By Bob Fromer
Oklahoma City, USA: 10 August – The GB Junior Women’s Fastpitch Team split a pair of games on Monday at the WBSC Junior Women’s World Championships in Oklahoma City, edging Argentina 1-0 in the morning, then losing 4-1 to New Zealand in the afternoon.
Sixteen-year-old Georgina Corrick, who pitched GB’s opening game win against Colombia on Sunday, pitched both games today, and was brilliant against Argentina, giving up only one hit while GB scored the only run of the game in the bottom of the second inning on a wild pitch by Argentine starter Ana Paula Larregui. A full report on this game is below.
GB v New Zealand
Against New Zealand, however, the effects of pitching three games in two days began to show, as Georgina Corrick gave up seven hits, three for extra bases, and an uncharacteristic six walks. It was a courageous performance by the British pitcher to hold New Zealand scoreless for the last five innings in the Oklahoma heat after the Kiwis had plated three runs in the top of the first inning, one unearned run in the top of the second and had plenty of baserunners thereafter.
GB’s lone run came in the bottom of the first inning, and the rally featured their only hit of the game, a single to left field by Lauren Evans off New Zealand starter Courtney Gettins, who pitched the first four innings and struck out five GB batters. Amy Begg pitched the final three innings and struck out four. The GB offense only managed to get a couple of runners as far as second base over the last six innings, and never mounted a serious threat.
All of the scoring took place in the first three half-innings of the game.
In the top of the first inning, McKenzie Giles-Martin led off for New Zealand with a walk, which is never a good omen, and Zoe Tolhopf sacrificed her to second. Then came two big blows – a double to left field by Mikayla Wecihiko and a triple to right centre field by clean-up hitter Kayla Rangiawha. That accounted for two runs, and the third came in on a passed ball.
But GB came right back against Courtney Gettins in the bottom of the first inning. Leadoff hitter Chelsea D’Avilar reached on an error, and Laura Hirai put down the first of two successful sacrifice bunts, moving Chelsea to second. She went to third on Lauren Evans’s single to left and scored on a sacrifice fly to centre field by Georgina Corrick.
Unfortunately, that was more offense and more contact than GB could generate over the next six innings.
In the top of the second, New Zealand added what was to be their final run.
Once again the inning started with a walk – this time to pitcher Courtney Gettins. Dallas Potter struck out and then Emma Houkamau put down a bunt that was a little too close to the pitcher. Georgina Corrick knew she had time to get the out at second base, but her throw was a little low and Chelsea D’Avilar couldn’t hold it, so New Zealand had runners at first and second. McKenzie Giles-Martin lined to shortstop for the second out but then Georgina walked Zoe Tolhopf and Mikayla Wecihiko, both on 3-and-2 pitches, to force in a run before striking out Kayla Rangiawha to end the inning.
After that, though New Zealand left the bases loaded again in the top of the fourth inning, Georgina gradually got back in control, striking out five Kiwis over the final five innings while giving up four more hits and two walks but no runs. Behind her, GB played errorless defense and New Zealand couldn’t add to their score.
But what they had was more than enough.
What it means
GB now has a 2-1 record after three games in the seven-team Pool A, and needs at least one more win to have a chance of making the Championship playoffs by finishing as one of the top four teams in the pool.
But Great Britain will face a testing time tomorrow with games against the defending champions Japan at 1.00 pm local time (7.00 pm in the UK) and then against Canada at 5.30 pm (11.30 pm in the UK).
GB’s final pool game, and probably the crucial game for their playoff chances, will be at 1.00 pm local time on Wednesday (7.00 pm in the UK) against China.
All games from the Junior Women’s World Championships can be seen on live webstream at: http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Softball/Events/2015/August/09/XI-WBSC-Junior-Womens-World-Championship/Media/Live-Streaming. However, games cannot be seen on demand until after the tournament is over, and then only the playoff games to be played from Thursday through Saturday.
GB v Argentina
GB’s first game of the day, against Argentina, featured a one-hit pitching performance by Georgina Corrick and a little bit of luck that gave the British a tense 1-0 win.
