By Ieuan Gale
Saturday 9 July -- Coming into Friday’s games at the European Under-23 Men’s Championship, the GB Team knew it was going to be a tough day, with 
games against the top two teams in Europe, Denmark and the Czech Republic. But there is a big prize to play for today.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, neither of the results on Friday went GB’s way, but in reality, the outcome of those games didn’t matter. All that matters now is the bronze medal game today against Israel, as the winner of that game will secure a spot at the inaugural WBSC Under-23 Men’s World Cup in Argentina this October.
That’s because the top two teams from this tournament will qualify for Argentina, and that should be the Czech Republic and Denmark, who have already booked their places in today’s gold medal game. But Denmark has announced that they will not be able to go to Argentina even if they qualify, so instead the second spot will go to the team that wins the bronze medal game and finishes third.
As a result, Friday’s games were in one sense simply about getting the most out of them in preparation for today. And while a cursory look at the scores of Friday’s games might suggest it was a bad day at the office, in fact there were lots of positives for the GB Team to take away.
Game 1: GB v Denmark
The first game on Friday was a rematch against Thursday night’s opponent, Denmark. It was the first game of the day, and after another night of rain, it was once again a grey and wet morning. But the puddles in the corners of the infield dirt did not dampen GB spirits.
Jack Scholes led off in the top of the first inning and struck out swinging, but did so after a great at-bat, seeing lots of pitches and only swinging at strikes, forcing the pitcher to come at him, with Jack just missing a very nice drop ball. Kai Owens had another great a- bat that resulted in a walk. This was quickly followed by a single to right field by Tom Russell, which moved Kai to third. With Olly Howley at the plate, Tom Russell successfully stole second base, drawing the throw from the Danish catcher that allowed Kai to steal home and put GB ahead 1-0.
But that wasn’t the end for the GB attack. Olly Howley then hit a double to right field, with Tom Russell advancing to third. Josh Smith struck out swinging, but Ben Tomlin followed and hit a sharp ground ball between third and short. Hustling hard out of the box, Ben forced Danish shortstop Nicolai Elsner to hurry his throw after making a backhanded play in the hole, and the throw sailed past first base, with both Tom and Olly scoring. Dominic Stephenson followed with another sharp ground ball, this time to second base, and he too hustled hard out of the box. However, this time the throw just beat the British runner and the inning came to an end.
And just like that, GB was 3-0 up.
But with an offense as potent as that of Denmark, and in particular with lead-off hitter Nicolai Elsner, one of the top batters in the competition, maintaining the lead would be a tall order.
Still, GB starting pitcher Bryn Davies came out firing and though he surrendered a single to Elsner, he struck out the next batter on a beautiful changeup. However, the next batter Bryn faced, Nicholai Andersen, hit a long home run to left centre field, driving in two. Bryn then battled the next hitter, but after a long at-bat surrendered a walk. He then induced a ground out for the second out before giving up two more walks, not helped by an inconsistent strike zone, then hit Asger Palm-Henriksen when one pitch ended up a bit too far inside, which pushed in another Danish run. Then a passed ball scored a fourth run and another walk loaded the bases again. That brought the potent Danish lead-off hitter, Nicolai Elsner, back to the plate, and he hit a sharp line drive to left field that looked worrisome. But a diving Harvey Robinson made a great catch to get GB out of the inning, having conceded just the four runs.
But Denmark now had a 4-3 lead.
The top of the second inning was uneventful for GB, with some good at-bats but ultimately no results.
In the bottom of the second inning Tom Russell came out and Edan Lord came in to play third base, while Ben Tomlin moved to catcher.
Danish lead-off hitter Andreas Adelsbaek got on base and scored on a slight comedy of errors and the next batter worked a walk. But a moment of brilliance from GB allowed them to turn a double play on a sharp line drive to shortstop Josh Smith, who snagged it and immediately threw back to first to get the stranded baserunner out.
Bryn Davies then surrendered another couple of walks but got out of the inning without conceding any more runs, striking out Anton Larsen on another beautiful changeup.
In the top of the third inning GB had good at-bats that yielded good results, but they couldn’t convert them into runs.
Edan Lord, in his first at bat of the day, smoked a triple into right field but was ultimately stranded by some nice defensive plays by the Danes, including on a line drive that was smashed by Josh Smith right at Danish first baseman Nicholai Andersen, who somehow made a stunning catch.
The bottom of the third inning is when the game began to slip away from GB. Despite some nice defensive plays by second baseman Kai Owens and shortstop Josh Smith, and another strikeout by Bryn Davies, the inconsistent strike zone played havoc with Bryn’s control and he ultimately gave up five runs on a few walks and a couple of line drives.
