The GB Under-16 Girls' Fastpitch Team, without an official competition this summer, attended the Tuscany Series Under-16 Tournament in Arezzo, Italy from August 2-5. The team won two games and lost three and finished sixth out of eight teams, but gained valuable experience for next summer's European Championships.
The game reports below were written by Team Manager Joelle Whitley.
Round-robin games
The Tuscan sun beat down as the GB Under-16 Team prepared
to take the field for their first game in Arezzo, and it was a rough start against the Amsterdam Pirates, who would ultimately go on to win the tournament. GB’s only hit in the game came from Gabri Sassoli and it was not enough to help the girls overcome a strong Dutch team who prevailed by a score of 8-0.
The next day, the girls faced the daunting heat again to play a game against another Dutch team, the Blue Angels. This game was much closer than GB’s first one, and their bats certainly came alive. With a home run from catcher Jodie Rushin, a triple from Chelsie Robison and doubles from Sian Wigington and Lucy Hall, the score was tied 4-4 after the second inning. Unfortunately, GB’s momentum stalled and the Blue Angels were able to pull ahead to a 7-4 lead. GB was able to score one more run in the final inning, but finished the game with a 7-5 loss.
However, spirits were not to be dampened and after a short break, they headed into a game against the host team, Arezzo. The GB girls dominated the game from the start, with half the team getting hits, including two home runs from pitcher Amie Hutchinson. GB also made the most of Arezzo’s fielding errors through being aggressive on the bases.
The GB Team maxed out on the four-run limit in the first and second innings, were shut out in the third but then came back to score two more runs in the fourth, taking them to a 10-0 victory over the Italian team. Between them, pitchers Gabri Sassoli and Amie Hutchinson pitched a perfect game, and Amie struck out six batters in her three innings pitched.
This marked the end of the round-robin, and despite their improving performance, GB’s 1-2 record was not enough to put them through to the top four, so the girls were forced to play for position in the bottom half.
Playoffs
Excited from their win over Arezzo,
the Under-16’s carried the momentum over to their semi-final game and started out strong with a 4-0 lead over the Italian team Marcheno. But the Italian team was able to come back and tie the game in the third inning.
GB managed to score one more run, taking them into the final inning with a slim 5-4 lead. But Marcheno once again managed to score the four-run limit and things were looking bleak heading into GB’s final at-bat.
The first batter was quickly put out, but then Sionna Madden hit a high single into shallow right field and this proved to be the start of GB’s comeback. With triples from Amie Hutchinson and Gabri Sassoli and singles from the next several batters, GB came from behind to score four runs. Marcheno was ready to bat again, but time ran out before the next inning could begin and GB had gained their second victory of the tournament by a score of 9-8.
On the final day of competition, the GB girls found themselves playing for for fifth place against the Serbian National Team. Unfortunately, the combination of high temperatures and the hard-hitting Serbian team proved too strong for GB and with hits from only Grace Dickinson and Lucy Hall, they lost the game 7-1.
Awards
While the sixth place result may not 
have been the one that the girls were looking for, there was some pleasing news at the awards presentation.
GB's Amie Hutchinson came away with the Best Batter Award after hitting two home runs and a triple to go with a batting average of .500 and a slugging percentage of 1.300. And while she didn't win the Best Pitcher Award, Amie did lead all pitchers in both innings pitched with 14 and strikeouts with 20.
Quite a few other GB players hit well in the tournament, with Chelsie Robison, Lucy Hall and Sionna Madden all hitting .500, Jodie Rushin batting .455 and Grace Dickinson .333.
The GB Under-16 Team should be proud of their achievements in Arezzo. They played hard throughout the tournament, making some impressive plays on defense, hitting the ball well and with Amie Hutchison racking up the strikeouts.
Head Coach Sarah Jones said: “It all went really well. The girls were awesome, getting better each day, though we struggled a little with the weather – it was super hot.”
Final standings
1 – Amsterdam Pirates
2 – Bavarian All Stars
3 – Blue Angels Blue
4 – Blue Angels White
5 – Serbia
6 – Great Britain
7 – Marcheno
8 – Arezzo