by Bob Fromer
Ronchi dei Legionari, Italy: August 4 -- Those inclined to conspiracy theories could be forgiven for thinking that the odds have been stacked against the GB Women's Softball Team at the European Women's Championships being played here this week in North East Italy.
It all began back in February at the ESF Congress when the ESF decided to abandon its time-honoured method of seeding teams in Championships in favour of the thrill of drawing names out of bowls as if it were the football World Cup. What that decision did was to rob the British team of what it had earned on the field at the 2009 European Championships in Valencia when GB achieved a best-ever second place. On the ESF's traditional seeding methods, that would have kept GB and and the dangerous second tier team Italy apart when the draw was made. But by drawing names out of bowls -- and by specifying that Italy had to be in Pool A as the host team -- GB had a one in four chance of drawing Italy, and they duly did.
The result was that the other three top seeds in this tournament -- the Netherlands, Russia and the Czech Republic (Italy finished sixth in 2009, but that was always going to be a one-off aberration) -- did not have a single challenging game in the first round of this tournament. GB had two -- Italy, and probably the best team in the tournament outside the top five, Sweden.
First round starter
Then there was the ESF's decision to make GB play its toughest first round game, against Italy, on the opening night of the tournament on Sunday, July 31 in order to create a good match-up for the crowd after the Opening Ceremony. Normally, that would have been fine -- but GB and the Czech Republic had just returned from competing in the World Cup in Oklahoma and were still overcoming jet lag. GB had requested to play its first game on Monday for that reason, and the request was initially agreed to. But the decision was reversed once the draw was made and the Italy-GB match-up became possible. The Czechs, however, did not play their opening game until Monday.
GB was given a full day off after the Italy game and didn't play at all on Monday. But that was rather beside the point, and only served to pile up doubleheaders for GB from Tuesday onwards.
Second round congestion
Then we fast forward to yesterday, August 3, where a nifty bit of scheduling had GB playing its opening second round game against the Netherlands immediately after playing Croatia in the last first-round group game in the mid-afternoon heat. Not to mention the fact that GB will have to play its third game in 19 hours when they take on France at 10.00 am this morning.
Finally, we come to last night's game against the Netherlands, a tough, hard-fought contest that was a credit to both teams and to the rising standard of European softball.
The Dutch won 3-1 in front of a packed and appreciative crowd at the main stadium in Ronchi dei Legionari, and they probably deserved it because they had nine hits to GB's four -- although several of those hits were bloops that somehow found the space between the outfield and the infield whereas some well-hit balls by GB batters found Dutch gloves. But the Netherlands also received some assistance from the Italian home plate umpire, who gave hard-throwing Dutch pitcher Dagmar Bloeming a succession of very high strike calls that he simply would not give to GB pitcher Stacie Townsend.
No excuses
All of the above probably sounds like excuses for the GB Women's Team, but the team doesn't need any. They played excellent softball in losing that opening game to Italy 1-0 last Sunday and probably even better softball last night in the 3-1 loss to the Dutch. Defensively, GB played errorless ball last night, and they had excellent at-bats against Dagmar Bloeming. But the Dutch have speed throughout their line-up and they use it to play an aggressive brand of softball that the GB team is not equipped to match.
Give the Dutch enough baserunners -- and nine hits and two walks is more than enough -- and they will manufacture some runs. It was only thanks to some courageous pitching by Stacie Townsend, a tight GB defense and a couple of offensive mistakes by the Dutch that they didn't manufacture even more.
GB take the lead
The Dutch failed to score in their first three at-bats, but their own mistakes helped keep them off the scoreboard. In the top of the first inning, Meike Witteveen was called out for hitting the ball with a foot out of the batter's box. In the top of the second, Nathalie Gosewehr nullified a single by teammate Solange Starrenburg and aborted a Dutch threat by leaving first too early on an attempted steal. And in the top of the third, Dutch leadoff hitter Chantal Versluis drove a double over the head of Karlene Headley-Cooper with two outs, but was cut down trying to stretch it to a triple on an excellent throw from Karlene to Kristi Yoshizawa at third.
In the bottom of the third inning, GB took the lead. Shortstop Jess Legendre singled up the middle with one out and a sacrifice bunt by Laura Thompson moved Jess to second. Kristi Yoshizawa then lined a 3-2 pitch from Dagmar Bloeming into the alley in right-centre field to drive in Jess with the first run of the game.
The Dutch take it back
But the lead was short-lived. Mieke Witteveen dumped a bloop single into right-centre field to lead off the top of the fourth inning and Britt Vonk sacrificed her to second. A long fly ball to left field off the bat of Saskia Kosterink was the second out but Virginie Anneveld tomahawked a high pitch into left field for a single, scoring Witteveen, and Nathalie Gosewehr followed with the best hit of the game for Holland, a triple to right field that soared over Laura Thompson's head and scored Anneveld to give the Dutch a 2-1 lead.
GB mounted threats in both the fifth and sixth innings. In the fifth, Naomi Jones hit a soft liner back to Dagmar Bloeming that she dropped and then threw wildly past first, allowing Naomi to get to second. It was the only error committed by either team. But Jess Legendre popped up an intended bunt and Laura Thompson bounced out to third.
In the sixth inning, Stacie Townsend singled sharply to left field with one out and Morgan Parkerson sacrificed Stacie to second. But Karlene Headley-Cooper's soft line drive that looked headed for left field was snagged at the last instant by Dutch shortstop Chantal Versluis.
Insurance run
The Dutch added a much-needed insurance run in the top of the seventh when Chantal Versluis walked with two outs, stole second and scored on a ground ball single that Meike Witteveen pushed through the infield just to the right of second base.
GB catcher Leah English led off the bottom of the seventh with a vicious line drive into right-centre field that Areke Spel caught at her shoetops, and that sort of summed up the evening for GB.
What happens now?
The loss to Holland eliminates the chance that GB can go straight through from the second round to the last-four Page Playoffs, but it doesn't do too much harm to the chances of getting there by another route. GB only needs to win one of the two games today against France and Russia to go into a one-game decider for a Page Playoff place -- but beating both of them will give GB an easier opponent in that decider.
There is still all to play for -- along with the hope that at some point GB's luck will turn.
Previous stories on the GB Women's Fastpitch Team at the 2011 European Women's Championships can be found both on the Home Page and in the News column on this website.