Friday 18 August -- Two of the top women’s teams from the Great Britain Fastpitch League – the 2022 champions The Mix and the runner-up Barbarians – are both off to Europe this weekend to play in European Cup competitions next week.
The Mix, who are European Cup veterans, will be playing in the four-team European Women’s Cup in Zagreb, Croatia, and the winner of this tournament will be promoted to Europe’s top women’s club competition, the Premier Cup, for 2024. The Mix won a silver medal at the European Women’s Cup in 2019.
The Barbarians, in contrast, will be making their first venture into Europe, and will be playing in the seven-team European Women’s Cup Winners Cup B in Moergestel in the Netherlands.
Because of the small number of entries, the European Women’s Cup will only run from Wednesday through Saturday next week, but The Mix will be flying to Zagreb on Sunday so they can spend a few days training and hanging out as a team.
With seven entries in the Cup Winners Cup B tournament, however, the competition will start, as usual, on the Monday and conclude on Saturday.
The Mix at the European Women’s Cup
The Mix will be up against three Eastern European teams in this competition: the host team Princ Zagreb from Croatia, Angels Dupnitsa from Bulgaria, 
and the Warsaw Diamonds from Poland.
The competition will be played as a double round-robin on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, with bronze and gold medal games on Saturday.
The Mix will open the competition at 10.00 am Croatian time next Wednesday with a game against Angels Dupnitsa, and will play the last game of the day at 6.00 pm, following the Opening Ceremony, against the hosts Princ Zagreb.
The Mix, founded and led by Sian Wigington and Chelsie Robison, will be taking the following players to the tournament:
Emma Agostini
Anna-Be Bartels
Megan Beard
Barbara Killer
Mary Murray
Holly Newell
Crista Reed-Thomas
Chelsie Robison
Chimene Snijder
Alana Snow
Maria Urquiaga
Lotte van der Weide
Emanuela Vischetti
Sian Wigington
Jade Yerex
The team will be coached in Croatia by former GB Women’s Team Assistant Coach Liz Knight and current GB Men’s Team players Ieuan Gale and Josh Peat.
Sian Wigington said, “The team is super excited to be back together again, and we have spent a lot more time this year preparing for Europe by going to pre-season tournaments and training at Farnham on a weekly basis. We have very positive expectations going into this year’s tournament and are definitely looking to medal. We always have a lot of fun as a team and we are very grateful to both the girls and coaching staff for being a part of the club.”
Barbarians at the European Women’s Cup Winners Cup B
In the Netherlands, the Barbarians will be up against six teams from all parts of Europe: the host club SV Roef from the Netherlands, the Challengers 
Zurich from Switzerland, Thunderbirds from Israel, Medvenica Mrki from Croatia, the Titans from Bulgaria, and the Crazy Chicklets from Austria.
The competition will be played as a single round-robin from Monday through Friday. On Saturday, the top four teams from the round-robin standings will play the bronze and gold medal games, with the bottom three teams playing a round-robin to determine places five through seven.
The Barbarians, founded and led by Kat Golik and Yuki Ono, will start off with a game at 12.30 pm Dutch time on Monday against the host team SV Roef, who are probably the pre-tournament favourites.
The Barbarians’ roster for the tournament includes:
Dobe Chan
Niamh Cogley-Rock
Becky Cottrell
Caitlin Frank
Kat Golik
Sarah Kirchhoff
Megan Longman
Lea Maartens
Debby Muezers
Yuki Ono
Cheyenne Vogel
Marijke van Kempen
Anouk van Maris
Julie Winkel
Ellen Wolfs
The team staff will be Claudia Kranendonk and Kyle Kwok.
Kat Golik said, "Our main objuective is to gain experience at this tournament and stay competitive. It's the first European Cup tournament for the majority of the players in the team, so we'll be soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying the softball!"
"Barbarians was established in 2015 as a mixed fastpitch team," Kat addedf, "and it has been great to see the team grow into a competitive women's team in the GBFL. We pride ourselves in encouraging ex-fastpitch players to come back again plus giving complete newbies a go at the sport. Hopefully more trips will be on the cards for us in the future!"