The Great Britain U22 Women’s National Team faced off against rivals France in their second game of the U22 European Softball Championship 2024 on Tuesday, 6 August, with the French side coming away with a 6-4 victory. Great Britain drops to 0-2 in Group X at the U22 European Championships with two remaining games in group play.
Kailyn Haig got the start for Great Britain, the home team in their second contest of the tournament, and got the first two outs in quick succession before Jasmine Bouziri-Voung homered to left to give France an early advantage.
Tia Warsop led off the first for GB and singled to put the leadoff runner on. With Katie Burge up, Warsop swiped second, and advanced on Burge’s groundout, but was stranded at third.
In the second, Ambre Brouard was hit by a Haig pitch to lead off the inning, and with one out, Leonie Pauthe walked. After a Youna Pean sacrifice fly advanced both runners, Emma Patry singled to left to score both runners, and France led 3-0. Jessica Chan tallied a hit and a steal in the bottom of the inning but was unable to score.
In the third, Bouziri-Voung struck again, launching her second home run of the day, this time to right. Kaitlyn Parisi would work a leadoff walk against Celia Costes in the bottom of the frame, but Warsop grounded into a double play and Burge grounds out to first to end the inning. After three full innings of play, GB trailed France 4-0.
With one out in the fourth, France extended their lead and chased Haig, with Chiara Enrione-Thorrand mashing a home run to left centre to do the damage. Mackenzie Langan entered in relief, making her GB debut, and struck out Pauthe and Pean to end the threat. Morgan Salmon walked to lead off the home half of the inning and stole both second and third, but was stranded without a GB run crossing the plate.
The fifth inning saw France get a leadoff single, but Langan shut the door with three quick outs. Amy Hartle singled to left with one out in the GB half, and Parisi followed with a single down the left-field line. Warsop then sacrificed to advance the runners to second and third, bringing up veteran Katie Burge. Burge shot a single right back up the middle to score Hartle and Parisi, chasing Costes, and putting GB on the board. A throwing error put Burge at third before Salmon smashed a deep fly ball to left field off new pitcher Bouziri-Voung, clearing the fence and bringing GB within one. Walks to Jenna Thompson and Mia Krueger spelled the end of the day for Bouziri-Voung in the circle, as she gave way to Enora Simon. Simon faced Jessica Chan with two on and two away and induced a grounder to short to end the inning with France clinging to a 5-4 lead.
Langan returned to the circle in the sixth and worked around a one-out walk to keep the deficit at one. In the bottom half, GB’s first two outs were recorded in quick succession before Parisi and Warsop both singled on the infield, putting runners at first and second. That brought up Burge again, but this time Simon was able to rack up the strikeout, keeping France’s lead at one.
In the seventh, France would get insurance, and it was Bouziri-Voung who would do the honours. Her RBI single scored Lisa Papoin to give France a two-run cushion heading into the home half of the seventh. With one out in the GB half, Thomson singled and took second on a throwing error, but Krueger flew out and Jessica Chan grounded out to end proceedings.
Morgan Salmon led the GB offence with Great Britain’s first home run of the tournament, a two-run shot, along with two stolen bases, and Katie Burge added a pair of EBIs, all coming in the GB half of the fifth inning. Langan went 3.2 innings in relief of Haig, striking out four and allowing a single run.
Great Britain will next face Germany in the third game of Group X tomorrow, 7 August, at 12:30 PM BST. Tomorrow’s game and all games at the 2024 U22 European Softball Championships can be watched on baseballeurope.tv.
Follow the Great Britain U-22 Women’s Team on social media @GBWomenSoftball on Facebook, X, and Instagram, and on the British Softball Federation website, britishsoftball.org.