The ESF European Championship
Prague, Czech Republic
July 7th – 10th 2010
Day 1
Guernsey v Great Britain 2 – 26
Guernsey started by taking the field against a very strong Great Britain side. However, they seemed to be suffering from first game nerves in the early part of the game which GB took full advantage of with some very good batting.
Guernsey did settle down and played some good defensive plays. Dale Martel pitched well giving up only one walk, but the damage had already been done.
On a positive note Guernsey did not give up and battled on with commitment in a game that was always going to be hard work bearing in mind GB have won the last 6 European Championships!
Guernsey v Slovakia 17 – 3
A much more of a confident start from Guernsey with excellent defensive play and aggressive batting.
Guernsey pushed for the extra bags and it paid off, unnerving the Slovakians. Piling on the pressure they forced errors from the opponents. Jason Mariess excelled in the batter’s box by scoring 3 home runs. A highly enjoyable game!
Day 2
Guernsey v Belgium 7 – 6
Guernsey did not find great batting form until the third innings in the 35°C heat of Sabat Park. With two on deck Marco Silvestri hit a right field ball to score a three bag home run. This tied the scores and proved to be the turnaround Guernsey needed and set the pace for the remainder of the game. In the next two innings Belgium shut Guernsey out and Guernsey reciprocated with the help of the quick thinking double play by Ben Corson. The top of the sixth saw Belgium score twice with some good base hits now was the time for Sally Le Noury to unleash her ‘worth’ and stepped up to the plate, fully armed, and she smacked a massive hit over the head of Belgium’s centre left fielder for a two run home run to level the scores at 5 – 5.
As neither team converted runs in the seventh, the game went to a tie break innings with a runner starting on 2nd base. Belgium scored once but Guernsey held their nerve to see Dale Martel strike out one batter and Jason Mariess catching the second two outs. Bottom of the eighth and it was Guernsey’s turn to start with a runner on two. Marissa Mollet got on board with a right field hit which pushed our runner (Kyle Nelson bought in for Dale Martel) to third base. Now with a runner on both three and one Marco Silvestri hit to right field to score in Kyle and again level the scores. Guernsey seized this opportunity to try and progress Marissa to three but she was unfortunately tagged out. With one more out and Marco on two it was again Sally’s turn at bat and she did not let us down with another great hit to score Marco in to end the game 7 – 6 in Guernsey’s favour.
Slovenia v Guernsey 4 – 3
The first few innings started well with some good batting including another home run by Sally Le Noury. Guernsey was able to shut Slovenia out until the fourth inning where Slovenia scored their first run. Top of five, 3 – 1 in Guernsey’s favour, it appeared a win could be in Guernsey’s reach; however at bottom of the 5th Slovenia crossed the plate once more to score their second run. With Slovenia now closing the gap and playing a strong defensive game neither team scored in the 6th.
Top of the 7th and the score is 3 – 2 to Guernsey; Slovenia shut Guernsey out leaving themselves with the last bat. The first batter got on board and the target was now in their sight. With some good safe hitting Slovenia converted the runner to tie the score at 3 – 3. With a further runner now on bag and with two down, their right fielder hit out and shattered Guernsey’s hopes in the cruelest of ways to make the final score 4 – 3 in Slovenia’s favour.
Day 3
Austria v Guernsey 3 – 6
This was a must win game to keep Guernsey in with a chance of a place in the top 4. Guernsey started the batting off with some safe base hits and converted 1 run. Some good defensive play and solid pitching enabled Guernsey to end the third inning with the score of 3-1 in Guernsey’s favour. Good team work between Ben Corson and Kyle Nelson (including a leaping catch from Kyle) meant Guernsey were quickly back into bat and scored 3 more runs at the bottom of the fourth. A quick 5th innings as neither side scored. Top of the 6th and Austria made light work of getting 3 Guernsey outs.
Bottom of 6th and disciplined batting by Austria got them runners on board. A catch by Guernsey’s Ben Corson and a strike out by Dale Martel made Guernsey only needing one more out. Austria’s next batter hit outfield, where Glen Cortez seized the opportunity to gun down the advancing Austrian runner with a throw perfectly on target to Guernsey’s catcher, Judy Machon, who bravely tagged the runner to get the 3rd out. Guernsey did not score in the 7th so now in the bottom of the inning Austria had their last chance. They scored only once more but again good defensive fielding and solid pitching meant Guernsey finished the game with a 6 – 3 win.
