By Bob Fromer

Sant Boi, Spain: 26 July – The GB Women’s Team beat Ireland 11-4 in five innings this morning at Viladecans, one of four venues at the 2022 European Women’s Championship, to pick up their second straight second-round playoff win.  But don’t let the scoreline fool you!

This was a game where GB got off to a great offensive start with four quick first-inning runs, only to see the Irish come back and not only tie the score in the bottom of the third inning but absolutely grab the momentum. 

There was a point in that third inning, before GB had a stroke of luck to get out of it without further damage, where Ireland looked the more likely winner if something didn’t change -- and it still felt like that as the game moved to the bottom of the fourth inning.  The Irish were on top of the GB pitching at that point, while the GB offense that had started so well had just had three very quiet innings.

But the changes came, in the nick of time. 

With Ireland coming to bat in the bottom of the fourth inning, GB Head Coach Rachael Watkeys took Georgina Corrick off her first base position and sent her to warm up, inserting Imogen Gie, briefly, at first.  Then, with one on and one out for Ireland, Georgina came in to relieve Amie Hutchison, who in turn had relieved GB starter Kim Hobson in the third inning when a long and dramatic three-run home run by Irish clean-up hitter Jenna Devens had brought the Irish back to 4-4 and sent their supporters into ecstasy.

And with that pitching change – Georgina for Amie -- the game turned on its head.

Georgina got the next two outs, and then a revitalised GB came up in the top of the fifth inning, sent 11 batters to the plate, and put seven runs on the scoreboard on eight hits: a varied assortment of singles.

Suddenly, a game where GB was clinging on had shot into mercy rule territory on the positive side of the ledger.

Georgina Corrick then made quick work of the Irish in the bottom of the fifth inning, on two strikeouts and a foul pop fly to catcher Amy Moore, and suddenly the game was over and the teams were shaking hands.

And best of all, though GB had no choice but to bring Georgina into the game, she only had to throw two innings and around 20 pitches, giving the GB coaches the option to start her this evening when GB plays Israel.

All’s well that ends well – but this was a close-run thing!
 

Great start

There was no sign of the dramas to come as GB made another quick start in the top of the first inning against Irish starting pitcher Kailey O’Connor. 

With one out, Sydney Brown beat out a ground ball to short, and then Katie Burge, elevated from ninth to third in the line-up, lashed yet another of her trademark triples to the left-centre field fence, sending Sydney in to score.  A groundout by Lauren Evans then brought in Katie, and GB led 2-0.  But they weren’t finished.

Morgan Salmon singled to left, Georgina Corrick singled to right, and both moved up on a passed ball.  And then things got a little strange.  Jade Yerex pushed a ground ball to short and sprinted for first base.  Meanwhile, Morgan Salmon crossed home plate and Georgina Corrick, who thought Jade would be out at first, had turned third and was slowly jogging towards home.

But Jade beat the throw to first, Georgina hastily got to home plate, and Jade had two RBIs and GB had four runs.

Ireland replied immediately with a run in the bottom of the first inning and gave every sign that they could hit the ball hard.  A lead-off single by Abby Horton, a fielder’s choice, a stolen base and a chopper to short on which Sydney Brown couldn’t make a do-or-die short-hop play put runners on second and third for Ireland with two out.

Kailey O’Connor then singled sharply to left field, scoring Claire Blount.  But the Irish made the mistake of also waving Jamison Brockenbrough home, and she was cut down easily on a great throw from GB left fielder Aubrey Peterson and a fine catch and tag by catcher Cameron McGinnis.

So GB got out of that inning with a 4-1 lead and not too much damage done.  But it wasn’t to be their last escape.
 

Ireland on top

After that promising first inning for GB, Irish pitcher Kailey O’Connor settled in and GB bats went cold.

No one struck out or was fooled or overpowered by what they were seeing, but 10 GB batters came to the plate over the next three innings, one – Morgan Salmon – hit a booming double to the fence in centre field, and the other nine hit into ground ball outs which the Irish infield handled flawlessly.

Meanwhile, Ireland was not nearly so passive.

In the bottom of the second inning, Kim Hobson gave up two-out singles to Sydney Horton and Allie Monteleone at the bottom of the Irish order, but then struck out Abby Horton with two beautifully located pitches up and in.

In the bottom of the third inning, however, the Irish returned to the attack.  Claire Blount and Jamison Brockenbrough opened the inning with hard-hit singles that nicked off GB gloves, and then Jenna Devens blasted a line drive that cleared the left field fence in a hurry to tie the score at 4-4.

