Tuesday 21 August – The London Angels had a loss this morning and a win this afternoon at the European Women’s Cup-Winners Cup in Capelle a.d. IJsell in the Netherlands, and are still in with a chance of making the Championship playoffs.
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The loss this morning was by 9-4 to the German team Wesseling Vermins, and too many errors by the Angels’ defense, leading to six unearned runs for the Vermins, made the difference.
The win this afternoon was by 9-2 in five innings over the French team BCF Paris, and the Angels cruised behind a four-hit complete game performance by pitcher Marjolein Merkx. The London team led 9-0 after four innings, and the two runs for BCF Paris in the bottom of the fifth inning were not quite enough to prevent the mercy rule coming into effect.
The Angels will play their final two games tomorrow in the opening round-robin, against Joudrs Prague from the Czech Republic at 4.00 pm and then the Dutch team Eurostars at 8.00 pm.
Eurostars have yet to win a game, but Joudrs have lost so far only to the group leaders Sparks Haarlem, and the Angels may need two wins tomorrow to get to the Championship playoffs.
London Angels 9, BCF Paris 2
Neither team scored in the first inning, though the Angels drew two walks with two out against the French starting pitcher Susie Pieper.
The Angels went ahead with two runs in the top of the second inning. Cheska Ham led off with a single to centre field, Judith van den Berg doubled to centre, and Cheska scored and Judith moved to third on a throwing error. Judith later scored on Leontien Bosch’s groundout.
Apart from one baserunner on an error, the French went down in order in the bottom of the second inning, and the Angels added two more runs to their total in the top of the third on back-to-back doubles by Sterre Duijn and Cheska Ham.
In the top of the fourth inning, the 4-0 lead became 9-0 as Giulia Bollini took over the pitching duties for the French from Susie Pieper, and didn’t fare well.
Simone Zurschmitten and Tara Henry reached on infield singles, sandwiched around an out, and Sandy Lauwers walked to load the bases. Wendy Macias hit the ball back to the pitcher and the French got the force out at the plate, but the throw back to first for the attempted double play went awry and Tara Henry scored.
Then Roos-Marijn Kramer walked to load the bases again, Sterre Duijn’s infield single brought in one run, Cheska Ham’s single down the right field line brought in two more, and Sterre eventually stole home.
That was effectively game, set and match to the Angels.
The French team finally got on the board with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning on a couple of hits and a couple of errors, but it was way too little and too late.
The Angels had posted their first win and could look forward to Wednesday with confidence.
Wesseling Vermins 9, London Angels 4
The German team, with a 0-2 record coming into this morning’s game, had only one more hit than the Angels, and when the Angels rallied for four runs in the top of the fifth inning to tie the score at 4-4, the game was there for the taking.
But in the end, it was errors that proved the Angels’ undoing. They gave the Germans six unearned runs in all, and there was a key error in the bottom of the sixth inning when Wesseling snapped the tie with a five-run outburst that put the game out of reach.
Starter Roos-Marijn Kramer pitched three strong innings for the Angels, striking out four, and the two runs she gave up in the bottom of the third inning were both unearned. Nevertheless, it was Roos-Marijn’s own error that prolonged the inning for the Germans when two were out and allowed a single by Alexandra Stuwe to drive in two runs.
All the Angels could muster to that point against German starter Claudia Volkmann, who pitched six innings, was a single by Sandy Lauwers in the top of the first inning and another by Tara Henry in the third inning.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, after a lead-off triple by Brittany Barnes and an RBI single from Julia de Jong, Wendy Macias took over the pitching for the Angels and brought things under control, though de Jong crossed home plate later in the inning on a double steal attempt to make the score 4-0 to the Vermins.
Then, in the top of the fifth inning, the Angels offense came to life and they tied the score.
Cheska Ham started things with a lead-off single and with one out, Griet de Schrijvere doubled, sending Cheska to third. A throwing error on an attempted pick-off – the Germans’ only error of the game – allowed one run to score, and Simone Zurschmitten’s single to centre field drove in Griet de Schrijvere.
Then a walk to Tara Henry, an RBI single by Sandy Lauwers and a double steal attempt on which Tara Henry scored produced a 4-4 tie. The Angels were back in the game.
But all their good work was undone in the bottom of the sixth inning when the Germans scored their five runs on four hits and an error that meant four of the runs were unearned.
The Angels had little time to come back, and though Nadya Pavlova and Tara Henry singled in the top of the seventh inning against Wesseling reliever Hannah Held, the rally fizzled out.
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Scores
Scores from the second day of play, with two games still to come, are:
Pool A
Wesseling Vermins (Germany) 9, London Angels 4
Sparks Haarlem (Netherlands) 13, Joudrs Prague (Czech Republic) 1
Wesseling Vermins 7, Eurostars (Netherlands) 0
London Angels 9, BCF Paris (France) 2
Sparks Haarlem v Eurostars
Pool B
Bollate (Italy) 7, Titans (Botswana) 0 (forfeit)
Royal Greys (Belgium) 5, Kalita (Russia) 3
Eagles (Switzerland) 2, Kalita 0
Atletico San Sebastian (Spain) 7, Titans 0 (forfeit)
Bollate 10, Royal Greys 0
Standings
Pool standings after the second day of play at the European Cup-Winners Cup, excluding the final two games still to be played today, are:
Pool A
Sparks Haarlem (3-0)
Joudrs Prague (2-1)
Wesseling Vermins (2-2)
London Angels (1-2)
BCF Paris (1-2)
Eurostars (0-2)
Pool B
Bollate (4-0)
Atletico San Sebastian (2-1)
Royal Greys (2-2)
Eagles (1-2)
Kalita (1-2)
Titans (0-3)
The full schedule and all results from the tournament can be seen here: http://competition.europeansoftball.org/2018/capelle/schedule.php.