In the top of the fourth inning Ben Tomlin went down swinging before Dom Stephenson worked a walk after a great at-bat. However, on a hit and run attempt, Max Fagan popped up, leaving Dom stranded and allowing the Danes to complete a simple double play to get out of the frame.
In the bottom of the fourth inning Denmark piled it on again, but not without some highlight moments from GB’s defense, including a nice play to get a force out at second by Josh Smith and Kai Owens, and a comedic moment brought on by Nicholai Andersen hitting a massive fly ball and flipping his bat, only to see the ball fall into Josh Stanley’s glove on the warning track in centre field, much to the glee of GB and their supporters.
But after a few more walks, a dropped third strike, and some more runs, the game drew to a close on the mercy rule after Denmark’s lead reached a 10-run margin at 13-3.
Bryn Davies threw well but lacked consistent control at times, and clearly was running on fumes by the end of the game. But he dug deep for the team, which was admirable.
There had been some good GB at-bats, and GB showed fight all the way through. But ultimately, this game didn’t matter, and against an offense like Denmark’s there is only so much one can do.
Final score: Denmark 13, GB 3
Game 2 : GB v Czech Republic
As stated in a previous report, the Czech Republic are perennial European men’s fastpitch champions and they have mercy-ruled their opponents in every game they have played so far. Their offense is monstrous, with power up and down their entire roster, and their pitchers have great control and spin.
So GB set out with realistic expectations, trying to get the most out of the game in terms of defense and having quality at-bats.
The first inning was uneventful for GB, with Czech pitcher Matej Macas throwing hard, hitting his spots and setting GB down in order.
In the bottom of the inning Olly Howley had the unenviable task of having to navigate the Czech line-up, and all in all did a decent job, only conceding five runs. The key blow was a massive home run by Vojtech Buchner.
In the top of the second inning, GB shortstop Josh Smith led off with hard-hit single up the middle, but one out later was caught stealing on an absolute bullet throw from Czech catcher Matej Rysavi. Matt Eder then went down swinging to end the frame.
In the bottom of the second inning the Czechs started with a walk and then another massive home run by Vojtech Buchner and continued to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Olly Howley worked hard and eventually induced three fly outs, but not before conceding another six runs.
GB continued to have good at-bats in the top of the third inning, with Dom Stephenson and Lucas PreFontaine both working walks, but pitcher Matej Macas dug deep and got his outs to preserve the shutout.
In the bottom of the inning the Czechs hit two more home runs, and despite Olly doing well and inducing two more pop-ups, the Czechs walked the game off on the mercy rule.
Final score : Czech Republic 15, GB 0
Summing up
Both GB pitchers were faced with very experienced and powerful line-ups on Friday and had the choice of either trying to pitch around these very strong hitters, which runs the risk of giving up walks, or pitching at them and, with such potent line-ups, running the risk of getting hit hard. GB’s pitchers could do little to stop the opposition at times.
It should be noted that both of today’s pitchers started well. and it was only when the game went on that they started to struggle. This could partly be attributed to the Czech and Danish hitters adjusting, but also to GB’s pitchers running out of gas. Having limited opportunity to pitch outside the Great Britain Fastpitch League in the UK, where the games are timed to 90 mins and the innings are never that long, GB pitchers struggle to build up their stamina for when they go abroad and have to pitch for a lot longer.
Looking forward, there were lots of positives in Friday’s games, and if the team can take these forward and put all the pieces together from the week, then come the end of today’s bronze medal game, they will be right there when it matters.
After the game, Umpire-in-Chief Lewis Hamilton came to the team to say how impressed he had been with their performances, and that they were a credit to the sport, agreeing that the team had all to play for on Saturday.
Head Coach Richard Brown said, "Although the results perhaps don't reflect it, huge improvements have been made by all players against some superb pitching by two of the strongest European teams. Lots of positives can be taken into Saturday’s game and I for one can't wait to see what the boys do!"
Scores and standings
Scores on the third day of play at the European Under-23 Men’s Championship were:
Denmark 13, GB 3 (4 inns)
Czech Republic 22, Israel 0 (3 inns)
Denmark 15, Israel 5 (4 inns)
Czech Republic 15, GB 0 (3 inns)
Standings after the third day of the tournament and the completion of round-robin games are:
Czech Republic (6-0)
Denmark (4-2)
Israel (2-4)
GB (0-6)
On Saturday, the bronze medal game between Israel and GB will be played at noon Czech time (11.00 am in the UK), and the gold medal game between the Czechs and Danes will be played at 3.00 pm local time.