|
www.grand-slam.nl |
Softball |
| Headlines |
| Compiled and Copyright © 1997-2021 by Marco Stoovelaar |
 |
(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Fred Versluis)
     Netherlands in Final after winning thriller; Qualifies for World Cup; Van Aalst plays 100th game
Nederlands
 RONCHI DEI LEGIONARI (Italy) -
The Netherlands Women's Softball Team has reached the all-deciding Final of the 22nd edition of the European Championship Women's Softball in Italy.
On Friday (July 2), the Orange Team won 11-0 in a mercy-rule game against Spain in the afternoon.
The team then closed the Play-Off Round in the evening against the Czech Republic in a game that developed into a thriller.
The Netherlands trailed, then took the lead, but saw the Czechs come alongside in the seventh.
The Orange Team then won 5-4 on a walk-off walk for Jessie van Aalst with the bases loaded.
It was only fitting that she batted in the winning run, as this was the 100th official international game that Van Aalst played in the National Team.
By reaching the Final, the Netherands also qualified for the World Cup in 2023.
In the afternoon, defending champion Italy became the first team to secure a spot in the all-deciding Final by winning 11-0 against Israel.
With that, also became the first team to secure qualification for the World Cup in 2023.
The second finalist came from the match-up between the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.
A 3-way tie between these two countries plus Spain was theoretically possible in case of a win by the Czechs and a Spanish win against Israel later in the evening.
But based on the run-differences in the head-to-head games, Spain would not have a chance to finish on top in this case.
And the Netherlands would have had the best papers in this scenario, unless the Czechs would have recorded a very big win.
However, it would have been another story in case Spain would have lost its final game, and the Czechs would have won.
In that case, it would have eliminated the Netherlands for the Final.
The Israelian team went on to win 7-0, which created a 3-way tie, but also in the elimination of Spain.
With that, Israel and the Czechs will play for the Bronze Medal.
The Orange Team opened the tournament on Sunday-morning with a 16-0, mercy-rule, shutout against Austria.
On Monday-evening, the team recorded a 9-6 victory in what was an unpexted suspenseful and close game against Germany, then closed the First Round on Tuesday with a 16-0 win against Lithuania.
On Wednesday, the Netherlands opened the Second Round with an 8-1 win against France, then won 9-0 against Israel later in the day.
On Day 5 of the event (Thursday), the team closed the Second Round with a 12-2 win against Russia.
In the evening, the Orange-squad opened the Play-Offs with a 2-1 loss against Italy.
Besides winning the European title, there are several other qualifications at stake in this year's tournament.
As mentioned earlier, the six best teams will qualify for the second edition of the Super6, which will be organized again next year.
These are the six teams that advanced to Group X.
The three best teams will qualify for the 2023 WBSC Women's World Cup.
By reaching the Final, Italy and the Netherlands have qualified for the World Cup.
The third team will be the winner of the Bronze Medal-game on Saturday.
The European champion also will qualify for participation in the 2022 World Games.
(July 2)
Other scores of Day 6:
1st through 6th place (Play-Off Round):
Group X: Czech Republic vs. France 1-0 (8 inn.); Italy vs. Israel 11-0 (3½ inn.); Italy vs. France 10-0 (4 inn.); Israel vs. Spain 7-0 (4½ inn.).
9th through 17th place (Second Round):
Group G: Denmark vs. Hungary 7-0 (6 inn.); Poland vs. Lithuania 16-1 (3 inn.); Denmark vs. Ukraine 6-8 (9 inn.).
Group H: Bulgaria vs. Croatia 9-3; Austria vs. Slovakia 1-0.
Final Standings Second Round 9th-17th place:
Group G: 1. Poland, 2. Ukraine, 3. Denmark, 4. Hungary, Lithuania (Lithuania finishes in 17th place)
Group H: 1. Croatia, 2. Austria, 3. Slovakia, 4. Bulgaria.
Final Standings Play-Off Round:
Group X: 1. Italy, 2. Netherlands, 3. Czech Republic, 4. Israel, 5. Spain, 6. France (Spain and France finish in tie for 5th place)
Schedule Final Day:
10:00 AM - Ukraine (G2) vs. Austria (H2) (11th-12th place); Bulgaria (H4) vs. Hungary (G4) (15th-16th place).
12:30 PM - Croatia (H1) vs. Poland (G1) (9th-10th place); Slovakia (H3) vs. Denmark (G3) (13th-14th place).
15:00 PM - Germany (E4) vs. Russia (F4) (7th-8th place).
