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By Bob Fromer
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Ostrava, Czech Republic: 11 July – The GB Under-16 Girls’ Fastpitch Team didn’t go near the ballpark today, and didn’t play a game in the European Cadette Championship, but a whole lot of things still fell into place for them to ensure that the team will move on to the Championship playoff round.
Not only that, but GB will go into the playoffs as the winners from their initial round-robin pool, which will make their schedule in the first of three playoff rounds a bit easier and give them a shot at moving on further in the tournament.
None of this seemed very likely after yesterday, when the team defeated France 6-5 but lost to Serbia 7-5, and this left GB’s position in the three-team pool, and their future in the tournament, at the mercy of today’s final pool game between France and Serbia.
Possibilities​
All three outcomes were possible for GB amid a range of permutations, and the one that the players and staff definitely didn’t want was to wind up third in the pool and have only a few meaningless placing games left during the rest of the week.
And maybe not even that, since rain disrupted the schedule today, and more rain is in the forecast, and when schedules get pushed back at softball tournaments, placings games are the first to be cancelled.
A French win over Serbia in a low-scoring game would have condemned GB to third place, since all three teams would have defeated each other, placings would then be determined on runs conceded, and GB had conceded 12 runs in two games, while France had conceded six in their game against GB and Serbia five.
A Serbian win over France, on the other hand, regardless of the score, would have meant that Serbia topped the group, with GB second and France third, with no need for run calculations.
Finally, and in some ways the most unlikely outcome, was a French win in a high-scoring game in which the French scored at least eight runs and Serbia at least seven. That would result in GB topping the group.
Actuality​
It took a long and agonising wait to get there. France and Serbia were meant to play at 11.15 am this morning, but heavy rain flooded the fields and pushed the start back to 2.00 pm. Then, after just over an inning had been played, more rain descended and the game didn’t resume until 4.30.
When it did, the result was just what GB would have ordered: a ragged, nail-biting affair that was called on time in the bottom of the fourth inning with the French clinging to a 9-8 lead. And that result put the GB Under-16s at the top of Pool D.
The scary bit at the end of the game, after both teams had scored the number of runs that GB needed them to, was that a 9-5 French lead almost evaporated after French pitchers completely lost the strike zone and threatened to walk the house and give the Serbians an unlikely triumph.
And Serbia might have had that win if they hadn’t contrived to get two runners thrown out trying to steal during the final inning when they never should have taken the risk.
GB coaches who had spent all day at the field and had to live through all this were ecstatic, and so were the players back at the team hotel when the word came through.
Looking ahead
Because of the rain, and the loss of at least one game slot today, the schedule for tomorrow is still uncertain.
But what we know is that GB will join seven other teams in the first Championship playoff round, and will be in Pool E with the Czech Republic (first in Pool A), Italy (second in Pool B) and Ukraine (second in Pool C).
The other Championship playoff pool will consist of Germany (second in Pool A), the Netherlands (first in Pool B), Russia (first in Pool C) and France (second in Pool D).
When the France v Serbia game finally ended, the two teams were actually tied on runs conceded at 14 each, but because of the head-to-head result that France had just squeaked out, they finished second in Pool D.
It now looks like GB will play Ukraine at 12.30 pm and Italy at 4.30 pm on Wednesday, and then the Czech Republic at 11.00 am on Thursday, and since this round only reduces the number of teams left in contention for medals from eight to six, one win should get GB through to the second Championship playoff round, with at least a chance of reaching the final four and the Page Playoff that will take place on Friday afternoon and Saturday.
Tonight, however, GB staff, players and parents are raising a glass of whatever the appropriate liquid might be to the French and the Serbians, who could not have done GB a bigger favour if they had tried.