The 2016 GB Select Team, made up of players from the GB Senior and Under-19 Women’s Fastpitch squads, won their second straight international competition on the weekend of 2-3 July at Farnham Park, going undefeated to take the trophy in the annual London Cup tournament.
.png)
This tournament, and the GB Invitational that was played on 25-26 June at Farnham Park, were designed to give the players in the GB Select Team competition experience before the upcoming Women’s World Championships in Canada this month and the European Junior Championships in Spain at the beginning of August.
Over the course of the two tournaments, during which teams came to the UK to compete from the United States, Germany and France, the GB Select Team won 10 games without loss, and won the majority of their games on the mercy rule.
More importantly, however, the tournaments gave GB players and coaches based in this country, plus three GB players who came over from the United States to play in the tournaments, the opportunity to play games together before the important international competitions that GB teams will be attending over the next few weeks.
Small event
The London Cup was originally meant to be a five-team event, but an Under-18 team from Pennsylvania and the Danish National Women’s Team unexpectedly pulled out in June, leaving only three teams – GB Select, the London Angels and the French club team BAT Paris – to contest the tournament.
Fortunately, the teams had to endure only a few minutes of rain on Saturday and then had a beautiful day for play on Sunday.
During the double-round robin that was completed Sunday morning, the GB Select team defeated both the Angels and BAT Paris twice, and the Angels won both their games over BAT Paris.
In the first GB v Paris game, the French team managed only two hits against guest pitcher Anna-Be Bartels from Holland as GB won 8-1, and in their second meeting Amie Hutchison (for three innings) and Anna-Be Bartels (for one inning) threw a combined no-hitter as GB Select won 14-0.
Women’s Team outfielder Kendyl Scott, Under-19 pitcher Amie Hutchison and Women’s Team infielder Amy Wells were the offensive stars for GB Select, as Kendyl went 8-for-11, Amie 7-for-12 and Amy 9-for-16 over the four round-robin games played.
Kim Hannessen pitched and batted well for London Angels in their 11-1 first win over BAT Paris, and Barbara Killer kept the French team under control in their second meeting, which the Angels won 13-3 after scoring seven runs in the first inning, thanks mainly to a triple and double from Marketa Sulcova and doubles from Kim Hannessen and Joelle Whitley.
Anais Abbou, Sylvia Bukowski and a guest pitcher from the Dutch League, New Zealander Tyla Morrison, led the French attack, especially when playing the Angels rather than GB Select!
Playoff
Given that the London Angels had managed those two rather easy wins against BAT Paris on Saturday, the result of their playoff game on Sunday morning to see who would meet GB Select in the final came as something of a shock.
The game was close and fairly low-scoring throughout, as BAT Paris pitcher Tyla Morrison threw her best game of the tournament, and at the end of seven innings the teams were tied at 2-2.
The international tiebreak was used as the teams entered the eighth inning, where each team starts their at-bat with a runner on second base, and both teams scored twice in the eighth to maintain the tie at 4-4. Singles by Tyla Morrison and Flor Gil brought in the two runs for BAT Paris, and a bunt single by 14-year-old GB player Michelle Shaw, guesting for the Angels, was the key hit in their half of the inning.
But BAT Paris broke the game open with five runs in the top of the ninth inning on a double by Barbara Malrieu, a single by Tyla Morrison, a walk and two Angels’ errors, and the Angels could only score one in the bottom of the ninth in reply.
So it was BAT Paris who met the GB Select team in the final.
The final
With Tyla Morrison back in the circle for the French team, opposed by Amie Hutchison for GB Select, this game was also close and low-scoring, at least for a while. But it was not without incident!
The French team, who had managed only two hits and one run against GB Select in two round-robin games, started the final by loading the bases with no outs in the top of the first inning on a walk, an infield error and a fielder’s choice on which GB failed to get an out. But Amie Hutchison drew a deep breath and got Anais Abbou to hit a bouncer to third that Chloe Wigington threw home for the first out. Amie then used her drop ball to good effect to strike out Tyla Morrison and Flor Gil, and GB escaped unscathed.