17:30 PM - Czech Republic (X3) vs. Israel (X4) (3rd-4th place).
20:30 PM - Final: Italy (X1) vs. Netherlands (X2) (1st-2nd place)
|
Netherlands vs. Spain
...Marjolein Merkx...
...winning pitcher...
(© Photo: Fred Versluis) |
The Netherlands not only scored eleven runs in this game, it also collected eleven basehits, including two by Maxime van Dalen, Wies Ligtvoet and Britt Vonk.
Van Dalen batted in four runs.
Spain got the first baserunner in the game in the top of the first inning off of starter Marjolein Merkx.
With two outs, Carla Segura struckout, but reached on a passed ball.
She stranded on first base.
Moments later, the Netherlands opened the score with three runs off of starter Raquel Fernández.
The team opened with four consecutive basehits, including three back-to-back-to-back doubles.
Britt Vonk led off with a bunt-single, advanced on a wild pitch, then scored on a double by Annemiek Jansen.
Next batter Jessie van Aalst also delivered a double, then Maxime van Dalen added a 2-run double.
The Netherlands added two more runs in the second at bat.
With one out, Wies Ligtvoet singled, stole second base, moved to third base on a wild pitch, then scored on a single by Britt Vonk.
Hereafter, Vonk stole second base and advanced to third base on a grounder by Annemiek Jansen.
Shortly thereafter, Vonk scored on another wild pitch from the Spanish pitcher.
Spain was retired in order in the top of the second inning, then recorded its first basehit in the third.
Maria Valls led off with a single, but she was later forced out.
The Orange Team then rallied for six runs in the bottom of the third inning to reach a mercy-rule run-difference.
Five of the runs were scored with two outs.
Cindy van der Zanden led off with a triple and scored on a following grounder by Mariëlle Vleugels.
Next batter Dinet Oosting singled, stole second base and moved to third base on a grounder by Laura Wissink.
With two outs, Wies Ligtvoet reached on a bunt-single.
In a double-steal situation, Oosting scored and the Ligtvoet scored the next run on a pinch-hit single by Suka Van Gurp.
That led to a pitching change, as Julia Sebastián took over.
She saw Van Gurp stole second base, then created a force play by walking Annemiek Jansen intentionally.
However, the bases then got loaded when Jessie van Aalst walked and Maxime van Dalen followed with a single.
That enabled Van Gurp and Jansen to score.
Van Aalst advanced to third base, then also scored when an outfield error followed.
And with that, the lead was increased to 11-0.
In the top of the fourth, Kirsten Scheele took over the Orange-pitching.
With two outs, she gave up the second Spanish basehit, which was recorded by Raquel Moncho.
But the righthander then closed with a strikeout, meaning Spain didn't get a runner in scoring position.
And that also ended the game.
|
| Netherlands - Spain 11-0 (3½ inn.) |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | | R | H | E |
| Spain | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | - | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Netherlands | 3 | 2 | 6 | X | | | | - | 11 | 11 | 0 |
| pitchers Spain | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Raquel Fernández, L (2-2) | 2.2 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 9 | 9 |
|
| Julia Sebastián | 0.1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
|
| pitchers Netherlands | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Marjolein Merkx, W (1-0) | 3 | 3 | - | 1 | - | - |
|
| Kirsten Scheele | 1 | 2 | - | 1 | - | - |
|
|
|
Netherlands vs. Czech Republic
...Jessie van Aalst...
...100 international games...
...walk-off walk...
...game-winning RBI...
(© Photo: Fred Versluis) |
The final game of the Netherlands in the Play-Off Round against the Czech squad unexpectedly turned into a close game thriller.
In the week before the tournament started, the Orange Team recorded a convincing 12-3 win against the Czechs in an exhibition game.
The last time the teams faced each other before that game was in 2019.
Back then, the Netherlands won 6-2 during the European Championship, then recorded a 7-0 shutout-win a few weeks later during the Europe/Africa Olympic Qualifier.
Tonight, the win didn't come easy.
The team was one out away from victory in the top of the seventh, but the Czechs then came alongside.
At that moment, all eight runs (four by each team) were scored on homeruns.
But the most important run was then scored on a walk.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, Jessie van Aalst drew a walk, resulting in the winning run.
With that, she not only batted in the winning run for the Netherlands, she also won what was her 100th international game for the National Team.
And with the win, the Netherlands qualified for both the Final and the 2023 World Cup.
The first three innings remained scoreless, as both starting pitchers didn't gave away much.
Veteran righthander Lindsey Meadows started for the Netherlands and retired the side in the first inning.
