Wednesday 21 August – The British fastpitch club team The Mix recorded two more wins today at the European Women’s Cup in Dupnitsa, Bulgaria, one an astonishing .jpg)
comeback and the other a mercy rule win in five innings.
The comeback came this morning when The Mix trailed the Polish team Gepardy Zory 9-5 late in the game, then came up with a five-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning and hung on to win 10-9.
A report on that game has been on this website since lunchtime today and can be found below.
This evening, The Mix took on the host team, Angels Dupnitsa, and were only leading 3-0 after four innings behind pitcher Mary Murray, who was defying an ankle injury sustained on Monday that had kept her out of action on Tuesday.
But in the top of the fifth inning, The Mix exploded for seven runs and the mercy-rule ending followed swiftly.
Today’s two wins have left The Mix in second place in the nine-team round-robin table, still looking good for a place in the playoffs on Saturday. Today’s results and the current round-robin standings are also below.
The Mix v Angels Dupnitsa
Pitcher Mary Murray had turned her ankle during the warm-up before The Mix’s opening game on Monday against Skovde Saints from Sweden, but still threw five innings of relief in what turned out to be an extra-inning game and picked up the win.
But her ankle swelled up badly on Monday night and Mary was unable to pitch on Tuesday when the team split their two games.
This morning Mary re-appeared in the circle in relief against Gepardy Zory but pitched a bit tentatively and gave up four runs before The Mix came back to win.
However, Mary was back again this evening, pitching with more confidence, and threw a six-hit five-inning shutout against Angels Dupnitsa, with backing from a good defense.
Angels starter Yanita Milankova had no such luck, however, as her defense made six errors behind her, three in the top of the fifth inning when The Mix put the game to bed.
Early runs
Neither team scored in the first inning, though both left a runner on base, and The Mix then took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning – though they might have had more.
A walk to Holly Newell, a single by Sian Wigington and a walk to Hannah Pitman loaded the bases with no one out. But the runners had to hold when Mary Murray popped out to the Bulgarian catcher and Holly Newell was forced at home on a grounder to second base.
The rally might have fizzled altogether, but fortunately Gayle Khoenkhoen singled to centre field to score Sian Wigington, though Hannah Pitman was thrown out on the play by Angels’ centre fielder Nikol Yordanova.
In the top of the third inning, The Mix stretched the lead to 3-0, with some help from the Bulgarians.
Louisa Scott led off with a bunt and reached on a throwing error by the Bulgarian first base player. Megan Beard then singled to left, and when the left fielder misplayed the ball, Louisa scored and Megan wound up on second.
Though Megan advanced to third on a wild pitch, she was forced to stay there while Emmilee Blowers flew out to short left field and Holly Newell grounded back to the pitcher. But Sian Wigington lined a single to right centre field and The Mix had a third run.
Meanwhile, the Angels had baserunners in every inning against Mary Murray and left two runners on base in both the second and third innings. But good infield defense by The Mix kept those runners from scoring, and in the bottom of the fourth inning Mary closed out the inning with two strikeouts.
Huge inning
Nothing that had happened so far suggested that The Mix would blow the game open with seven runs in the top of the fifth inning, but that’s what happened.
The Mix had five hits, including triples by Holly Newell and Megan Beard and singles by Mary Murray, Gayle Khoenkhoen and Sian Wigington, but the Bulgarians threw in three walks (one intentional) and three killer errors. All seven runs had scored by the time the Angels finally changed pitchers, and by then the game was effectively over.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Nikol Yordanova singled for the Angels with two out, but Mary Murray struck out Victoria Blatska to end the game.
Sian Wigington went 3-for-3 for The Mix, and Megan Beard was 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
The Mix v Gepardy Zory
Trailing 9-5 to the Polish team Gepardy Zory going into the bottom of the sixth inning this morning, The Mix looked dead and buried – until a dramatic five-run rally produced an astonishing 10-9 win.
Following on from Tuesday afternoon’s seventh inning rally that turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 win over Akademics Sofia, the victory over Gepardy Zory gave The Mix a 3-1 record in the tournament and kept them in contention for a place in the medal games on Saturday -- and maybe a medal for the best Houdini-like escapologists in the competition.
