By Mike MacDowell
Plant City, Florida: 18 November -- The GB Slowpitch Team progressed to the latter stages of the double-elimination knockout round at the WBSC Slowpitch World Cup on Saturday, but took a hard route and now sit one loss away from elimination.
Nevertheless, the team is still in a good position to make a run for the final and still has a chance of walking away with the gold medal.
Reaching this point was not easy, however, as GB beat Curaçao Two as expected, then lost a close game to the Bahamas before beating Germany to set up a rematch with either Curaçao One or Curaçao Two, who played each other after GB’s last game.
Championship Sunday awaits the GB team, but they will have to play and win four back-to-back games to lift the trophy as winners, with each game they play progressing the colour of the medal they can take home.
GB 20, Curaçao Two 3
As in the game these two teams had played on Thursday, this was a tale of two (or more) pitchers, as Mark Bowman shut down the Curaçao offence and three Curaçao pitchers struggled to throw strikes to GB hitters, who were patient in the box and took numerous walks throughout the game.
In reality, this was little more than a warm-up game for the GB team to prepare them for the challenge of the Bahamas later in the day. The game ended early with the score 20-3 in GB’s favour when Curaçao Two conceded and declined to take the field in the bottom of an inning.
Joe Grantham had a couple of good plays at second base in this game, including jumping for a rushed throw that pulled him off the bag yet still managing to tag the runner before they reached second base.
Bahamas 14, GB 9
When GB had faced the Bahamas two days previously in the tournament, a single inning of Bahamian batting had put them out in front and then they had managed to stay there.
This contest resembled that one, except that GB was the team with a single big inning. Unfortunately, in this instance, it was not enough to make up for the consistent scoring of the Bahamas team.
The Bahamas pitcher threw a good game, consistently throwing pitches that looked good to the GB hitters but dropped shorter than expected, with the result that batters were hitting pop-ups or fly balls that were easily corralled by the Bahamas outfielders.
Mark Bowman pitched a gem for GB, allowing only a single home run to a Bahamas line-up filled with power hitters. But some errors from GB fielders extended some innings, as did an unusual call from the umpires which saw a potential inning-ending play turn into a single out and the placement of a runner on second – at which point the next batter hit the ball out of the park to score both runs.
GB found themselves in an 11-run hole going in to the top of the last inning and though they managed to score six runs on some good line drive hitting and hard baserunning, it was too little, too late and they succumbed to their second loss of the tournament to the Bahamas and their only allowed loss in the knockout stage.
Crista Reed-Thomas had two clutch hits in the game, but this was not enough as GB lost 14-9. This meant that GB faced an elimination game against a familiar foe: Germany.
GB 17, Germany 3
So it came to a repeat of two years ago at this tournament, when GB faced Germany in a loser-is-eliminated game under lights for the right to continue in the competition. And like two years ago, GB came out on top while Germany were left to rue putting themselves in a position where they had to beat GB in an elimination game.
GB started quickly. Pitcher Matt Tomlin largely controlled the German hitters in the top of the first inning, and though he made an error on a throw to first base, escaped the inning with no extra damage as the Germans scored only two runs. The response from GB was swift and provided enough run-support for Tomlin in the bottom of that inning, with 10 hitters coming to the plate and six runs posted on the scoreboard.
The German team now uses analytics and tactics to try to gain an advantage, moving fielders and trying to pitch to specific spots to get hitters to get themselves out. But with the talented and experienced GB line-up, this proved difficult, with Chris Yoxall, Danielle Atkinson, Mike MacDowell, Ruth Macintosh and Kirstie Leach all profiting from German fielding shifts to get hits in the gaps.
GB fielding was exemplary too, with sharp infield catches from Steve Hazard and Danielle Atkinson, and a long running grab on a short fly ball from Mike MacDowell. Katherine Golik also took a good catch and her aggressive and quick throw home forced German captain Wolfgang Walter to hold at third base on what would have been a sacrifice fly and a run. Thanks to that play, Wolfgang did not score in the inning.
With GB well ahead, the game approached an inevitable outcome as time wound down, but there was still time for a pinch-hit moonshot from Kelvin Harrison to end it in style and put a cap on the final score of 17-3.
So GB moved on to Sunday in the elimination round, but cannot lose from here on out. On the final day of the tournament, their mental and physical strength will be tested as they try to win this tournament for the first time since 2002.
Scores
The scores from the double-elimination playoff round on Saturday were:
Curaçao One 9, Germany 5
Bahamas 18, Turks & Caicos Islands 8
GB 20, Curaçao Two 3
USA 17, Curaçao One 7
Bahamas 14, GB 9
Curaçao Two 11, Turks & Caicos Islands 7
GB 17, Germany 3
Curaçao One 30, Curaçao Two 5
These results meant that Germany, the Turks & Caicos Islands and Curaçao Two were eliminated, and the four teams to go forward to Sunday were the Bahamas, USA, GB and Curaçao One.
Photos by Pete Saunders