Ireland v Guernsey 13 – 9
Another big challenge was ahead of Guernsey in a game that both teams were looking forward to as a great camaraderie had built up between them. Guernsey again led off at bat but was unable to score in the first. Ireland though scored twice. Inning 2 and Marco Silvestri hit a nice double and was converted by Kyle Nelson’s hit to left field. Ireland also scored once more but a great infield double play helped to retire them.
Guernsey had some nice safe base hits but scored only one more before they were out. The bottom of the 3rd was a very strong batting inning for Ireland which saw them score a mighty 6 runs making it a very busy time for the Guernsey fielders. Now Guernsey had a lot of work to do. Inning 4 and Guernsey were again unable to score but Ireland put 3 more runners over the plate to end that inning 12-2 in Ireland’s favour.
Top of 5th and some good solid batting saw Guernsey score 3 in. The bottom of the inning and now the top of Ireland’s batting order. First batter singled to 1st but the next 3 were taken out by Guernsey’s defense. Top of 6 and another good batting innings by Guernsey saw them score a further 4 runs now bringing the game back within their reach at 12-9. Bottom of 6 and Ireland scored one more run so entering the 7th innings Guernsey had their work cut out. Unfortunately that was too much to ask of Guernsey as, with one already out, the game ended on a double play by Ireland. Final score was 13-9 in Ireland’s favour.
Guernsey v Czech Republic 1 – 4
Again Guernsey knew this would be a tough game as the Czech’s were runners up at the 2008 European Championships. The Czech’s started at bat, getting their first two runners on board, both hitting singles. The next two batters were caught out by Guernsey’s shortstop (Ben Corson) and a fly-out catch to right field (Eleisha Gettings). The Czech’s next batter singled just over the head of Guernsey’s pitcher (Dale Martel) to get on base, but then another catch by Guernsey’s shortstop made the 3rd out.
Bottom of the first inning and Guernsey’s first batter was out with an infield hit to the Czech shortstop who rocketed a throw to 1st base. Second batter up was also out with a fly ball to right field. Next up to bat was Ben Corson who smashed a 3 bagger to right field, to give Guernsey their first scoring opportunity. But unfortunately this wasn’t to be as Guernsey’s next batter was caught out by the Czech shortstop.
Top of the 2nd the first Czech batter singled a drop shot to centre right field. Their second batter up hit to 1st base where Hannah Coutu made a good catch, which seemed to have been too quick for the Czech runner as he was off his bag and was then tagged out by Ben Corson to complete a double play. The next two batters got on board, one of which was scored in by a 2 base hit but Guernsey managed to get the 3rd out with a fly ball to left field that was caught by Marco Silvestri.
Bottom of the 2nd and it was 3 up, 3 down and Guernsey was sent back out to field. Top of the 3rd and some tight defensive play enabled Guernsey to reciprocate getting the next 3 Czech batters out.
Bottom of the 3rd saw Eleisha get on board with a nice hit to centre left field, followed by Dale who also hit a single. Guernsey’s next batter (Sue Fish) hit to the Czech shortstop, (the player that everyone was now trying to avoid!) who made a double-play by tagging out Dale, with a forced play, and also taking Sue out on one. The next two batters hit singles but they were unable to be scored in as the Czech center-right fielder caught a fly ball the third out.
Top of 4th and Guernsey’s defense made light work of getting 3 out in a row with some good plays by Guernsey’s 2nd baseman Glen ‘Saus’ Cortez and an excellent catch a centre field by Jason Mariess. Bottom of that inning and the Czech’s again got the next three of Guernsey’s batters out without too much trouble.
Top of the 5th and some good safe base hits enabled the Czech’s to get faces on bases but again some good defensive play by Ben and Glen, including another double play to get the outs. With the score now 3 – 1 it was once again Guernsey’s turn to bat. First up is Marco who singled to get on bag, next was Eleisha who was caught out by the Czech 1st baseman. The next two Guernsey outs were at the hands of the Czech shortstop who again made a double play.