You didn’t even need to watch the ball; the sound off the bat told you where it was going.

At that point, Amie Hutchison entered in relief of Kim Hobson and immediately hit Kailey O’Connor with a pitch, putting the Irish in business once again.  But here GB got lucky.

Irish right fielder Niamh Dougherty drove a pitch deep to centre field that looked like at least an extra-base hit, but GB centre fielder Tia Warsop made a fine over the shoulder catch.

Then the next batter, pinch-hitter Lily Wilmot, smashed a ball down the first base line – but right into Georgina Corrick’s glove, and she only had to step on first to double off Kailey O’Connor and get GB out of the inning.

But it felt like the momentum was now all with Ireland, especially after GB went up and down in order in the top of the fourth inning and Sydney Horton, the first Irish batter in the bottom of the fourth, led off with a hard-hit single to left field.

But one batter later, Georgina Corrick was in the game, Amie Hutchison moved from pitcher to third base, Lauren Evans crossed from third to first, Georgina quickly got GB out of the inning, and everything had changed.
 

The rally

Now it was the top of the fifth and GB – scared? relieved? determined? – responded with a magnificent half inning.

Tia Warsop started things by beating out a tapper back to the pitcher, and then stole second.  One out later, Katie Burge singled through the hole between third and short to score Tia.  Lauren Evans drove a single up the middle to move Katie to second and a perfect bunt base hit placed down the third base line by Morgan Salmon loaded the bases.

That was the end for Kailey O’Connor, and the Irish brought in Summer Rocha, but the parade of singles continued.

Georgina Corrick’s single up the middle brought in one run, and Jade Yerex drove in two more with a bloop down the left field line – her third and fourth RBIs of the game.

Amy Moore flew out for the second out of the inning, but Aubrey Peterson beat out an infield hit and then Tia Warsop drove a single just to the right of second base to drive home two final runs and move the score – at 11-4 -- into mercy rule territory.

And after that came the quick bottom of the fifth, in which discouraged Irish hitters were no match for Georgina Corrick, and GB had a precious win.

“It took every single one of you to win that game,” Rachael Watkeys told the team afterwards, “and everyone was ready for what they had to do to help us get there in the end."
 

Later today

The game against Ireland began at 9.00 am Tuesday morning and was over before 11.00 am, and the team now has a long break before they play Israel at 8.15 pm tonight Spanish time (7.15 in the UK).

GB lost to Israel 8-3 in a warm-up match last week, but will be looking for – and will need – a different outcome tonight to keep their hopes for a medal on track.

Meanwhile, there is a whole slate of games today in the two six-team second-round Championship round-robins and in the nine-team consolation playoff round.

Some scores are below; others will be added to this story over the course of Tuesday.
 

Scores and standings

Below are European Women’s Championship results from Tuesday.

Teams in Pool E and Pool F are engaged in Championship playoffs; teams in Pool G are playing for experience and placings.

POOL E
GB 11, Ireland 4 (5 inns)
Italy 4, Germany 3
Israel 6, France 4
Italy 7, Ireland 0 (6 inns)
Germany 10, France 4
GB 10, Israel 0 (4 inns)

POOL F
Greece 13, Slovakia 4 (6 inns)
Netherlands 16, Poland 0
Czech Republic 4, Spain 0
Netherlands 8, Greece 1 (5 inns)
Czech Republic 7, Slovakia 0 (5 inns)
Spain 7, Poland 0 (6 inns)

POOL G
Austria 15, Turkey 0 (3 inns)
Belgium 20, Malta 3 (4 inns)
Ukraine 4, Switzerland 3
Croatia 10, Finland 0
Malta 8, Turkey 0 (5 inns)
Belgium 24, Finland 8 (3 inns)
Austria 7, Ukraine 6
Croatia 7, Denmark 0 (6 inns)

Standings in the three pools after Tuesday are:

POOL E
GB (3-0)
Italy (3-0)
Ireland (1-2)
Germany (1-2)
Israel (1-2)
France (0-3)

POOL F
Netherlands (3-0)
Czech Republic (2-1)
Spain (2-1)
Greece (1-2)
Poland (1-2)
Slovakia (0-3)

POOL G
Croatia (3-0)
Austria (3-0)
Belgium (2-1)
Ukraine (1-1)
Malta (1-1)
Denmark (0-1)
Switzerland (0-2)
Turkey (0-2)
Finland (0-2)

All GB games during the tournament will be webstreamed, and the broadcasts can be accessed on https://www.youtube.com/wbsceurope for free or on ESport Plus.  

Game reports will be posted each day on this website.