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| GREAT BRITAIN TAKES SILVER MEDAL AT THE EUROPEAN CADET QUALIFIER |
Having previously beaten Turkey 21-10 and Bulgaria 31-1 in pool play at the European Cadet (Under-16) Qualifier in Antalya, Turkey, played from June 23-28, the Great Britain Cadets recovered from a 15-7 deficit to beat Romania 16-15 in an extra-inning thriller to secure an automatic place in the final against the Ukraine.
Great Britain, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and the Ukraine were the five teams competing for promotion to next year's European Cadet Championship, with only the winner gaining promotion.
In that crucial win over Romania, GB catcher Andrew Kiddie drove in the winning run and threw out a runner at third base to end the game, while Ryan Kurtzer came in to close in the bottom of the eighth inning and earned himself the save.
But while Great Britain had hoped to win the Qualifier and earn promotion to the 2009 European Championships, it was not to be the case as GB failed to beat the Ukraine in the last game of pool play (which was counted as Game One of the best-of-three final series). And when GB bats went silent and Ukraine won the second game by 6-0, GB’s hopes were ended.
Below, Cadet Head Coach Will Lintern summarises those two games against the Ukraine and then the tournament as a whole.
GB v Ukraine: Game 1
Great Britain's bats got off to a slow start and the first hit, by Team Captain Ryan Soan, didn’t come until the bottom of the third inning. He was eventually driven in by Jonathon Nisbet's two-out home run, his third home run of the tournament. Unfortunately, Ukraine had already put up five runs by that time and were leading 5-2.
GB then started to swing the bats well with additional home runs coming from Zac O'Boyle and Ryan Kurtzer and GB eventually out-hit Ukraine by twelve hits to nine. But this would not be enough as pitching decided this battle of the bats.
Ukrainian starter Roman Boyko pitched an excellent game, throwing a complete seven innings, striking out eight and not giving up a single walk. As a staff, Great Britain struggled to throw strikes on a consistent basis and this would ultimately be the team's demise. Between the three pitchers – Ross Deanie, Ryan Soan and Connor Vernon – GB walked 18 batters and hit one, giving Ukraine a total of 19 extra bases and at-bats.
Ukraine continued to take the walks given to them and put the ball in play, and coupled with an excellent outing from their starter, won the game by a score of 16-7.
GB v Ukraine: Game 2
Great Britain took the field with confidence for the second game of the final series against the Ukraine, expecting to win with their ace Ryan Kurtzer on the hill. Unfortunately, Ukraine continued their consistent performance (they went undefeated throughout the tournament) and convincingly beat GB by 6-0.
Ryan Soan had a perfect three-for-three day, including a double, but his performance was not matched by the rest of the team. Although Great Britain batted .400 for the tournament with a .652 slugging percentage, in this game the team was held to just six hits. Some baserunning mistakes and a couple of close calls at second base and home in key situations early in the game served to kill any momentum Great Britain might have had. Even though GB again out-hit the Ukraine by six hits to five, it was Ukraine who came out victorious.
Ukraine continued to pitch well, with starter Mykola Kychuk throwing seven complete innings and only walking two batters compared to four by GB pitching. And when Ukraine had opportunities to score, they cashed them in.
Tournament Review
The Great Britain Cadet team completed their 2008 campaign with a silver medal finish at the European Cadet Qualifier. This was a tremendous achievement: no GB Cadet team had ever placed higher than third at this tournament and so 2008 marks a best-ever finish for the Great Britain programme.
There were many positive things to take away from this tournament, some more obvious than others. The most obvious was Jonathan Nisbet being named as the Tournament MVP, having finished pool play with a batting average of .615, three home runs, twelve RBIs and a slugging percentage of 1.308. However, Nisbet was not alone at this level of performance as Zac O'Boyle also had three home runs and a batting average of .500.
As an offensive unit, Great Britain had a fantastic tournament, finishing with a team batting average of .400 while GB's opponents only managed to hit .238 against us. Great Britain scored a total of 75 runs to 42 scored by opponents during pool play. Of the eight home runs hit at the Qualifier, seven of them were hit by GB players.
Great Britain also had a relatively good defensive tournament, with Jonathan Nisbet, Zac O'Boyle, Dale Hargan and Harry Pickup playing their positions with great poise and maturity.
The biggest problem this tournament highlighted for Great Britain as a programme and a nation is that more attention must be given to the development of young pitchers. Regardless of velocity or movement, pitchers need to be able to throw more strikes more consistently.
Overall, this was a very positive year for the Cadet team with their second place finish, their tremendous offensive production and the Tournament MVP award. This certainly bodes well for the future, and even though 11 players are moving up after this year, four very young players in Zack Chambers, Jordan Edmonds, Dale Hargan and Harry Pickup gained valuable experience abroad with the team. If future GB players are willing to put in the same effort that these sixteen Cadets did in their preparation for the Qualifier, then the future of British baseball is looking very healthy indeed.
GB Tournament Roster
Alex Carnaby-Hayes
Zack Chambers
Ross Deanie
Jordan Edmonds
Dale Hargan
Andrew Kiddie
Ryan Kurtzer
Cailean Madden
Jonathan Nisbet
Zac O'Boyle
Harry Pickup
Jamie Ratcliff
Ryan Soan
Jason Stott
Damian Van Niekerk
Conner Vernon
Head Coach: Will Lintern
Assistant Coaches: Sam Dempster, Paul Vernon
General Manager: Roleen McNeilage
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