The Great Britain Women’s National Team took part in a landmark weekend on June 6th and 7th on home soil, welcoming new friends from across the pond and the Channel.
Farnham Park was the destination for GB Baseball’s first-ever WBSC sanctioned event, meaning the results of the weekend would have a direct impact on the world rankings.
Alongside a development side, the British roster hosted a familiar foe in the Czech Republic National Team as well as Baseball For All – a team from the United States of America, led by pioneer Justine Siegal.
Going into the weekend, Team GB were ranked 15th in the world, with Czech Republic right on their tail.
On Saturday, Great Britain fell short to the Czech Republic in horrible conditions, with heavy rain and blistering wind causing havoc at Farnham.
Great Britain would fall to defeat in the opener; a 5-1 win for Czech Republic which would set the tone for the weekend of results.
The GB WNT development side had their chance to avenge the loss later that same day, but the superior Czech side would go on to win 12-6.
Team GB put on a gutsy performance with both Stella Veski and Samiya Rahman picking up doubles.
The following day, the Brits kept it close in the rematch; losing by one run in a game that ended 6-7.
GB kept it close until the final inning where they let up 6 runs, giving victory to the Czech Republic.
Saskia Davies had a highlight performance in the close matchup, hitting a double and driving in three runs. Errors would be the hosts’ downfall; picking up seven in total.
Artie Herbert, catcher for the Women’s National Team spoke on the weekend: “It is definitely the best preparation that we can get for the World Cup qualifier in August.
“It is great to test ourselves against really class opponents, I thought we played well.
“Everything is heating up now with the World Cup qualifier just a couple of months away and I cannot wait to get out there.”
Justine Siegal, the co-founder and commissioner of the new Women’s Professional Development League, brought over the Baseball For All team to Farnham, helping to bring the community together.
She said: “Our players are having a great time playing baseball and seeing Windsor Castle! Everyone has been so kind to us and having these girls over here to play internationally is special.”
Justine also spoke about Baseball For All’s objectives, saying: “It is to help grow communities where girls want to play baseball, from ages six and up.
“We go into other areas of the world and help build more programming in those places from Indonesia to Hawaii.
“I reached out to Pietro and asked if we could help over here and the opportunity to have teams involved was fantastic and it led to a little community for the weekend.”
The Great Britain Women’s National Team now have their eyes set on August when they travel over to Taiwan for the Group Stage of the WBSC Baseball World Cup Qualifier.
If you would like to help support the Women’s National Team on their journey to Tainan you can donate through our crowdfunder