By Donald Morris-Vincent
Thursday 16 June -- Great Britain, in need of a win to secure second place in the group stage at the European Men’s Slowpitch Championship in Colorno, Italy, staged two late-game rallies to overcome Ireland by 14-13 this in what was very much a ‘game of two halves’.
This was GB’s only game today, and having played at 9.00 am for the third day in a row, they were then able to put their feet up to wait for other teams to conclude the initial round-robin stage of the tournament and see how the playoffs will line up.
GB's win over Ireland, and The Netherlands’s subsequent win over Germany, means that the Netherlands finish first in the round-robin standings and GB second. Italy's win over Belgium today means that they finish fifth and winless Belgium will be sixth. However, third and fourth place were only determined this afternoon by a playoff game between Ireland and Germany, which Ireland won by 12-9. So for purposes of the playoffs and the second round-robins that start on Friday morning, Ireland finished third and Germany fourth.
GB 14, Ireland 13
Things got off to a quick start for Ireland, who posted three runs in the top of the first inning with no reply from GB when Chris Yoxall’s apparent home run to right centre field in the bottom of the inning was ruled a ground rule double, cancelling out two RBIs.
In the top of the second inning, Ireland widened their lead to 7-0. John Dolan hit a three-run home run to deep right field against GB starter Roger Grooms, and this was followed by an inside-the park-home run from Eric Kelly to add one more.
From that point, GB were playing serious catch-up.
The first comeback started with two on and two out in the bottom of the second inning when a sweet outside pitch to Roger Grooms allowed him to single to right field, driving in Duncan Waugh and Adam Hugill. GB were on the board, but still behind by 7-2.
The next two innings were fairly quiet. Ireland failed to score in either the third or the fourth inning – but the only reason they were shut out in the top of the fourth was an excellent 9-4-6-2 relay that allowed catcher Chris Yoxall to tag out Brian Hehir at the plate to snuff out a potential inside-the-park home run.
Meanwhile, GB had pulled back two more runs in the bottom of the third.
With two out, a shortstop error allowed Chris Yoxall to reach and advance to second. Then Josh Smith singled to right field to score Chris and a single from Duncan Waugh scored Josh. Now the deficit was only 7-4.
The next inning, the fifth, was the key to the game, and it began badly for GB.
A two-out rally by Ireland in the top of the inning featured a rat-a-tat of singles and doubles, and the result was five runs that took Ireland’s lead to 12-4.
But GB weren’t daunted and staged a crucial rally in the bottom of the inning, scoring seven runs on hits by Robbie Studholme, Chris Yoxall, Josh Smith, Tom Russell, Adam Hugill, Roger Grooms, and a two-run home run to left field by pinch-hitter Joe Grantham. GB had closed the gap to one run: Ireland 12, GB 11.
Roger Grooms then backed up that rally with a key shutdown inning in the top of the sixth, despite giving up a couple of singles.
The question in the bottom of the sixth was: did GB still have the momentum with them? The answer was a double by Matt Tomlin, a single from Mike MacDowell and then Chris Yoxall’s clutch two-run double that put GB ahead for the first time in the game. A single by Duncan Waugh followed, scoring Chris, and GB even had a bit of breathing room, with a 14-12 lead.
Great Britain now had just one job -- hold the Irish to one run or less and win the game. Dan Spinks took over the pitching from Roger Grooms to nail it down.
But of course things got tense. A double, a single, and a sacrifice fly scored Colin McDonnell to reduce GB’s lead to 14-13. But Brian Hehir was the second out on a diving catch by second baseman Duncan Waugh, and Duncan then hauled in John Dolan’s fly ball for the third out and the ball game.
Scores and Standings
Scores so far from the final games in the tournament’s initial round-robin are:
GB 14, Ireland 13
Netherlands 20, Germany 15
Italy 8, Belgium 5
Third-place playoff game:
Ireland 12, Germany 9
This means that final standings going into Friday's playoffs are:
1 -- Netherlands
2 -- GB
3 -- Ireland
4 -- Germany
5 -- Italy
6 -- Belgium
Playoffs
At this stage, all six teams are still in with a chance of winning the tournament.
On Friday, the top three teams from the standings above (Group E) and the bottom three teams from the standings (Group F), will each play a three-team round-robin.
For GB, this means a game against the undefeated Netherlands at 9.00 am Italian time (8.00 am in the UK) on Friday and then a game against Ireland at 1.00 pm Italian time. Gb will be looking for revenge for their 17-2 defeat by the Netherlands on Tuesday, but will also want to put a marker down for a possible final against the Dutch on Saturday
On Saturday, the three teams from Group E plus the team that tops Group F will play a Page Playoff, seeded according to Friday’s results, while the bottom two teams in Group F will play off for fifth place.
Confused…?
The Championship game – the final game in the Page Playoff – will start at 5.00 pm Saturday Italian time (4.00 pm in the UK) and should be available to watch on a single-camera webstream here:
Will GB be in that Championship game? Based on results so far, it certainly can’t be guaranteed!