By Donald Morris-Vincent
Tuesday 12 July -- It was a day of contrasts today for the GB Team on Day 1 of the European Co-ed Slowpitch Championship in Ljubljana, Slovenia. A game of ruthless attack netted GB a mercy rule win over the Netherlands this morning but a tight game against Germany this afternoon ended in a loss.
GB v Netherlands
People who were in the Stadium BSK Jezica in Ljubljana at 9.00 this morning local time witnessed the savaging of the Netherlands by a wide-awake and supremely efficient GB team in the opening game of the European Co-ed Slowpitch Championship. The Netherlands was subjected to the mercy rule after four torrid innings with the score standing at GB 23, Netherlands 2.
GB scored in every inning, at first in small bunches, but then 14 runs in the top of the fourth inning killed off the game. GB had 22 hits to go with their 23 runs and also had the benefit of seven walks from two Dutch pitchers.
Meanwhile, GB pitcher Dan Spinks gave up only seven hits and just the two runs that the Dutch managed to score in the bottom of the third inning.
The first two innings followed a similar pattern. GB, batting first, would put runs on the board in flurries of singles and the Netherlands would reply to the pitching of Dan Spinks with fly outs, no runs and single players left on base. The score after two innings was GB 6, Netherlands 0 – a good start but nothing like a safe lead in a high-level slowpitch game.
When GB added three more runs in the top of the third inning the Netherlands responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the frame, scoring via singles and a sacrifice fly to make the score GB 9, Netherlands 2.
So how did GB respond to the two runs the Dutch had scored? By sending 18 batters to the plate in the top of the fourth inning, scoring 14 runs and shutting down the game.
I could list the singles and doubles put up by Steve Hazard, Mike MacDowell, Megan Beard, Jennifer Ball, Chiya Louie and others in the final inning – each of whom had three hits in the game -- but here are the key statistics: as a team GB batted .710 and had an on-base percentage of .763 in tearing the Netherlands apart.
After that GB onslaught in the top of the fourth inning, the Dutch managed to put three runners on base with two in the bottom of the inning before Tim Oosterveld lined out to third to end yet another scoreless inning, and the game.
Final score: Great Britain 23, The Netherlands 2.
After the game, Coach David Lee said, “it was a statement game. You can't ask more than to mercy by 21 runs in four innings. The plan is working!”
GB v Germany
Germany, the only team other than GB to have won the European Co-ed Slowpitch Championship, having beaten GB into second place in 2017, was always likely to be a tougher prospect than the Dutch, and so it proved in a tight game that Germany controlled almost all the way through.
The game started with three runs for the Germans on the back of four singles and two walks in the top of the first inning against GB pitcher Joe Grantham.
In the bottom of the inning, Robbie Studholme led off with a double and scored on an outfield error, but despite a subsequent one-out double by Steve Hazard, two fly outs ended the inning with only one run scored. After an inning, it was Germany 3, GB 1.
In the second inning, there were three fly outs for the Germans clustered around a single, but GB decided to vary their outs with a fly out, a swinging strike out and a ground out to also score zip.
In the top of the third inning, Joe Grantham, looking settled, pitched a three-up, three-down fly out inning. Buoyed by this, GB scored four runs in the bottom of the third on the back of doubles from Robbie Studholme and Mike MacDowell, singles from Jenny Ball, Megan Beard Steve Hazard and a sacrifice fly from Chiya Louie. It was now GB 5, Germany 3.
But in the top of the fourth inning Germany’s Max Zerhusen doubled to bring in two runs and level the score.
Not to be outdone by Joe Grantham, Germany’s pitcher Wolfgang Walther then had a four-up, three-down inning in the bottom of the fourth to keep the score level: GB 5, Germany 5.
But after that, momentum swung to the Germans.
In the top of the fifth inning Wolfgang Walther singled to left field, and was pushed to second by Barbara Herzgen, who singled to left centre. The fun then ended for Walther, who was out at third base on a fielder’s choice, but three singles, a walk and another fielder’s choice allowed the Germans to score four runs before the inning came to an end. It was now Germany 9, GB 5, and in what was looking like a low-scoring game, GB were playing catch-up.
Although Chiya Louie smacked a triple to score Steve Hazard and Mike MacDowell then hit a sacrifice fly to score Chiya in the bottom of the fifth inning, two quick outs followed to leave the score at Germany 9, GB 7.
Top of the sixth inning, and to add to the pressure on GB Tom Kupczik hit a three-run inside-the-park home run. But good fielding restricted the Germans to only those runs.
In the bottom of the sixth, two German errors and a Steve Hazard double scored two precious runs for GB, but that only cut the German lead to 12-9.
Although Jonas Habicht hit another inside-the-park home run to lead off the top of the seventh inning, a strike out, a fly out and ground out then set the Germans down in order. But GB was now coming up for their last at-bat trailing 13-9.
However, all they managed in the bottom of the seventh was a one-out single by Megan Beard. Pinch-hitters Chris Yoxall and Amy Rice flew out and the Germans had the win.
Final score: Germany 13, GB 9.
David Lee said, “it was a tough loss – we just couldn't string enough hits together. But we’re not worried. We know we're a lot better than that and it just means we go up the gears for the next games. No let up!”
Tomorrow, GB will play winless Austria at 9.00 am local time (8.00 am in the UK) and will then have another tough game straightaway against the Czech Republic at 11.30 local time.
As the GB Men’s Slowpitch Team found in their recent European Championship, the standard may be a little higher here and the competition a little tougher than in European slowpitch tournaments in the recent past. But the GB Slowpitch Men, despite also losing on the first day, came back to win their tournament, and the GB Co-ed Slowpitch Team will be confident that they can do the same.
Scores and standings
Scores from the opening day of the European Co-ed Slowpitch Championship were:
GB 23, Netherlands 2 (4 inns)
Ireland 17, Serbia 4 (6 inns)
Slovenia 13, Austria 5
Belgium 21, Serbia 4 (6 inns)
Germany 13, GB 9
Ireland 9, Belgium 8
Czech Republic 10, Netherlands 1
Germany 14, Austria 5
Czech Republic 28, Slovenia 12
The tournament is being played as a single nine-team round-robin from today through Friday. After the round-robin has concluded, the ninth-place team will be done and the remaining eight teams will play on Saturday for places.
The top two teams from the round-robin standings will play the gold medal game, the next two will play the bronze medal game, the next two will play for fifth place and the final two will play for seventh place. So where GB winds up in those round-robin standings will really matter.
The three medal-winning teams will quality for the 2023 WBSC Slowpitch World Cup.
Round-robin standings after Day 1 are:
Ireland (2-0)
Germany (2-0)
Czech Republic (2-0)
Slovenia (1-1)
GB (1-1)
Belgium (1-1)
Austria (0-2)
Netherlands (0-2)
Serbia (0-2)