Neptunus took an early lead and led 3-1 halfway the fifth inning, but then Amsterdam Pirates staged a strong comeback via a 6-run rally to turn the game its way.
The team then took more distance in the seventh and eighth inning to force a deciding seventh game.
...Sharlon Schoop has four basehits,...
...scored twice and batted in two runs...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Gio de Graauw was the starting pitcher for Amsterdam Pirates today.
The young righthander walked lead-off hitter Stijn van der Meer in the top of the first inning, but then a flyout and double play followed.
Pirates also got on base in its first at bat off of Kaj Timmermans, who made his first start, but his third appearance in the Series.
With one out, the righthander gave up a single to Sharlon Schoop.
Two line drives followed, but they were caught.
Denzel Richardson's drive was caught by short stop John Polonius and then a hard batted ball by Kalian Sams was caught by third baseman Stijn van der Meer.
And with that, Schoop stranded on first base.
Neptunus then opened the score in the top of the second inning.
With one out, John Polonius singled.
Hereafter, Gianison Boekhoudt drove the ball over the scoreboard in rightfield for a 2-run homerun.
This was Boekhoudt's eighth Holland Series-homerun to extend his all-time leading Series-total.
Pirates got another baserunner in its second at bat when Sicnarf Loopstok led off with a single, but hereafter, Kenny Berkenbosch grounded into a double play.
Neptunus got a chance to add another run in the top of the third inning.
With two outs, Roger Bernadina singled then moved into scoring position on an error by De Graauw.
Hereafter, Dwayne Kemp hit a hard line drive into rightfield, but there, Kalian Sams extended his body into the air and made a great diving catch to end the inning.
Moments later, Pirates got its first runner in scoring position.
Raydley Legito led off with a walk and moved on an one out-grounder by Gilmer Lampe, but was left behind.
In the top of the fourth, Neptunus also got on base again.
With one out, John Polonius walked, but he was caught stealing with two outs.
In the bottom of the fourth, with one out, Kalian Sams drove the ball into deep left/centerfield for a Pirates-homerun that cut the deficit in half.
Neptunus got the run back immediately in the top of the fifth, but also left two runners behind.
Dashenko Ricardo led off with a single and Christian Diaz followed with a double.
Despite having runners on second and third base and no outs, the team scored only once.
The two were unable to advance on a grounder by Shaldimar Daantji.
A pitching change then followed, as Robyn Clara took over from Gio de Graauw.
The righthander gave up a sacrifice fly to Stijn van der Meer, which made it a 3-1 score.
With first base open, powerhitter Roger Bernadina was walked intentionally, then the inning and the scoring threat ended when Dwayne Kemp grounded out.
Moments later, the Pirates line-up showed its offensive power, as six basehits led to a 6-run rally that turned the game around.
It all began with a lead-off single by Mick Vos, who then moved into scoring position on a wild pitch, then advanced to third base on a grounder by Raydley Legito.
Hereafter, Vos scored on another wild pitch.
With the bases empty again, Roelie Henrique reached when his batted ball was misplayed by third baseman Stijn van der Meer.
With a runner on first, Kevin Bakker then became the new pitcher, but he was greeted with a single by Gilmer Lampe.
With runners on first and second base, Sharlon Schoop drove the ball into deep rightfield where it hit the fence.
No run was scored, as Henrique initially was following the ball while standing near second base before advancing, either thinking it was a homerun or it was to be a catch, or just maybe taking no risks.
This might have led to a run, but Henrique now didn't got futher than third base.
Anyway, Pirates now had the bases loaded with still only one out.
However, all three runners would score shortly hereafter.
First, Denzel Richardson hit a 2-run double into deep rightfield.
With Richardson on second and Schoop on third base, it was Kalian Sams who hit a line drive single into centerfield.
Schoop scored, but Richardson also was able to score when the ball went under the glove of veteran centerfielder Shaldimar Daantji for an error and rolled to the fence.
