Thursday 24 August – The Mix remained unbeaten on Thursday with two more wins at the European Women’s Cup in Zagreb, Croatia, but in the European Women’s Cup Winners Cup B in Moergestel in the Netherlands, the Barbarians suffered a tough loss that knocked them out of medal contention.
The Mix defeated the host team Princ Zagreb by 10-4 on Thursday morning, then knocked off the Warsaw Diamonds in the afternoon by 8-1 in five innings. Those two wins leave The Mix in sole possession of the top spot in the round-robin group at the European Women’s Cup, and looking likely to be playing in the gold medal game on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Barbarians were taking on the Israeli team Thunderbirds in the Cup Winners Cup B, and went down by 3-1 in a game dominated by pitching. The Barbarians now have a round-robin record of 1-4 with just one more game to play on Friday, and they will miss out on Saturday’s medal games.
Instead, the Barbarians, in their first-ever European tournament, will be one of three teams playing another round-robin on Saturday to determine places five to seven in the final tournament standings.
EUROPEAN WOMEN’S CUP
The Mix 10, Princ Zagreb 4
This was a rematch of Wednesday evening’s game between The Mix and the host team for the 2023 European Women’s Cup, Princ Zagreb, which The 
Mix had won by 9-0. But though this game had a similar outcome, it had a very different start.
After failing to score in the top of the first inning, The Mix took the field behind starting pitcher Emma Agostini, and after retiring the first Croatian batter on a fly ball to centre field, Emma lost her rhythm, her release point, and the strike zone, walking six of the next seven Princ Zagreb hitters to force in three runs and give the Croatians a 3-0 lead.
At that point, Anna-Be Bartels came in to pitch for The Mix, and not only got out of the inning without further damage, but limited the Croatians to just one run on three hits over the next six frames.
This was the platform on which The Mix were able to come from behind and ultimately take a comfortable lead, though it took a while to do so against Croatian starter Nina Berisic and relief pitcher Michaela Haramina.
The Mix didn’t get on the scoreboard until the top of the third inning, when a walk to Alana Snow and infield hits by Chelsie Robison and Mary Murray produced a run.
In the top of the fourth inning, however, after the teams took a 10-minute heat break with the temperature climbing over 30 degrees Celsius, The Mix put up five runs to take control of the game.
Anna-Be Bartels led off the inning with a double to right centre field. Singles by Barbara Killer and Holly Newell followed, plus a wild pitch and some defensive misplays by the Croatians, and that brought in two runs to tie the game at 3-3. But The Mix weren’t done: Alana Snow was hit by a pitch, Chelsie Robison singled two runs home, and an infield single by Mary Murray plated a fifth and final run.
The Mix were now ahead by 6-3, and though Princ Zagreb scored a single run in the bottom of the fourth inning, The Mix came back with four in the top of the fifth against relief pitcher Michaela Haramina to seal the game. Anna-Be Bartels, Sian Wigington, Holly Newell, and Chelsie Robison all had singles to keep things moving.
No further runs were scored over the last two-and-a-half innings, and The Mix moved out to a 3-0 record in the round-robin.
Chelsie Robison went 4-for-4 in the game to raise her batting average to .556, and Mary Murray, Sian Wigington and Anna-Be Bartels had two hits each as The Mix racked up 13 hits to three for the Croatians.
The Mix 8, Warsaw Diamonds 1
After a fairly short turnaround, The Mix were back on the field to play the only team they hadn’t yet faced in the tournament, the Warsaw Diamonds.
Both teams scored a single run in the first inning, and the game remained at 1-1, with Mary Murray for The Mix and Meg Brewer for the Diamonds both pitching effectively, until the bottom of the fourth inning.
The Polish team had scored their first inning run on a hit batter, a stolen base and an outfielder error; The Mix had scored their run on a triple by Chelsie Robison and an infield groundout.
Suddenly, in the bottom of the fourth inning, a pitcher’s duel turned into a mercy rule win as The Mix scored seven runs, set the Polish team down in order in the top of the fifth, and walked off the field with their fourth straight victory. In those four wins, The Mix have scored 34 runs and conceded just nine.
