By Mary Murray
Saturday 2 July – The GB Under-22 Women’s Team won their fifth straight game today in a tough contest against Austria by a score of 10-7 in the European Under-22 Women’s Championship in Kunovice, Czech Republic, finishing top of the consolation playoff pool and ninth in the tournament overall.
Offensively, GB was led by 3-for-4 performances at the plate from Imogen Gie (two of those hits were home runs) and Morgan Salmon (including a double), and Imogen drove in four of the 10 GB runs. Katie Burge added yet another home run to a solid attack in which Great Britain outhit the Austrians 12-7.
Georgia Wilson came in to pitch in a back-and-forth battle in the top of the third inning in relief of starter Jessica Chan, with GB holding a precarious 6-5 lead, and limited the Austrians to just two runs over the last five innings to lay the foundation for the win.
However, Georgia gave up Bianca Mauracher’s second home run of the game in that top of the third inning, which tied the score and a few minutes later was facing a bases-loaded one-out jam. But a wonderful double play engineered by GB shortstop Morgan Salmon – an over-the-shoulder catch of Emma Hanika’s fly ball in short centre field and then a strike thrown to catcher Imogen Gie to cut down Miriam Gubo trying to score after tagging up at third—got Georgia out of trouble and shifted the momentum of the game in GB’s favour.
There was still some drama at the end of the game. GB had scored at least one run in each of the first five innings but failed to score in the bottom of the sixth, meaning their lead was still just three runs as the Austrians came up to bat in the top of the seventh.
A diving catch by first base player Lauren King on lead-off batter Bianca Mauracher’s infield pop fly accounted for the first out, but by the time there were two outs, Austria had runners on second and third and the tying run at the plate in the person of Emma Hanika. With the count at 3-and-2, Georgia Wilson, who had mostly been throwing the ball low, threw a rise ball high in the strike zone and Hannika took the pitch for the strikeout that ended the game.
Play by play
Austria got on the board straightaway in the top of the first inning against Jessica Chan. After a leadoff walk and a fielder’s choice left Léa Karner on first base with two outs, Bianca Mauracher launched a ball over the centre field fence to put the Austrians up 2-0.
The British wasted no time in responding. Lauren King started a two-out rally by getting on base against Austria’s left-handed starting pitcher Carla Langthaler with a single to left field, and on the first pitch of her at-bat, Imogen Gie matched the Austrian home run with one of her own, again over the centre field fence. After one inning the game was tied 2-2.
The Austrians gained the momentum back, along with the lead, with a three-run top of the second inning. After Lya Schneider drew a lead-off walk, Isabel Salcher hit the third home run of the game, again over the centre field fence. An error allowed another Austrian, Emma Hanika, to get on base and eventually, a sacrifice fly to centre field by Louise McGarry drove Hanika in to score. The Austrians held a 5-2 advantage.
Once again, GB came straight back in the bottom of the second inning. Cameron McGinnis drew a lead-off walk and advanced to second on a passed ball. With a 1-2 count, Morgan Salmon doubled to right centre field, allowing Cameron to cross home plate. Morgan stole third base and scored two pitches later on a single by Alexis Larrow. With one out and Alexis now on third base due to a wild pitch and a ground out, Katie Burge took the first pitch she saw over the right centre field fence to drive in two more runs, putting GB ahead 6-5.
Georgia Wilson took over in the circle for the British in the top of the third inning, relieving Jessica Chan. With one out, Bianca Mauracher hit her second home run of the game to tie the score, and the Austrians looked certain to take the lead until Morgan Salmon’s wonderful double play ended the threat.
Imogen Gie led off the bottom of the third inning with her second home run of the day, to right center field, giving GB an advantage they were never to lose. After two ground outs, Morgan Salmon reached on a single, but another ground out ended the inning.
Three straight fly outs retired the Austrians on seven pitches in the top of the fourth inning.
