(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Robert Bos)
 DSS beats The Hawks to promote to the big league!
Nederlands
 DORDRECHT (Neth.) -
DSS won 8-2 vs. Mampaey The Hawks tonight (Saturday, October 11) to win the best-of-five Promotion/Relegation Play-Off 3-2 and promote to the Dutch big league.
It will mark the first time in club-history that the Haarlem-based club will play in the highest division.
DSS is the neightbour of Corendon Kinheim, which play in the adjacent Pim Mulier Stadium, which was the home of DSS a few years ago!
For The Hawks, the loss means that it will relegate to the second highest league ('Overgangsklasse') after having played two seasons in the big league.
Due to the rain earlier in the day and maintenance to the field, the game started somewhat over three hours later than scheduled.
Initially, it didn't appear that the game would start, but in the end, it did so just after 5 PM.
It then took almost three hours, the game ended at 7:53 PM, to come to a decision.
Besides the rain earlier in the day, another weather phenomenon appeared from the sixth inning on, as a ground fog settled down in the outfield.
But just before 8 PM, the final out was made, resulting in promotion of DSS.
The Haarlem-based club had two successful seasons under guidance of Head Coach Frank Koot and his assistant Harry van Vilsteren.
,,I'm very proud of these guys'', Koot stated afterwards.
,,We are ready for the big league.
This was our goal and it is great that we succeeded to accomplish this.''
The first two innings of the game were similar.
For DSS, Ryan Miner led off with a single and was left on first base.
For The Hawks, Tony Enos led off with a single and stranded on first base.
In the second inning, Seb Visser (error) reached for DSS with one out and was left on first base.
For The Hawks, Bob de Bruijn (single) reached with one out and also was left on first base.
DSS then struck with three runs in the third inning and that proved to be decisive.
Mitchel Dautzenberg led off with a single and next batter Ryan Miner walked.
A bunt by Sven Jongejans then should have ended in a force out at third base, but there, an error was made, resulting in runners on all bases.
DSS then opened the score when next batter Tino van Erk hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Dautzenberg.
Mitchell Koot followed with an RBI-single.
Moments later, the third run was added while Koot was caught stealing.
DSS added a run in the fourth inning.
With one out, Joffrey Heus walked, moved on a grounder by Allan Hazel and scored on a double by Dautzenberg, who then left the game with a hamstring-injury.
His pinch-runner Max Ploegstra advanced when Ryan Miner hit the ball back to starting pitcher Evan Simons and reached on an infield-hit.
Simons, who was hit by the ball, had to leave the game and was relieved by Henk van Heijningen.
The righthander ended the inning, encountered no problems in the fifth, but then saw DSS start a productive rally in the sixth.
Leading 4-0, DSS doubled its lead with a 4-run rally in the sixth.
Heus led off with a single, then DSS got runners on first and third base when Hazel's sacrifice bunt ended in an error.
Hereafter, Van Heijningen gave up three consecutive runscoring singles to Ploegstra, Miner and Jongejans that lifted the lead to 7-0.
The bases got loaded when van Erk walked and that brought in new pitcher Kevin van Veen.
He got a double play-grounder by Koot, but that also brought in another run and made it an 8-0 score.
In the final three innings, Van Veen held DSS to only two hits.
He also walked two batters, but also was supported with a double play.
For DSS, Tim Halderman started and he pitched five fine innings, before giving up two runs in the sixth.
In the third inning, he was supported with a rare double play.
Halderman hit lead-off hitter Gino Hersilia.
Next batter Tony Enos popped out to first baseman Tino van Erk, who then made an unassisted double play.
Jules Peters hit the ball towards Van Erk and while Hersilia moved towards second base, Van Erk went to his base to made the out.
Hersilia then suddenly turned back, either thinking the ball was caught or three outs were made, and was tagged out by Van Erk to complete the double play.
In the fourth inning, Berry van Donselaar was on first base with one out for The Hawks and advanced on a single by Gregory Trinidad, but then two outs followed.
In the fifth, Enos doubled with two outs, but stranded on second base.Kevin Moesquit led off with a single, then Berry van Donselaar walked.
The latter was forced out on a grounder by Gregory Trinidad, but then a run was scored when Bob de Bruijn followed with a sacrifice fly.
Shortly hereafter, Trinidad moved to third base on a single by Steven Wharwood, who then stole second base.
With runners on second and third, an error was made on a grounder by Aschwin Rokx, which enabled Trinidad to score.
While the ball was thrown towards third, Wharwood overran third base, slipped on the muddy field and was tagged out to end the inning.
In the seventh inning, Gino Hersilia led off with a single, then Enos popped out.
Next, Tim Halderman struckout both Jules Peters and Kevin Moesquit.
After striking out swinging, Moesquit was angrily at himself, hit his bat on the ground and for that was ejected by Home Plate Umpire René Ras.
In the eighth, Kevin Geestman took over the pitching for Halderman and retired the side.
He then also got two quick outs in the bottom of the ninth.
Hereafter, Geestman walked Hersilia, but then ended the game by striking out Enos, who reacted with some remarks towards the umpire and also was ejected.
And with that, the season ended for DSS and The Hawks.
And that resulted in promotion for DSS, which played a fine Series and now will make its debut at the highest level in 2015.
On the other side, The Hawks unfortunately relegated, leaving the big league after two seasons.
...Groundskeeper Arno Seltenrijch looks to the field... |
...Players of DSS assist to prepare the field... |
...As do the players of The Hawks... |
...Even umpire Henk van der Linde gives a helping hand... |
...Coaches Ronald de Bont and Frank Koot have a talk... |
...Does HP Umpire René Ras takes a bite before the game?... |
...Similar actions in the 1st inning...
...Left: Ryan Miner dives back, while 1B Gregory Trinidad gets the ball...
...Right: Tony Enos dives back and here 1B Tino van Erk gets the ball... |
...Sven Jongejans turns for a bunt...
...in the 3rd inning, which resulted...
...in a basesloaded error... |
...Tino van Erk follows with a sacrifice fly...
...to bring in the first DSS-run... |
...Disbelief by Gino Hersilia after he is...
...doubled up in the bottom 3rd... |
...DSS-starter Tim Halderman... |
...The Hawks-starter Evan Simons... |
...Coach Ronald de Bont and 1B Gregory Trinidad...
...meet with pitcher Evan Simons...
...after he is hit by a single... |
...Kevin Moesquit moves back to 1st base...
...after a pick-off attempt in the 4th inning...
|
...Longtime DSS-secretary Peter Vink keeps score and looks on... |
...Umpires René Ras (HP) and Antoine Loock (3B)... |
...Tino van Erk is forced out in the 6th...
...Short stop Tony Enos completes a double play... |
...In the 6th inning, ground fog starts to...
...form in the outfield... |
...Steven Wharwood is tagged out by 3B Mitchell Koot...
...in the bottom 6th after slipping... |
...DSS-centerfielder Allan Hazel is almost...
...invisible due to the ground fog... |
...Kevin van Veen took over for The Hawks in the 6th... |
...The ground fog covered the entire outfield... |
...Kevin Geestman pitched the last 2 innings for DSS... |
...The final out is made, DSS wins the Series... |
...Chairman Dick Hoff (center) celebrates the win...
...and the promotion to the big league with the players... |
...Celebration time...
|
...Players of the DSS softball-team were in Dordrecht...
...after their games rained out... |
...Winning coach Frank Koot (center)...
|
...Time for champaign...
|
...Umpire Commissioner Fred van Groningen Schinkel (right)...
...hands a present to retiring umpire Henk van der Linden... |
| (© All Photos: Robert Bos Photos) |
(October 11)
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