Head Coach Robbie Robison said, “This team can really hit, and we had some great hitting in this game. But we’re also showing great mental strength and great character to keep coming back from behind.”
Slow start
Things didn’t start well in this game for The Mix and pitcher Ysa Urquiaga, as the Polish team put four runs on the board in the top of the first inning on four hits including a double and triple, and Barbara Killer replaced Ysa in the circle to get the final out.
The Poles added another run in the top of the second inning on a home run by Yuko Sameshima to take the score to 5-0 before The Mix began to claw their way back into the game in the bottom of the inning, with some generous help from their opponents.
The only hit in the inning was a lead-off infield single by catcher Anna Prins, but three Polish errors allowed The Mix to come out of the inning with two runs.
And in the bottom of the third inning The Mix scored again to bring the score to 5-3. With one out, Louisa Scott reached on a bunt single, stole second and scored on a single to left field by Anna Prins.
Pitching change
In the top of the fourth inning, after Haruka Honjo led off for the Poles with a bunt single, The Mix brought Mary Murray, still nursing her ankle sprain, in to pitch, and she immediately got Yuko Sameshima to hit into a 6-4-3 double play, then retired Julia Kursanow on a fly ball to right field.
But Mary was clearly feeling the effects of the injury as the game went on.
Trading runs
In the fifth inning, both teams put up a pair of runs, taking the score to 7-5 in favour of Gepardy Zory.
The Poles used two hard-hit singles and a double by Maria Rosol to score their runs; The Mix replied with a lead-off double by Barbara Killer and singles by Mary Murray and Megan Beard, plus a walk to Louisa Scott, to score theirs.
But when Gepardy Zory scored two more runs on three more hits off Mary Murray in the top of the sixth inning to stretch the lead to 9-5, the game seemed to be going away from The Mix.
The Mix, however, weren’t ready to believe it.
The rally
The rally in the bottom of the sixth inning started fairly innocuously. An error on a ground ball to third base put lead-off hitter Sian Wigington on second, and she scored on Hannah Pitman’s single to right field.
But when Barbara Killer flied out to right field and Mary Murray popped up to shortstop, it looked like Gepardy Zory pitcher Haruko Honjo might escape without further damage – until she walked Gayle Khoenkhoen and Emmilee Blowers to load the bases, and Megan Beard hit a line drive to right centre field that hopped the fence for a ground rule double, driving in two and putting runners on second and third.
But not for long – both Emmilee and Megan scored on a single to left field by Anna Prins, and, improbably, The Mix had a 10-9 lead.
However, The Mix had to hold the lead for one more half-inning, and that looked in jeopardy when Natalia Ciarcinska doubled with one out in the top of the seventh inning.
But Haruka Honjo popped up to shortstop, the dangerous Yuko Sameshima was walked intentionally, and Julia Kursanow hit a ground ball back to Mary Murray.
The Mix had done it again!
Looking ahead
Tomorrow (Thursday) The Mix will play the Israeli team Beit Shemes at 9.00 am local time and then Princ Zagreb from Croatia at 3.45 pm. Both teams ended Wednesday with 2-3 records, so neither game will be easy.
But two more wins tomorrow will guarantee that The Mix are playing on Saturday.
Scores and standings
Scores so far from games on Wednesday in the nine-team round-robin are:
Athletico San Sebastian 9, Horsholm 0 (5 inns)
Skovde Saints 7, Beit Shemes 4
The Mix 10, Gepardy Zory 9
Horsholm 16, Princ Zagreb 2 (4 inns)
Skovde Saints 8, Akademics Sofia 6
Beit Shemes 6, Gepardy Zory 3
The Mix 10, Angels Dupnitsa 0 (5 inns)
Athletico San Sebastian 9, Princ Zagreb 2 (5 inns)
Current round-robin standings are:
Athletico San Sebastian (5-0)
The Mix (4-1)
Horsholm (3-2)
Skovde Saints (3-2)
Angels Dupnitsa (2-3)
Princ Zagreb (2-3)
Beit Shemes (2-3)
Akademics Sofia (1-4)
Gepardy Zory (1-5)
Only four teams will go forward to playoff games on Saturday: the top two teams in the round-robin standings will play for the gold medal and the next two teams will play for the bronze medal. The other five teams will be finished after Friday.