in this tournament, but she also brought with her from Canada an ear and throat infection that has got worse over time rather than better. So while Carling did pitch GB's opening victory on Monday, the 14-0 win over Israel, she hasn't felt up to pitching since, and starting her today against Germany was very much a gamble.
Germany's opening at-bat in the first inning was a long one, three of the first four hitters put down bunts, Carling herself made a wild throw to first on one of them, and by the end of the inning the Germans had two runs on the board and Carling was suffering physically and had to come out of the game.
Her replacement, Ellie Pamenter, had thrown the previous two games against the Czechs and the Dutch, and had pitched well without reward. Ellie did the same again here, but the GB defense cost her a run in the third inning that made the score 3-0, and the GB offense was just about non-existent throughout the game.
And then, in the last of the fourth inning, the Germans went on the attack, with the first five hitters recording three hits, two walks and four runs, including a steal of home when a confused GB infield simply wasn't paying attention. Visions of a very ugly inning were looming, but then Germany's Helena Crowell lined to Sara Robb at third base, Sara threw to Vicky Keswick at second for a double play, and suddenly all was quiet again on the Western Front. But the Germans had their 7-0 mercy rule style lead, and even though Chloe Wigington bounced a single up the middle with one out in the top of the fifth for GB's lone hit against two fairly ordinary German pitchers, it wasn't enough to stave off the end. Susie Hall and Jodie Rushin struck out to end the game.
The fact that Jodie was still playing was noteworthy in itself. Jodie was GB's starting catcher, but pulled a back muscle running out a ground ball in the top of the third. She caught one more inning, but then had to finish the game in right field since GB had only one player left on the bench by that point and had to guard against a further injury.
Slim margins
A pared-down GB Team came to this tournament with enough talent in key positions to do well, especially in a year in which there seems to be no dominant team here, apart perhaps from the Dutch. But for GB to fulfil its potential was always going to require that all 12 players were healthy, that the team avoided defensive mistakes, that they played with aggression and confidence and that they had a reasonable helping of luck.
Since none of these things have been the case, GB currently stands with a 1-3 record. But tomorrow's last second round game is against Croatia (who lost to Germany 16-0 on Wednesday), and if GB can beat the Croatians, they will play off for fifth place on Saturday, possibly against the Czech Republic, a team GB should have beaten on Tuesday (but didn't).
There is still plenty to play for -- just not as much as the GB Team had hoped.