Speed at the top of the order was then responsible for the two runs that the GB Select Team posted in the bottom of the first.
Amie Wells reached on an error, Hannah Burge beat out a grounder to second base and Chelsie Robison pushed a perfect bunt single towards shortstop on which Amy scored and Hannah came all the way around to third, where she later scored on a wild pitch.
The French made the game 2-1 in the top of the third inning without the benefit of a hit. The GB Select Team, who were not as sharp in the field as they had been the previous weekend, committed two infield errors and a groundout by Anais Abbou brought in the run.
But GB immediately countered with a run in the bottom of the third inning to restore their two-run lead. Hannah Burge drove a hard single to left field, and when the ball skipped under the glove of left fielder Macha Buneau, Hannah came all the way around to score.
Neither team scored in the fourth inning, although Anna-Be Bartels came in with two out and one on to replace Amie Hutchison in the top of the inning, and Anna had to work out of a jam in the top of the fifth.
The French team then sent in sidearm-throwing Kim Diamond to replace a tiring Tyla Morrison for the bottom of the fifth inning, and that opened the way for GB Select.
Hannah Burge and Chelsie Robison greeted the new pitcher with singles, and then two French errors, a bunch of stolen bases and a single by Laura Hirai brought in four runs and made the score 7-1 for GB.
The French pulled one of those runs back in the top of the sixth inning on singles by Charline Ladarre and Barbara Malrieu, but the coup de grace came with two more GB runs in the bottom of the sixth that made the score 9-2 and brought the mercy rule into play.
Hannah Burge drove a single to right field for her fourth hit of the game and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Ammie Hutchison. Anna-Be Bartels then singled Hannah home, took second on the throw to the plate, and stole third and the next batter, Chloe Wigington, smashed a single down the left field line to drive in Anna-Be with the winning run.
Thanks – and good luck!
The tournament was very well umpired by BASU Umpire-in-Chief Jes Sandhu, Darrell Pitman, and two umpires who flew into the UK at their own expense to call the tournament – Rita Cueppens from Belgium and Lewis Hamilton from Sweden.
The tournament’s individual awards all went to GB Select players. Kendyl Scott was the Best Batter, Anna-Be Bartels the Best Pitcher and Amie Hutchison the Most Valuable Player.
As part of the Closing Ceremony, Vicky Hall from the GB Management Committee was given the 2016 Glover Cup award, announced at the BSF AGM back in February, for outstanding long-term service to softball.
Now the players and coaches from the GB Select Team have bigger fish to fry.
On Monday 11 July, the GB Women’s Team will meet up in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada to play in the largest-ever Women’s World Championship, with 31 countries competing. The GB Team will be planning to climb back into the world’s top 12 and will be hoping for a top-eight finish.
Towards the end of July, the GB Under-19 Women’s Team will arrive in Sant Boi, near Barcelona, for the European Junior Championships, where they will be looking to improve on their fourth-place finish in 2014 and win GB’s first-ever medal at this event.
Hopefully, for the players and coaches who took part in the GB Invitational and the London Cup at Farnham Park, the experience will stand them in good stead for the sterner tests ahead.
London Cup Results
ROUND-ROBIN GAMES
GB Select 8, BAT Paris 1 (5 innings)
London Angels 11, BAT Paris 1 (5 innings)
GB Select 10, London Angels 4
GB Select 14, BAT Paris 0 (4 innings)
London Angels 13, BAT Paris 3 (4 innings)
GB Select 10, London Angels 6
ROUND-ROBIN STANDINGS
GB Select (4-0)
London Angels (2-2)
BAT Paris (0-4)
2 v 3 PLAYOFF GAME
BAT Paris 9, London Angels 5 (9 innings)
FINAL
GB Select 9, BAT Paris 2 (6 innings)
Photos by Simon Mortimer