 Neptunus in 1st, Sparta-Feyenoord in last place
Nederlands
    AMSTERDAM / HAARLEM / THE HAGUE / VLEUTEN (Neth.) -
Thursday-evening was decisive for the two Rotterdam-squads in the Dutch big league with one of them playing for the national championship and the other playing for relegation.
In Amsterdam, DOOR Neptunus won 3-2 in 10 innings vs. reigning champion L&D Amsterdam Pirates to claim first place in the Play-Offs and with that secured home field advantage during the best-of-seven Holland Series.
Neptunus will play at home in the first two games, then will play at home again in the eventual sixth and seventh game of the championship final.
Corendon Kinheim won 5-2 vs. Vaessen Pioniers to move into a tie with Pirates for second place.
All teams have two games left on the schedule with the Play-Offs ending coming Sunday.
With Kinheim winning and Pirates losing, the first appears to have the best papers at the moment of becoming the second finalist, as a tie between the two teams will be in favor of Kinheim, which last week won two of the three games played between them.
A 3-way tie between Kinheim, Pirates and Pioniers also is a possibility, but that also will be in favor of Kinheim.
This means that Pirates has to finish above Kinheim to reach the Holland Series again in order to defend its title.
In Haarlem, Pioniers took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning, but Kinheim tied the score immediately in its first at bat.
In the third inning, Pioniers re-took the lead on a double by Dč Flanegin, who had also batted in the first run.
Hereafter, Pioniers reached base only four more times in the game, including two on a basehit and never got into scoring position anymore.
Kinheim then turned the game around by scoring four runs in the sixth inning.
Bryan Engelhardt led off with a score-tying homerun, then Roy Seltenrijch put Kinheim ahead with a 2-run triple and scored himself on a single by Remco Draijer.
In Amsterdam, Pirates took an 1-0 lead in the third inning on a sac-fly, but also left the bases loaded.
The team then failed to hold the lead for the fourth game in a row, as Neptunus came alongside in the fifth on a single by Adrian Anthony.
As the game was tied after nine innings, the tie-break was decisive in the 10th at bat.
Neptunus scored twice in the top of the inning.
First, pinch-runner Urving Kemp scored on a force play-grounder, then Mourik Huijser added a run when a throwing error followed trying to complete a double play.
In the home of the 10th, Pirates was able to score only once when Bas de Jong walked with the bases loaded, but then Kenny Berkenbosch grounded into a double play to end the game.
Pirates now has lost three of its last four games.
In The Hague, Sparta-Feyenoord trailed 3-1 after the first inning, came alongside in the fifth, took a 4-3 lead in the sixth, but ended up losing 9-4 against AamigoO ADO Lakers.
With the loss, Sparta-Feyenoord ended up in last place in the Play-Downs, meaning the team has to play a best-of-five Promotion/Relegation Play-Off against the champion of the 'Overgangsklasse' (the second highest league).
Currently, there is a tight championship race going on in this league between The Hawks, RCH-Pinguďns and DSS.
UVV won 6-2 vs. Mr. Cocker HCAW.
(August 9)
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