Argentina’s one hit was a soft fly ball single to right field by lead-off hitter Candela Figueroa in the top of the first inning, and after that, Argentina only got one ball out of the infield against Georgina, who struck out five and hit a batter, but allowed no walks and kept the Argentine hitters off balance throughout the game.
That one hit to the outfield was a soft line drive to right field by Sofia Grimaz, leading off in the top of the fifth inning, but Laura Hirai covered the ground and made a good running catch.
There were two GB errors and one Argentine batter reached on a catcher’s interference call, but the GB infield generally did what they had to do on a series of ground balls and pop-ups and the occasional bunt, which was about all Argentina could manage off Georgina’s pitching. The defense also picked a runner off first base and eliminated another in a well-executed rundown.
As in her 8-1 win on Sunday against Colombia, Georgina threw a very high percentage of first-pitch strikes -- 16 out of 24 hitters -- and 67 of her 92 pitches were strikes. Her average of just over 13 pitches per inning was an economical performance and a key to staying strong in hot conditions.
Argentina used two pitchers, and the decisive run that GB scored in the bottom of the second inning, without the benefit of a hit, came in unusual circumstances off starter Ana Paula Larregui.
As Larregui warmed up for the second inning, the Argentine coach came out and spent a long time with his pitcher, and then came out to the circle once again after she threw two balls to the first GB hitter, Georgina Corrick. The problem was a painful wrist injury to her non-pitching hand.
At any rate Larregui continued, and walked Georgina on a 3-1 count. GB catcher Emmilee Blowers fouled out to the Argentine catcher, and Georgina was out on a force at second on Chelsie Robison’s grounder to second base. But then Amie Hutchison walked, a wild pitch moved the runners up to second and third, Sian Wigington walked to load the bases, and then came another wild pitch and Chelsie Robison slid home ahead of the tag.
At that point, Mo Candelaria Acuna took over the pitching for Argentina and shut out the GB offense the rest of the way, but that one run was all GB and Georgina Corrick were to need.
There were only two strikeouts by GB hitters, both in the bottom of the sixth inning, but while GB batters made plenty of contact against both Argentine pitchers, they only managed three hits and very few hard-hit balls.
GB’s first hit was a sharp single to left field by Lauren Evans in the bottom of the third inning, and it followed Laura Hirai reaching base on a hit-by-pitch with one out. With Georgina Corrick and Emmilee Blowers to follow, that may have been GB’s most serious threat, but both hit short fly balls to the outfield.
The other two GB hits came in the fifth inning: a bunt single by Laura Hirai and a little two-out fly ball single over third base by Georgina Corrick. But Emmilee Blowers bounced into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.
Looking ahead
GB will need more offense as the tournament progresses, and especially when they get to the crucial game against China on Wednesday. After scoring eight runs on 12 hits against Colombia on Sunday, GB only managed three hits in the win over Argentina and just one hit in the loss to New Zealand, and first base player Lauren Evans had two of those four hits.
In 2013, in their first appearance at the Junior World Championships, GB had to play the USA and Canada on Day 1, with predictable results, and they did well to recover from that start and finish ninth out of 16, just missing the playoffs.
This year, the schedule gave GB two South American opponents for their first two games, and both of them were dispatched, putting GB potentially one win away from a playoff slot. But New Zealand, a team that GB beat 6-5 in 2013 despite the fact that the Kiwis went on to finish fourth in the tournament, may have been GB’s best hope for that third win. Getting it from Japan would be a fantasy result and getting it from Canada would be a major upset. Getting it from China may be possible – but then China beat Argentina this afternoon by 15-0.
But this is softball, where you can never quite count your chickens, and this is a good GB Junior Team. Stay tuned….
Standings
Standings after Monday's games are:
POOL A
Japan (3-0)
GB (2-1)
Canada (2-1)
China (2-1)
New Zealand (1-2)
Argentina (1-2)
Colombia (0-4)
POOL B
USA (3-0)
Puerto Rico (2-1)
Mexico (2-1)
Czech Republic (2-1)
Australia (2-1)
Chinese Taipei (1-2)
Italy (0-3)
Brazil (0-3)
Results
The tournament, with 15 countries competing, is starting off with two round-robin pools, one with seven teams and one with eight. The top four teams from each pool will advance to Championship playoffs. Results so far are:
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