by Bob Fromer
​Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada: July 14 -- ​Nothing ever seems to 
come easily for the GB Women's Fastpitch Team.
GB pitcher Stacie Townsend had thrown six no-hit innings against Chinese Taipei, and GB held a slender 1-0 lead as the game entered the bottom of the seventh inning on the second day of play at the 2012 Women's World Championships today in Whitehorse.
But both the game and the no-hitter were on the line after powerful Taiwanese clean-up hitter Chiang Hui Chuan walked with one out and pinch-runner Pai To Han stole second and went to third when the throw to second base went into centre field.
But Stacie Townsend got a called third strike against Li Yu Ting on a ball that just clipped the outside corner at the knees for the second out. Pitching carefully, Stacie walked pinch-hitter Shih Ching Ping on a 3-2 count, but then threw two strikes past Lin Pei Chun and got a swing and miss on the next pitch to end the game.
Hope stays alive
The win gives the GB Team a 1-1 record at the World Championships after the disappointing 4-0 loss to Italy on Friday and, more importantly, keeps alive GB's slender hopes of reaching the playoffs from Group B, a genuine "Group of Death" featuring heavyweights Japan, Australia and Canada as well as Chinese Taipei, a top-eight finisher at the 2010 World Championships in Venezuela, and Italy.
Tomorrow, GB will play New Zealand, one of the only two teams in the group that they will expect to beat (Mexico is the other). And then GB will either have to find a way to beat one of those three heavyweight teams, or, perhaps more realistically, hope that Chinese Taipei will beat Italy, producing a three-way tie for fourth place that will be decided on runs conceded.
The winning run
GB didn't exactly turn on the offense against 
Taiwanese starter Chiu An Ju, who pitched the first three innings, or Szu Chien Hsin, who pitched the last four. GB had only four hits in the game, plus two walks and a hit batter, and left six runners on base.
But two of the GB hits came in the third inning, and produced the run that won the game. With one out, leadoff hitter Kristi Yoshizawa beat out a bunt and took second when the throw got past the first base player. Kristi took third on Amy Moore's groundout and scored when Stacie Townsend drove a line drive single to left field on a 3-2 pitch.
The only other scoring threat that GB mounted in the game came in the fifth inning, when Karlene Headley-Cooper reached on an error and Naomi Jones was hit by a pitch with no outs. But GB again failed to execute a bunt to advance the runners, and in the end left the bases loaded when Morgan Parkerson popped out to the Taiwanese catcher.
Tension mounts
Meanwhile, despite giving up no hits, the game wasn't completely plain sailing for Stacie Townsend. A walk and a hit batter put Chinese Taipei runners on first and second with one out in the second inning, and they moved to second and third on a groundout to Sarah Jones at second base. But Shin Wan Ting hit a weak grounder to the left side, and GB U-19 player Amy Wells, starting at shortstop for Britain in the biggest game of her softball career, made the play to end the threat.
Stacie retired the Taiwanese in order over the next four innings as her strikeout total began to mount (she finished with eight).
But the GB players, and their parents and fans in the stands, had to survive the tension-filled bottom of the seventh inning before the victory and the no-hitter were safe.