In the second at bat, she gave up a lead-off single to Gabriela Slabá, but she was later caught stealing.
Shortly thereafter, Tereza Kubicová hit a line drive into leftfield, but the ball was nicely caught there by Wies Ligtvoet.
In the third, the first Czech runner got into scoring position.
With two outs, Barbora Saviola doubled, but Meadows then closed with a strikeout.
The Netherlands faced Veronika Pecková and also got into scoring position only once in its first three at bats.
In the first inning, the also experienced righthander struckout the first two batters, then gave up a double to Jessie van Aalst, but a foul-out followed.
Pecková again struckout the first two batters in the second inning.
This time, she walked Dinet Oosting, but closed with another strikeout.
In the bottom of the third inning, Pecková, who had a strong outing, retired the side and added two more strikeouts.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Czech Team opened the score.
With one out, Veronika Klimplová singled and scored when next batter Gabriela Slabá homered.
The Netherlands reacted immediately by scoring three runs of its own in the bottom of the fourth.
Jessie van Aalst led off with a walk, but was forced out on a grounder by Maxime van Dalen.
It then appeared that Van Dalen also would be forced out on a grounder by Cindy van der Zanden, but an error was made.
With two runners on base, next batter Mariëlle Vleugels drove the ball into deep left/centerfield for a 3-run homerun.
Hereafter, Veronika Pecková struckout two more batters, but her team now trailed 3-2.
In the top of the fifth, Ginger de Weert took over the Orange pitching.
She gave up a lead-off infield-hit to Ema Vodičková, but was then supported with a double play.
With two outs, Barbora Saviola singled, then a grounder ended this Czech at bat.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Netherlands scored what appeared to be an insurance run.
With one out, Britt Vonk hit a homerun to lift the lead to 4-2.
A chance to add another run followed, as Brenda Beers reached on an infield-hit and Jessie van Aalst walked.
However, the inning ended when Maxime van Dalen grounded into a double play.
Despite having a small lead, the suspense remained, as the Czechs kept on reaching he bases.
In the top of the sixth, Kristýna Malá led off with a single and moved into scoring position on a grounder.
She then advanced to third base on another grounder, but stranded there, as a flyout ended the at bat.
After the Orange Team was retired in order in the bottom of the sixth, the Czechs got its lead-off hitter on base again in the top of the seventh.
Tereza Kubicová led off with a walk, but Ginger de Weert followed with a strikeout and a flyout accounted for the second out.
With that, the Netherlands was one out away from the win.
But that changed three pitches later, as Barbora Saviola connected well and hit a homerun that tied the score at 4-4.
And so, the game developed into a tenseful thriller!
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Veronika Pecková began by striking out powerhitter Laura Wissink, which was her eleventh strikeout.
Hereafter, she gave up a single to Wies Ligtvoet.
What followed was a possible crucial decision.
With Ligtvoet on first base, it was opted to walk next batter Britt Vonk intentionally.
With that, the Czechs pitched around the experienced player, but it also moved the winning run now to second base (represented by a speedy runner), with solid hitters to follow.
The bases got loaded when everyone was safe on a bunt-single by Brenda Beers.
That brought Jessie van Aalst in the batter's box.
She kept her patience, looked at the pitches and got to a 3-1 count.
The next pitch also was outside the strike-zone and with that, Van Aalst drew a walk-off walk, as it enabled Ligtvoet to score the winning run.
The Final had been reached!
|
| Netherlands - Czech Republic 5-4 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | | R | H | E |
| Czech Republic | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | - | 4 | 8 | 1 |
| Netherlands | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | - | 5 | 6 | 0 |
| (one out when winning run was scored in the seventh inning) |
| pitcher Czech Republic | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Veronika Pecková, L (2-2) | 6.1 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
|
| pitchers Netherlands | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Lindsey Meadows | 4 | 2 | - | 4 | 2 | 2 |
|
| Ginger de Weert, BS (1), W (2-1) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
|
| Homeruns: Czech Republic: Gabriela Slabá (1)(4th,2-run,1 out,off Meadows), Barbora Saviola (1)(7th,2-run,2 outs,off De Weert); Netherlands: Mariëlle Vleugels (1)(4th,3-run,1 out,off Pecková), Vonk (2)(5th,solo,1 out,off Pecková). |
|
|
Thank you for visiting this site.
Mail your suggestions and questions to stoov@wxs.nl
Copyright © 1997-2021 Marco Stoovelaar / Grand Slam * Stats & News.
|
|
651st international game of the Netherlands Women's Softball Team.