By Mary Murray
Thursday 30 June – The GB Under-22 Women’s Team continued to have an easy time today in the consolation playoffs at the European Under-22 Women’s Championship in Kunovice, Czech Republic, with a 13-0 four-inning win over Poland.
Since dropping into the consolation bracket, GB has won two games by a combined score of 28-0. With two more round-robin games tomorrow, the team will be aiming to reach and win the ninth-place playoff game on Saturday.
Katie Burge led the offensive charge today with two triples and two RBIs, while both Imogen Gie and Molly Blackwood also had two RBIs each. But GB starting pitcher Georgia Wilson, who pitched the first two innings and picked up the win, also starred at the plate, driving in four runs on two hits, including a double.
In the circle, Georgia threw just 23 pitches in her two innings of work, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.
As they did on Wednesday against Belgium, GB jumped out to an early lead, with six runs in the bottom of the first inning.
After a lead-off triple from Katie Burge, Jessica Chan reached on a walk, and a throwing error from the Poles allowed both Katie and Jessica to score. Imogen Gie advanced to second on the error and the next hitter, Molly Blackwood, singled up the middle to drive Imogen in. After a walk to Cameron McGinnis by Polish pitcher Wiktoria Korykora, Alexis Larrow singled up the middle to score Molly. With Cameron on third and Alexis on second, Georgia Wilson hit a double through the left side to bring both runners home and give GB a 6-0 lead.
Poland mounted a brief threat in the top of the second inning when Zuzanna Smeder led off with a walk and Maja Kusmierek singled, one of just two Polish hits in the game. But after a strikeout and a fielder’s choice left runners on the corners, Georgia Wilson induced a ground out to end the threat.
British bats picked up right where they left off in the bottom of the second inning, with Jessica Chan leading off with a single. After a fly out, Imogen Gie was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. Molly Blackwood singled to right center field, driving in Jessica, and Cameron McGinnis kept the momentum going with a double to left center field that scored Imogen and advanced Molly to third.
This was followed by back-to-back two-out singles from Georgia Wilson and Michelle Shaw that drove in Molly and Cameron, and then Katie Burge smacked her second triple of the day to right center field to drive in two more. The total was another six runs that put Great Britain up 12-0.
Morgan Salmon came in to pitch in the top of the third inning and retired Poland in order to bring GB back up to the plate. Morgan then led off the inning and turned a Polish error into a triple, scoring two batters later on another error. The score was now 13-0.
Poland tried to gather some momentum in the top of the fourth inning with a lead-off single by Wiktoria Korykora, but a strikeout and two ground outs ended the game on the mercy rule.
Scores and standings
Scores on Thursday from the two consolation playoff groups were:
GROUP G
GB 13, Poland 0 (4 inns)
Belgium 16, Sweden 4 (4 inns)
Poland 7, Croatia 6
GROUP H
Israel 15, Hungary 0 (3 inns)
Austria 10, Slovakia 0 (4 inns)
Standings in those groups after Thursday are:
GROUP G
GB (2-0)
Poland (2-1)
Belgium (2-1)
Sweden (0-2)
Croatia (0-2)
GROUP H
Israel (2-0)
Austria (2-0)
Hungary (0-2)
Slovakia (0-2)
Looking ahead
Games in Groups G and H will continue through tomorrow (Friday), with final placing games on Saturday. A showdown game on Friday afternoon between Austria and Israel could determine who GB might play in the ninth-place game on Saturday.
But first, GB have to get there, and the route is by winning on Friday against Sweden at 10.00 am Czech time (9.00 am in the UK) and then against Croatia at 3.45 pm local time.
Details of what’s happening in both the consolation and Championship playoffs can be found here.