The big blow in The Mix’s seven-run fourth inning was a bases loaded triple by Alana Snow, but there were singles in the inning from Sian Wigington, Crista Reed-Thomas, Emanuela Vischetti, and Emma Agostini, and Jade Yerex chipped in with a sacrifice fly. Three different Warsaw Diamonds’ pitchers tried to contain The Mix in the inning, and none of them managed to do so.
Eight different players had hits for The Mix, and Crista Reed-Thomas had two. At the end of their first four games, five Mix batters are hitting over .400 and three of those are over .500. That kind of offense can win a lot of games.
Scores and standings
The four teams competing in the 2023 European Women’s Cup are playing a double round-robin from Wednesday through Friday, with the final round-robin standings determining which teams will play in the gold and bronze medal games on Saturday.
Scores on Thursday were:
Warsaw Diamonds 12, Angels Dupnitsa 4
The Mix 10, Princ Zagreb 4
The Mix 8, Warsaw Diamonds 1
Princ Zagreb 12, Angels Dupnitsa 1
Standings after Thursday are:
The Mix (4-0)
Princ Zagreb (2-2)
Angels Dupnitsa (1-3)
Warsaw Diamonds (1-3)
Looking ahead
On Friday 25 August, The Mix will conclude round-robin play in the 2023 European Women’s Cup with a morning game against the Warsaw Diamonds followed by an afternoon game against Angels Dupnitsa.
On Saturday, the top two teams from the final round-robin standings will play for the gold medal and promotion to the European Women’s Premier Cup in 2024, while the other two teams will play for the bronze medal.
EUROPEAN WOMEN’S CUP WINNERS CUP B:
Thunderbirds 3, Barbarians 1
In this low scoring and well-played game, both starting pitchers – Lea Maartens for the Barbarians and Maud Talma for the Israelis – pitched the first five 
innings and surrendered all the runs, with no further runs scored over the last two innings against the Barbarians’ relief pitcher, Cheyenne Vogel, or Israeli reliever Adrianna Berger.
All of the scoring in this game was concentrated in just an inning and a half.
The Israeli team took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning on two walks and three singles, though the British team did cut down a runner at home on an attempted double steal.
The Barbarians tied the game with a run in the top of the third inning on a two-out double to left field by Debby Meuzers, an infield single by Ellen Wolfs, and an Israeli error.
Then the Thunderbirds scored the decisive two runs in the bottom of the third inning on a hit batter, a single, an RBI groundout and a triple by Pascalle Moraux.
Apart from that, the pitchers held sway, and the final score was 3-1 to the Israeli team.
The best chance the Barbarians had to get back in the game came in the top of the sixth inning, when Julie Winkel doubled to right field with one out. But Adrianna Berger struck out the next two hitters to end the threat.
Scores and standings
Seven teams are competing in the 2023 European Women’s Cup Winners Cup B, and they are playing a full round-robin over the course of the week to determine which teams will play in the bronze and gold medal games on Saturday.
Scores on Thursday with one game still to play are:
Challengers Zurich 5, Medvenica Mrki Medvedi 0
Thunderbirds 3, Barbarians 1
Crazy Chicklets 4, Titans 3
SV Roef v Challengers Zurich
Standings on Thursday with one game still to play are:
SV Roef (4-0)
Crazy Chicklets (4-1)
Challengers Zurich (3-1)
Titans (2-3)
Thunderbirds (2-2)
Barbarians (1-4)
Medvenica Mrki Medvedi (0-5)
Looking ahead
The Barbarians will complete the round-robin stage at the 2023 European Women’s Cup Winners Cup B on Friday morning with a game against the Titans from Botswana.
The top two teams in the round-robin standings after Friday will play the gold medal game on Saturday afternoon. The teams finishing third and fourth will play for the bronze medal, and the teams finishing in fifth, sixth, and seventh place will play a three-team round-robin on Saturday to determine final placings.