By Bob Fromer
Ostrava, Czech Republic: 6 August – "It was a terrific day!", said a beaming GB Under-16 Head Coach Jeremy Thomas around 4.00 this afternoon, as his players sought shade and drinks and well-deserved relief from the 35-degree Ostrava heat.
And Jeremy wasn't exaggerating.
This morning, GB rolled over Romania 8-0 in five innings, and that win guaranteed a place in the playoffs.
This afternoon, the playoffs began and GB destroyed Slovakia 13-2 in only four innings. While GB still has two first-round playoff games tomorrow against Russia and the Czech Republic, the victory over Slovakia practically guarantees that GB will go through to the second playoff round whatever happens in those games.
It's a great position to be in: GB has nothing to lose tomorrow and can go for wins against two teams who are expected to beat them, knowing that it doesn't really matter if they lose one or both games (though a win would put them in a better position for the second round playoffs that begin on Thursday).
The GB Under-16s earned their position today by playing virtually flawless softball in their 8-0 shut-out of Romania in a game that began at 9.00 am this morning (a full report on that game is below), and then by putting the Slovakian game to bed in the full heat of mid-afternoon almost before it started.
GB v Slovakia
GB essentially settled the Slovakia game in the top of the first inning, scoring nine runs on only two hits, some aggressive baserunning and a whole catalogue of mental and physical errors by a panicking Slovakian team.
That kind of lead was more than enough for Amie Hutchison, who pitched all four innings, allowed only one Slovakian hit, gave up two runs (both unearned) and struck out five. Just as importantly, Amie gave up only a single walk.
GB added one run in the third inning and three more in the fourth to get them off a baking field after only four innings, and the final two runs came on an inside-the-park home run to right centre field off the bat of Alana Snow.
GB only had six hits in total, two of them by Alana, but Slovakia committed six errors, five in their nightmare first inning, and Slovakian pitchers Katarina Fajnova, who lasted less than an inning, and then Klaudia Mihalkova, threw in five walks and a whole raft of wild pitches.
Three of GB's first inning runs came home on wild pitches, and there was a long sequence in the middle of the inning where GB had two or three runners on base, balls were hit or bunted to the Slovakian infield, and they simply lost any sense of where or how to get an out. Four GB batters -- including three in a row -- reached on fielder's choice plays where the Slovakians failed to get any of the outs on offer. On two occasions, GB bunted with a runner on third and the ball was thrown home even though the GB runner on third never moved.
The only hits in the inning were a single to right field by Chelsie Robison and a bunt single by the speedy Laura Hirai, but otherwise GB just put the ball into play and let the Slovakians mess up in every conceivable way.
Playing it out
After that first inning, in which Slovakia did score a run in reply on an error and an eventual passed ball, both teams knew that the result was a foregone conclusion, and both teams began to wear down in the heat.
After playing an errorless game against Romania this morning, GB did commit six errors against Slovakia, and three errors in the third inning gave the Slovaks a second run. But none of them really mattered, except to sound a warning note about what better teams than Slovakia might do in that situation.
"Now it's about rest and relaxation," said Jeremy Thomas after the game, "and then we'll see what we can do tomorrow." With GB now down to just about nine fit players, there isn't too much choice about who plays, but Alana Snow is likely to get her first pitching assignment of the tournament tomorrow, and Eleanor Dowd, who has caught almost three full games in the heat, will probably spend some time at other positions.
GB v Romania
This morning, the GB Under-16s won the game they had to win to make it into the first playoff round, and they did so in efficient and impressive fashion, beating Romania 8-0 in a game called after five innings on the mercy rule.
GB starter Amie Hutchison allowed the Romanians two singles in her two innings of work, but struck out the side in the first inning and had four strikeouts altogether. Lorin Cook then pitched three quick, effective and hitless innings to finish out the game, with three strikeouts.
The thing that most pleased Head Coach Jeremy Thomas was that the GB defense played errorless softball. Alana Snow at shortstop made two nice plays back-to-back in the fourth inning, but there was also a key double play in the second inning when the Romanians had their only scoring threat, with runners on second and third and only one out.
Romania's Monica Androine put down a sacrifice bunt and Amie Hutchison picked the ball up and looked the runner back to third before firing to first. When the runner broke for home, Sian Wigington at first made a good throw and catcher Eleanor Dowd blocked the plate and applied the tag to end the inning and keep the Romanians off the scoreboard.
GB offense
GB had baserunners in every inning and scored in every frame except the fifth against Romanian pitcher Niculina Cainar, who was accurate but hittable, which can sometimes be a bad combination.
The Romanian defense didn't help their pitcher, with four errors. But the first error was committed by Cainar herself, and it gave GB a l-0 lead in the first inning.
Chelsie Robison, batting second, pushed a bunt towards third base. Cainar fielded the ball but threw wildly past first, and the ball ran down towards the right field corner. Chelsie never stopped running, and scored easily.
GB added two more runs in the second inning. Alana Snow singled to left and went all the way to third when the ball was misplayed by the left fielder. Gemma Mackinnon laid down a perfect bunt with Alana headed for home on the suicide squeeze, and Gemma got all the way to third when the Romanians started chasing her with throws. Gemma then scored on a single to right centre field by Sian Wigington.
Making it safe
Three more runs in the third inning made the game safe. Laura Hirai opened the inning by beating out a bunt, Eleanor Dowd singled to left, and Alana Snow lined a single up the middle, scoring Laura. Another sacrifice bunt by Gemma Mackinnon brought in Eleanor, this time on a delayed squeeze play, and sent Alana Snow to third, from whence she scored on a passed ball.
The two runs GB added in the top of the fourth inning took the score to 8-0 and set up the mercy rule win.
Again, there were three straight singles to lead off the inning, by Chelsie Robison, Lorin Cook and Amie Hutchison, who drove a low pitch past third base to drive in Chelsie. Lorin scored on a ground ball hit by Eleanor Dowd and misplayed by Romanian shortstop Stefania Zisca.
Alana Snow and Sian Wigington finished the game with two hits each, and GB's other five hits were shared by Chelsie Robison, Lorin Cook, Amie Hutchison, Eleanor Dowd and Laura Hirai.
GB's excellent performances today in shaking off yesterday's opening loss to Holland will have made them feel well and truly at home in the tournament, and some of the supposed top teams will not fancy playing GB in games that truly count.
But tomorrow, GB has the luxury of feeling out both the Russians at 9.00 am and the Czechs at 2.00 pm, knowing that they might get another crack at both of them further down the line.
Round-robin results
Final results of the opening round-robin, with two teams in each group going forward to playoffs, were:
Group A
Czech Republic (2-0)
Poland (1-1)
Serbia (0-2)
Group B
Belgium (2-0)
Slovakia (1-1)
Ukraine (0-2)
Group C
Netherlands (2-0)
GB (1-1)
Romania (0-2)
Group D
Russia (2-0)
Germany (1-1)
Lithuania (0-2)
Photos by Lynda Medwell from the GB v Romania game.