By Bob Fromer
Trnava, Slovakia: 28 July – It had to happen some time. With two teams as closely matched as GB and Ireland, GB simply couldn’t keep winning every game between them. Unfortunately, Ireland’s one win in five tries came in the bronze medal game today at the European 
Under-22 Women’s Championship.
It was a pretty convincing win as well, by a score of 6-0. GB had a great chance to build momentum early but failed to take it, and after that, behind a masterfully controlled complete-game performance from right-hander Kelly Nelson, the Irish kept building up a lead.
The other thing the Irish managed to do was get GB starter Hannah Edwards out of the game in the first inning with four straight hits. The rest of the game was pitched for GB by Amie Hutchison, and Amie pitched well, keeping the ball down and throwing a high percentage of strikes. But this was a game where Ireland’s hits came at the right time and seemed to find holes, and GB’s didn’t.
It’s not as if Kelly Nelson was dominating the GB hitters; there were British baserunners in every inning. In four innings, GB got a runner as far as third base; in the other three innings, they got a runner to second base. But the timely hit just wouldn’t come as Kelly Nelson kept hitting her spots when it mattered, and as the innings mounted, the Irish kept inching that little bit further away. Ten runners left on base by GB tells its own story.
Disappointing start
The European Softball Federation loves coin tosses; they have them at tournaments at every conceivable opportunity. This includes tossing a coin to decide who will be home team in the final and bronze medal game, rather than deciding by ranking. So GB, despite coming into the game as the third-placed team in the tournament standings to Ireland’s fourth, turned out to be the visitors.
But the visiting team always has a chance to score first and grab the advantage, and it looked like GB would do exactly that when lead-off hitter Katie Burge, the smallest and lightest player on the field, drove a massive fly ball that hit the base of the fence in right field for a triple. Teams have been surprised in this tournament by Katie’s power, and have taken to playing her deeper and deeper, but it hasn’t really stopped her.
What stopped GB, however, was that none of the next three hitters could get Katie home. Diana Nisbett grounded out to shortstop, Hannah Edwards struck out and Megan Parno grounded out to third.
What could have been GB’s momentum immediately shifted to Ireland, and they came out in the bottom of the first inning with all guns blazing.
After lead-off hitter Maura Keary grounded out against Hannah Edwards, Lauren Packer pushed a single to right field, Claire Blount sliced a double into left centre, Teresa Griswold singled to left, and Kelly Nelson grounded a single into centre field. Ireland were 2-0 up and suddenly Amie Hutchison was in the pitcher’s circle for GB.
Amie promptly struck out Alexandra Monteleone and got her sister Hannah to ground out to get GB out of further trouble.
At that point, with six innings to play, the 2-0 Irish lead didn’t look particularly daunting. But the Irish could already scent the Promised Land.
Frustration
The rest of the game was simply an exercise in frustration for the GB Team and their supporters, as GB kept getting runners on base and failing to cash them, while Ireland got fewer runners on base, but found a way to score them.
The Irish added a run in the bottom of the third inning on a single by Claire Blount and a double by catcher Teresa Griswold, and the killer was two more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning on hits by Maura Keary, Claire Blount and Kelly Nelson.
For good measure, the Irish tacked on a final run in the bottom of the sixth inning and Amie Hutchison did well to keep it at one.
By that time, the Irish had their 6-0 lead and GB had just three outs left, and though the team never stopped trying and believing, the day belonged to Ireland.
GB Under-22 Head Coach Jo Malisani told the team afterward, “Sometimes, games just go that way. You guys got better as the week went on, which is all we asked you to do. And you fought really hard in this game and never gave up.”
Pitching coach Windy Thees told the team: “You guys have a lot of heart and a lot of talent, and you can make yourselves into the ballplayers you want to be. You’re going to go back to your college and high school and travel ball teams and you’ll be better players for having been here.”
One question that the British Softball Federation and the GB Management Committee will need to consider is what can be arranged next summer for the players who took part in the Under-19 and Under-22 Europeans over the past two weeks.
The GB Under-19s failed to qualify for the WBSC Junior World Championship, and there are no European Championships for either age group next year. But to progress in the GB programme, these players need to come together and play next summer, and various possibilities will be explored.
New rivals?
The accomplishment of the Irish team in finishing second in the Under-19 Championship in Italy and third here is certainly worth celebrating, even if those celebrations don’t take place in Trnava’s inevitable Irish pub (is there anywhere that doesn’t have one?). Ireland has built a women’s fastpitch programme very quickly, and the difference in quality between their teams this summer and their senior team at the 2016 World Championship in Canada is dramatic. It will be interesting to see where their programme goes from here.
Go back 15 years, and there was a keen rivalry between the GB and Irish Co-ed Slowpitch Teams that played out at European Championships.
These days, the Irish slowpitch programme has fallen well behind GB, but there is clearly a new rivalry in fastpitch, and it will be renewed at next summer’s European Women’s Championship, as teams fight it out for a top six finish that will earn a place in the Europe/Africa Olympic Qualifier.
Final standings
Final placings in the 2018 European Women’s Fastpitch Championship are:
1 – Italy
2 – Netherlands
3 – Ireland
4 – Great Britain
5 – Russia
6 – Czech Republic
7 – Belgium
8 – Poland
9 – Greece
10 – Slovakia
11 – Ukraine
12 – Switzerland
13 – Israel
14 – Austria
15 – Hungary
16 – Turkey
17 – Lithuania (withdrew)
Trailing 5-2 going into the bottom of the seventh inning of the final, the Dutch staged a rally, scored two runs, and loaded the bases, but Charlotte Drijvers flew out to centre field to give the Italians the title.
So Italy has won both the Under-19 and Under-22 Championships this summer, and it just might be that in the endless war between Italy and the Netherlands at the top of European softball, the pendulum is swinging towards Italy. The Dutch Senior Team is clearly the best team in Europe now, but Italy might have the edge as the next generation moves up to senior level.
Leaders
Going into the final day’s play at the Under-22 Championship, GB had several players who were prominent on the tournament leader boards:
Katie Burge led the tournament in hits with 16, was second in total bases with 23, tied for second with most runs scored on 11 and tied for first in stolen bases with six. Her two hits in the bronze medal game, including her lead-off triple, will have added to some of these totals.
Hannah Edwards led the tournament in doubles with five, and Megan Parno was second with four.
Hannah Edwards was third in the tournament among pitchers for strikeouts, with 28, and unfortunately didn’t add to that total today. The tournament leader in strikeouts, Ireland’s Kelly Nelson, did.