by Pim van Nes
After three days of ISF World Championship tournament with 16 teams and 24 games in the Nol Houtkamp Sportpark of Haarlem, every national team has played three games in the preliminary round robin of seven games. So far four teams remain unbeaten: title defender Japan, Australia, Canada and USA.
Among the five European participants in the two eight-team groups, the best record was reached by the Czech Republic beating Cuba on Friday and China on Sunday. Only Canada managed to defeat the Czech squad, reducing their win percentage to .667 (2-1). Two European teams lost already two times: the Netherlands (versus USA 0-10 in 4 innings and versus Chinese Taipei 4-5 in 11 innings) and Italy (versus Australia 0-10 in 4 innings and versus the Netherlands 1-8 in 5 innings). Russia and Great Britain are still at 0 out of 3.
Winning pitcher in two complete games for Czech Republic is the 17 years old Veronika Peckova. She kept Cuba scoreless till deep in the sixth frame on Friday and then conceded three runs on a triple and a homerun. Encouraged by an insurance run in the top of the seventh, Peckova closed her own first European win with a ground-out and two strike-outs: 6-3 for Czech Republic. For their winning pitcher the score keepers registered seven strikeouts and seven hits.
On Sunday, Andre Prins, the Dutch manager of the Czech national team, asked the teenager for another start in the Haarlem tournament. This time Peckova worked inning by inning to a 2-0 shutout victory over China, allowing them five singles only and five walks. Czech runners scored twice in the third inning and hugged their pitching babe after the seventh Chinese attack.
Photos by camera woman and bat girl Nina Grashof