by Bob Fromer
Rosmalen, Holland: July 27 -- Today's final second
round game against Croatia was the last chance for the GB Junior (Under-19) Women's Fastpitch Team to salvage something from the 2012 European Junior Championships, but when Croatia jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning, a happy ending didn't look very likely. After all, this was a GB team that had scored only two runs in its last three games, and was looking incredibly vulnerable on defense to the short game.
But some two-and-a-half hours of incident-packed softball later, it was GB that emerged on the right end of a 10-8 scoreline, in one of the wilder games of softball these Championships have produced. As a result, GB will play off for fifth place tomorrow against the Czech Republic, and while that wasn't the aim coming in, a fifth place finish would represent something of a triumph for a GB Team that has lost its #1 starting pitcher for most of the tournament due to illness and has relied on a brave and dogged performance from pitcher Ellie Pamenter to keep them in games.
Ellie has pitched all but one
inning of the last four GB games, and during the last couple of innings against Croatia, she was running on fumes. But a brilliant if unusual double play got GB out of a massive jam in the sixth inning when a 10-5 GB lead had been narrowed to 10-8, and more good defense closed out the Croatians in the seventh.
But if the GB defense came good in the end -- and three double plays were massive lifesavers -- there were also dodgy moments on defense by both teams, some terrible baserunning by Croatia, and a general air of tension bordering on panic for much of the game. "Those kind of games aren't much fun to play in," GB shortstop Amy Wells said afterwards, and it was also a rollercoaster ride for the British fans -- mostly parents and other relatives -- who have made the trip to Holland and were thrilled to see the GB Team show the fight and determination needed to come from behind.
Basic story
The basic storyline was this:
Croatia had clearly watched the Germans dismantle the GB defense yesterday with bunts and speed, and set out to do the same thing in the top of the first inning -- with even more success than the Germans had managed. Yesterday, the Germans scored two in the opening frame; today the Croatians scored four, thanks to a bunt single, a three-base throwing error on an attempted force play and three more singles that just eluded GB fielders. While GB had only the one error recorded in the scorebook, the defense basically fumbled its way through that first inning like rabbits in headlights.
GB then scored single runs in the first, second and third innings to chip away at the lead. Ellie Pamenter drove in the first inning run with a sacrifice fly; Susie Hall pushed a ground ball to the right side to score Chloe Wigington in the second inning; and Amy Wells hit the first of two triples to centre field in the third inning and scored on a groundout by Sara Robb. Croatia also scored in the third, and so it was 5-3 Croatia when GB came to bat in the bottom of the fifth.
The Croatians might have been further ahead by then, but GB pulled off a rally-killing double play in the third inning on a pop fly back to Ellie Pamenter, who doubled Croatian starting pitcher Timana Eupanic off first base; and another in the top of the fifth when Chloe Wigington snagged a line drive at third base and fired across the diamond to double up the unlucky Eupanic again.
And that's when GB gave the Croatians some of their own medicine. Ten GB players came to the plate in the bottom of the fifth, there were bunt singles by Vicky Keswick and Chloe Wigington, a two-RBI triple by Amy Wells, an RBI double lined off the first base player's glove by Jodie Rushin, a single by Ellie Pamenter and two panicky Croatian throwing errors. It all added up to seven GB runs, giving Britain a 10-5 lead with two innings to play.
Hanging on
No one, however, believed that GB was going to see the game out without trouble in those last two innings, and trouble wasn't long in arriving when the Croatians batted in the top of the sixth. A tiring Ellie Pamenter was starting to aim her pitches by then and walked Nika Skopic to start the inning. Anja Radezic struck out, but the short game came back to haunt GB as Katarina Prsicalo beat out an infield hit and Michaela Haramina beat out a bunt to load the bases.
Ellie Pamenter quickly slipped two strikes past Iva Seric, but then threw too fat a pitch and Seric lined a single to right-centre, scoring two. An ill-advised throw to the plate allowed Haramina to move up to third and Seric to second and Haramina scored when Amy Wells threw low and late to first on a bouncer in the hole by Ema Vrancic. The score was 10-8 and the lead was looking decidedly shaky.
And that's when GB pulled off their third, best and most unusual double play of the game.
It began with a wild pitch that eluded catcher Jodie Rushin. Iva Seric started to come in from third, but Jodie recovered the ball quickly and Seric hesitated. A quick throw to Ellie Pamenter put Seric in a rundown, and the final throw was from Jodie Rushin to third base player Chloe Wigington, who applied the tag halfway up the baseline, then turned and fired a strike to Amy Wells, covering third base, who tagged out the trail runner, Ema Vrancic.
It was a brilliantly executed play by everyone involved, and it probably won the game for GB.
Ellie Pamenter walked leadoff hitter Timana Eupanic to open the Croatian seventh, and she advanced to second when Chloe Wigington made a wonderful stop and throw to get Nadja Keranovic at first. But then Eupanic, who deserves some kind of medal for baserunning futility, made her third costly mistake of the game. When Dorotea Benetea hit a bouncer to Amy Wells, Eupanic strayed too far off second base. Amy fired to Sara Robb at second, and Sara, with a great fake throw, froze Eupanic and then tagged her out.
Nika Skopic then hit a bouncer to Chloe Wigington, who took her time and made a perfect throw to first to bring the excitement to a close.
Final placings
With the tournament now winding down, placings in the bottom half are settled and only the order of the top eight teams remains to be decided tonight and tomorrow.
The top four teams that will contest the Page Playoff are the Netherlands and Russia, who will play the 1 v 2 game this evening. Earlier, Germany and Italy will play the 3 v 4 game and the loser will be fourth.
Tomorrow, Croatia and Spain will play for seventh place at 9.00 am and GB will play the Czechs to decide fifth place at 12.30.
Over on the main pitch tomorrow, the loser of Netherlands v Russia will play the winner of Italy v Germany, and the loser will be third.
Then the Grand Final will be played at 3.00 pm.
In the bottom half of the tournament, the final placings from 9-15 are:
9 - France
10 - Belgium
11 - Ukraine
12 - Israel
13 - Austria
14 - Denmark
15 - Lithuania
It should be noted, however, and certainly has been by the Austrians, Danes and Lithuanians, that Israel didn't win a game in the tournament, and are only 12th because they were in an initial round-robin group with only three teams and wound up as a third place team for second round playoff purposes. If anyone deserves the Wooden Spoon, it's certainly Israel.