That enabled Sams to advance to third base and he then scored the sixth run in the long at bat on a single through then middle by Sicnarf Loopstok, which was the fifth consecutive basehit.
Two force play-grounders followed, but Pirates was now leading 7-3.
Neptunus got a chance to do something back in the top of the sixth, as it got the bases loaded off of Robyn Clara.
With one out, John Polonius walked, then advanced on a wild pitch and reached third base on an infield-hit by Gianison Boekhoudt.
The bases got loaded when Dashenko Ricardo was hit by a pitch.
Christian Diaz followed with a runscoring single, which kept the bases loaded.
The Pirates-defense then accounted for the necessary support.
First, catcher Sicnarf Loopstok caught a foul pop-up from Shaldimar Daantji.
Now with two outs, Mike Groen took over the pitching,
He got a sharp grounder towards the rightside from Stijn van der Meer, but both second baseman Raydley Legito and first baseman Kenny Berkenbosch made a great defensive play.
Legito fielded the ball while sliding towards it, then made a somewhat wide throw, but Berkenbosch stretched, caught the ball and kept his foot touched with the base to end the inning.
And with that, Neptunus left three runners behind.
...Kalian Sams cut the deficit with a...
...homerun in the 4th inning...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the bottom of the sixth, Raydley Legito led off with an infield-hit, sliding head-first into first base.
Roelie Henrique then followed with a bunt towards first base, but reached on a single as no one was covering first base.
However, Legito overran second base and was eliminated on a nice play by first baseman Dudley Leonora, who instead of trying to reach his base, turned and threw the ball to short stop John Polonius, who tagged out Legito.
Neptunus left two more runners in the top of the seventh.
With one out, Dwayne Kemp was hit by a pitch and with two outs, John Polonius singled, but they stranded.
Pirates then took more distance in its next two at bats.
In the bottom of the seventh, Sharlon Schoop led off with a single, which led to a pitching change.
Misja Harcksen took over the Neptunus-pitching, but his first pitch to Denzel Richardson was drilled deep over the leftfield-fence for a 2-run homerun that made it a 9-4 score.
Neptunus was able to add a run in the top of the eighth.
Dashenko Ricardo led off with a double, but was unable to advance on two following grounders.
He then first moved to third base and then scored on consecutive singles by Stijn van der Meer and Roger Bernadina.
These two were left behind when Dwayne Kemp again flied out to rightfielder Kalian Sams.
Amsterdam Pirates scored two more runs in the bottom of the eighth.
With one out, Raydley Legito singled and Roelie Henrique walked.
With two outs, both scored on a single by Sharlon Schoop, which was his fourth basehit in the game.
With that, Schoop had a major contribution in the success of Pirates and the win in today's game.
Besides his four basehits, he scored twice and batted in two runs, while also making two putouts and having three assists.
This was Schoop's third consecutive multi-hit game.
He had three basehits last Thursday-evening.
Schoop became the first Pirates short stop with four basehits in a Holland Series-game since Marvin Bleij did so in Game 3 of the 2008 Series.
Schoop also is only the fifth short stop in Holland Series-history with a 4-hit game.
Now trailing 11-5, Neptunus got one final chance to do some scoring in the top of the ninth inning.
With one out, John Polonius singled and with two outs, Dashenko Ricardo did the same.
For both, these were their third basehits today.
But the inning and the game then ended when Christian Diaz flied out to centerfielder Gilmer Lampe.
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Amsterdam Pirates forces 7th game in Holland Series with strong comeback vs. Neptunus
AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
L&D Amsterdam Pirates trailed 3-1, then had a strong and powerful comeback, rallied for six runs and went on to win 11-5 against Curaçao Neptunus on Saturday-afternoon (October 16) in Game 6 of the best-of-seven Holland Series.
With that, Pirates equaled the Championship Final again and forced an all-deciding seventh game that will be played on Sunday in Rotterdam.
Game 6, best-of-seven Holland Series 2021.