In the bottom of the frame, Carys Lynch led off with an infield single, Katie Burge reached on an error, and both Carys and Katie moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt by Jessica Chan. Lauren King singled through the left side to score Carys and Imogen Gie reached on a fielder’s choice, which allowed Katie to score. GB now held a 9-6 advantage, but the game certainly didn’t feel safe.
In the top of the fifth inning, Bianca Mauracher continued her great day at the plate, hitting a one-out single through the left side, followed by a single from Miriam Gubo. With two outs, Isabel Salcher hit a pop fly sigle behind first base, scoring Mauracher to close the gap to 9-7. But a fly out to centre field stranded two runners and brought GB back to the plate.
Cameron McGinnis drew another walk to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning, advancing on a single up the middle from Morgan Salmon. Alexis Larrow grounded out to third base, but Cameron and Morgan advanced into scoring position on the throw. Cameron scored on an infield hit by Carys Lynch and Katie Burge was hit by a pitch to load the bases. GB looked on the verge of breaking the game open, but a force play at home and a fly out to centre field stranded all three runners. GB’s lead was still only 10-7.
Neither team scored in the sixth inning, though the Austrians had one baserunner and GB had two.
And that brought the Austrians in for their final chance in the top of the seventh inning.
Georgia Wilson finally retired Bianca Mauracher to open the inning on Lauren King’s diving grab. But Miriam Gubo then hit a single through the right side. A fly out and a walk put Austrian runners on first and second with two out and Emma Hanika at the plate as the tying run, and on a 2-2 count both runners moved up on a wild pitch.
But then the plate umpire did his thing on a great pitch at the top of the strike zone, and Britain’s ninth-place finish, the best they could do once they fell into the consolation bracket, was achieved.
Stats
GB had a number of representatives on the tournament leaderboard, particularly for batting.
Katie Burge finished the tournament second in batting average (.632), second in on-base percentage (.731), fourth in slugging percentage (1.368) and tied for first in triples with two.
Molly Blackwell was third in runs scored with 13, Imogen Gie was fifth in RBIs with 14, and Morgan Salmon and Cameron McGinnis shared the lead in doubles with five apiece.
On the pitching side, Georgia Wilson was fourth in commplete games with three and fifth in ERA at 3.67.
Setting the stage
The GB Under-22 Women were the first of four GB female fastpitch teams to compete in European Championships or their equivalent this summer.
The GB Under-15 Women will be the next to vie for a European Championship when they compete from 18-23 July in Enschede in the Netherlands. The last European Championship in which the Under-15s (then the Under-16s) competed in was in 2017 in Ostrava, Czech Republic, where they placed fifth.
The GB Senior Women will follow not long after, competing in the European Women’s Championship in Sant Boi, Spain from 24-30 July. In their historic 2019 run for the 2020 Olympics, the GB Women earned bronze in the Europeans and made the final of the Europe/Africa WBSC Olympic Qualifier.
Finally, the GB Cubs, our Under-13 Girls’ National Team, will compete in the annual European Massimo Romeo Youth Trophy (EMRYT) tournament from 10-13 August in Collecchio, Italy.
Reports from all these tournaments will be on the BSF website.
Scores and final standings
Here are the scores from the final placing games at the European Under-22 Women’s Championship:
Fifteenth-Place Playoff
Sweden 12, Hungary 4 (5 inns)
Thirteenth-Place Playoff
Belgium 5, Slovakia 3
Eleventh-Place Playoff
Israel 12, Poland 11
Ninth-Place Playoff
GB 10, Austria 7
Bronze Medal Game
Netherlands 11, Spain 4
Gold Medal Game
Italy 3, Czech Republic 2
Final tournament standings are:
1 – Italy
2 – Czech Republic
3 – Netherlands
4 – Spain
5 – France
6 – Germany
7 – Ireland
8 – Ukraine
9 – Great Britain
10 – Austria
11 – Israel
12 – Poland
13 – Belgium
14 – Slovakia
15 – Sweden
16 – Hungary
17 – Croatia