Top of 6th and the Czech side scored one more run, however, Guernsey only managed to respond by putting two more runners on the bases in the next two innings but were not able to convert them. This resulted in a bottom of the seventh and end of game score of 4 -1 to the Czech Republic, a highly respectable score for Guernsey in a game where defensively they were excellent.
Day 4
The end of play on the Friday was the end of round-robin play and final standings were calculated to see who was going to be playing who and in, which group during Saturday’s play-offs.
GB topped the bill being unbeaten throughout. The Czechs having only lost to GB came in at second place and Ireland were in at the number three spot with a win/loss record of 5-2.
The big question was, had Guernsey done enough to secure the previously predicted number four position, the last spot in the group of teams who would have a shot at the Gold medal.
With 3 wins & 4 losses it was touch and go the close loss with Slovenia could be the pivotal game that swung Guernsey out of the top four. As it turned out they secured the number four position, but it was the extra innings win over Belgium that saved Guernsey’s spot.
The number four slot was a three horse race between, Slovenia, Belgium and Guernsey; thankfully Belgium overturned Slovenia 11 – 7 and all ended up with a win/loss record of 3 – 4.
With no two teams out on their own to decide who goes through on the head to head rule, a decision had to be made on the runs against between the teams … the result of which was Guernsey had a better defensive record, Belgium followed in 5th and Slovenia took the 6th spot.
This in itself was a good result for a Guernsey team, who had not been represented at an ESF EChCS event since 2000.
The standings at the end of Day 3:
1 Great Britain
2 Czech Republic
3 Ireland
4 Guernsey
5 Belgium
6 Slovenia
7 Austria
8 Slovakia
To progress further in the event and to secure a minimum of a Bronze medal, Guernsey would have to overcome the experience of the Irish. It was no secret that Ireland weren’t producing results akin to their previous EChCS appearances and with a round-robin loss to them of only 13 – 9, there was a feeling that they could be beaten.
Ireland v Guernsey 11 – 2 (3rd place v 4th place)
Loser finishes the tournament with a final position of 4th.
Guernsey believed they were in with a good chance of beating Ireland this time round, as they knew their defense was solid. Guernsey started off the batting but was unable to get anyone on base and appeared to have difficulty hitting the backspin that the Irish pitcher was sending down.
Bottom of that inning and Ireland’s 1st batter was caught out by Guernsey’s right fielder (Eleisha Gettings). Their next two batters got on bag both with hard hit singles. The second out was taken by Sally Le Noury, catching a fly ball to center field. A rare blip for a now tiring Dale Martel (who had pitched all of Guernsey’s games) saw the next batter receive a walk and then subsequently, as it was two out the next batter being a female, took the option to walk. This then pushed their base runners around to score Irelands first run. The third out was taken by Guernsey’s 2nd baseman Glen ’Saus’ Cortez with a fly out catch.
Top of the 2nd and Guernsey got two runners on base but were unable to score them in before Ireland got the 3 outs they needed. Bottom of that inning and Guernsey’s defense allowed Ireland to only score one more run in. The next two innings saw Ireland score 4 runs as they safely hit to the gaps. Guernsey however waited until the 5th innings before they put two runners across the plate.
Now going into the 6th innings with Ireland leading 6 -2, Guernsey had a lot of work to do with the bat. Ireland, though, had other ideas by shutting Guernsey out 3 for 3.
Bottom of the 7th and Ireland meant business, by scoring a further 5 runs with single hits which were safely placed and hit hard and low. Top of the 7th and Guernsey’s last chance to pull something back! It was a lot to ask and with Ireland’s defense very strong, all attempts proved futile and the game ended with a score of 11 -2 in Ireland’s favour.
Guernsey was now to finish 4th place in Europe; a highly commendable position and one well fought for. Well done Guernsey!
Final Standings:
1 Great Britain
2 Czech Republic
3 Ireland
4 Guernsey
5 Belgium
6 Slovenia
7 Austria
8 Slovakia
Click here for the EChCS Final Results.
Guernsey was represented in the European Championships by:
Dale Martel
Jason Mariess
Ben Corson
Glen Cortez
Kyle Nelson
Tony Gillespie
Marco Silvestri
Judy Machon
Marissa Mollet
Sophie Warren
Paula Mahy
Sally Le Noury
Sue Fish
Eleisha Gettings
Hannah Coutu
Island Coach: Steve Mahy
See the photos on the Gallery page.
