By Bob Fromer
Thursday July 13 – Georgina Corrick threw a five-inning perfect game with nine strikeouts, the GB Women’s offense exploded for 
seven runs in the third inning, and the result was GB’s third straight shutout victory at the WBSC Women’s World Cup Group A tournament today, a 7-0 win over Ireland.
Just before the GB-Ireland game, the United States finally prevailed 1-0 against Australia with a run in the bottom of the eighth inning, and this result, coupled with GB’s win over Ireland, means that the GB Women cannot finish lower than second in the standings after the round-robin phase of the tournament concludes on Friday.
That puts GB in a great position for Saturday’s Page Playoff, because instead of having to win back-to-back games against two tough teams on Saturday to qualify for next year’s Women’s World Cup Finals in Italy, GB will only need to win one game against a team they have already beaten.
Which guarantees nothing, but it’s a position the team and the coaching staff -- and the GB fans in the stands -- will happily take.
Perfection
Georgina Corrick has now thrown 19 straight shutout innings in this tournament, but the five innings she threw today against Ireland were largely pressure-free. No Irish batter really came close to a hit, and six of Georgina’s nine strikeouts were called third strikes, as the Irish hitters simply couldn’t read her.
There were only two three-ball counts in the game, as Georgina hit her spots beautifully, particularly the outside corner against a line-up with only one left-handed hitter.
The closest Ireland did come to a hit, or at least a baserunner, was on a ground ball hit back towards the pitcher in the top of the fourth inning hit by Irish right fielder Savannah Brockenbrough. Georgina Corrick knocked the ball and saw it trickle away from her, but she recovered in time with a great throw to just nip Brockenbrough at first base.
The GB defense had another errorless game, and the only other play with any degree of difficulty was a catch by Tia Warsop in the top of the fifth inning, sprinting in to take a short pop fly off the bat of Jenna Devens.
Speed kills
Irish starter Kailey O’Connor started the game well, setting GB down in order in the bottom of the first inning.
Catcher Amy Moore led off the second inning for GB with a single to right field and later in the inning DP Jessica Chan reached on an error, but with GB runners on second and third and two out, Katie Burge grounded to shortstop.
The Irish ran out of luck, however, in the bottom of the third inning, and GB’s speed was the telling factor.
Shortstop Sydney Brown led off the inning by beating out an infield grounder, and then Tia Warsop put a perfect bunt in front of home plate and beat it out easily for another single. Kendyl Scott then stroked a sharp ground ball single into left field, but a great throw from Irish left fielder Niamh Dougherty and a great tag by catcher Andreya Jarvis cut down Sydney Brown at home.
That was the high point of the inning for Ireland; the rest of it was a disaster.
What followed were two errors by the Irish infield, a ringing double to the fence in left centre field by Morgan Salmon, a single by Alana Snow that Irish second baseplayer Abigail Horton could only knock down to keep it from going into centre field, and then a triple slashed to the fence in left centre by Katie Burge. That put six runs on the board.
Katie’s hit spelled the end for Kailey O’Connor, who was replaced in the circle by Jenna Devens, and Devens gave up a final run on Sydney Brown’s second infield hit of the inning. GB now had seven runs and the game was effectively over.
The only remaining issue was whether Georgina Corrick could keep her perfect game going through the fourth and fifth innings before the mercy rule brought the game to a close, and this was accomplished with efficiency.
Speaking after the game, Corrick was effusive with her praise of her teammates, saying "Softball is always a game of energy, whoever has the most energy is usually going to win the game. It was really important for us, knowing that we were coming to someone's home field, and having an inning like we had in the third where you start to hear the crowds go quite. That's when I knew as a player that we started to win that game before it was over, when we got a lively crowd to quiet themselves."
Tomorrow (Friday), if the forecast heavy rain holds off. the GB Women will have a doubleheader as the round-robin comes to a close, with games against winless Botswana at 12.30 pm and then the undefeated United States at 3.00 pm. But regardless of results on Friday, GB is sure of at least a second-place finish in the round-robin standings, and considering the opposition in Balbriggan, that is a tremendous achievement.
Scores and standings
Results in the third day of play in the WBSC Women’s World Cup Group A tournament in Ireland were:
Australia 10, Botswana 0 (4 inns)
Chinese Taipei 10, Botwana 0 (4 inns)
USA 1, Australia 0 (8 inns)
Great Britain 7, Ireland 0 (5 inns)
Round-robin standings after three days of play are:
Great Britain (3-0)
USA (3-0)
Australia (2-2)
Chinese Taipei (2-2)
Ireland (1-3)
Botswana (0-4)