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Updated: June 7, 2015
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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)

Neptunus wins final, qualifies for European Champions Cup final
Nederlands
ROTTERDAM (Neth.) - Curaçao Neptunus has won the final of the European Champions Cup Qualifying Tournament on Sunday (June 7) vs. Draci Brno (Czech Republic) with 8-2 score. While the score appears to be convincing, it didn't look that way, as it didn't come easy for Neptunus.

The Czechs were leading 2-1 when the bottom of the seventh inning began and appeared to be en route to a second surprise victory. On Friday, Brno won 6-2 vs. Rimini Pirates (Italy), which eventually led to the elimination of the Italians after they lost on Saturday to Neptunus.

But in the bottom of the seventh inning, Neptunus staged a 5-run rally, broke the defense of Brno and went on to win.

Neptunus-player Stijn van der Meer was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament. Martin Schneider won the Best Pitcher Award and Kostiantyn Boiko of KNTU Elizavetgrad was the Best Hitter. He received his award after completion of Saturday-evening's game, as the team then started its long two-day journey by bus back home to Ukraine.

With the win, Neptunus became one of the two finalists for the European Champions Cup best-of-three. In that, the Rotterdam-squad meets the winner of the tournament in Paris, where the final was played between L&D Amsterdam Pirates and UnipolSai Bologna (Italy). The Italians won the game with a 2-1 score.
The series opens on August 6 in Bologna, then the second game is scheduled to be played on August 8 in Rotterdam. When a third game is needed, that will be played on August 9, also in the Neptunus Familiestadium in Rotterdam.

(June 7)




Neptunus trailed quickly, as Brno led 2-1 after the first two innings.

Brno struck early in the first at bat off of Diegomar Markwell. Michal Ondraček led off with a triple, then scored on a sacrifice fly by next batter Martin Schneider. A flyout and strikeout followed, but the Czechs had taken an early lead.

Brno the boldly added another run in the second inning. With one out, Adam Hajtmar walked and Alexander Derhak singled. A following single by veteran Pavel Budský then made it 2-0. The two runners were moved to second and third base via a sacrifice bunt by Arnošt Dubový, but then a flyout left them behind in scoring postion.

In the following innings, the Czechs kept on reaching the bases, but also made some costly baserunning mistakes, while the Neptunian defense made some fine plays. In the third, Martin Schneider led off with a walk, then Přemek Chroust singled. Next batter Michael Kremláček then flied out to centerfielder Shaldimar Daantji, resulting in a double play, as Schneider was eliminated at second base. Moments later, Chroust was picked off at first base by Markwell.

In the fourth inning, a similar double play followed. Adam Hajtmar led off with a single and moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Jakub Hatjmar. Hereafter, Alexander Derhak flied out to leftfielder Urving Kemp, who then doubled up Hajtmar at second base to end the inning.

Leading only 2-1, Přemek Chroust led off the sixth inning for Brno with a single and advanced on a wild pitch with one out. With two outs, he tried to score on a single by Jakub Hajtmar, but was thrown out at the plate by Daantji.

Neptunus stranded five runners in the first six at bats and also had some outs at the bases.

With one out in the first inning, Dwayne Kemp doubled off of starter Petr Minařík. He then was picked off at second base, but reached third base safely, thanks to an error, but then was left behind.

In the second inning, now trailing 2-0, Neptunus got one run back. Rien Vernooij led off with a walk and Christian Diaz singled. The two advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Gyenuar Lopez. Benjamin Dille followed with a single that scored Vernooij, but Diaz, who also tried to score, was eliminated at the plate.

In the third, off of new pitcher Nathan O'Brian, Stijn van der Meer led off with a single, but then was eliminated when Raily Legito grounded into an inning-ending double play.

In the fifth, Neptunus reached third base after Shaldimar Daantji doubled with one out and advanced on a grounder. But he also stranded.

In the sixth, now with Michal Sobotka pitching, Raily Legito led off with a walk and stole second base. But with one out, Legito was picked off. Hereafter, Rien Vernooij walked and stole second, but also was left behind.

And so, we enter the seventh inning with Brno still leading 2-1 and Neptunus starting to run out of innings. But then, the home team struck with five runs with two outs to decide the game. Radim Chroust became the new pitcher for Brno, but ran into problems. With one out, he gave up a single to Benjamin Dille, who then advanced on a wild pitch. As Dille was bothered by a foot-injury, he was replaced at second base by pinch-runner Urving Kemp and that proved to be the difference. A flyout accounted for the second out and so, it appeared that Neptunus again would leave a runner in scoring position. But then Stijn van der Meer singled to bring in the tying run. With an troubled foot, Dille never would have scored, but the speedy Kemp did score to make it 2-2. That was the sign for Neptunus to decide the game. Van der Meer, who had moved to second base on an outfield-error, scored the go-ahead run on a following single by Dwayne Kemp. After the latter had stolen second base, Raily Legito walked, which led to another pitching change. Jan Vašourek took over, but he was greeted with three consecutive runscoring singles by Gianison Boekhoudt, Rien Vernooij and Christian Diaz that made it 6-2 in favor of Neptunus.

In the eighth, Neptunus added two more runs via a double by Stijn van der Meer and single by Dwayne Kemp.

In the top of the ninth inning, Kenny Van Den Branden, who had taken over the pitching in the seventh, retired the side. For Neptunus, it was time to celebrate!



Curaçao Neptunus - Draci Brno 8-2 (Game 16, final)
RHE
Draci Brno (Czech Rep.)110000000-294
Curaçao Neptunus01000052X-8150
pitchers Brnoinn.SOBBHRER
Petr Minařík211311
Nathan O'Brian3--3--
Michal Sobotka, H (1)1-2---
Radim Chroust, BS (1), L (1-1)0.2-1344
Jan Vašourek1.1-1633
pitchers Neptunusinn.SOBBHRER
Diegomar Markwell642822
Kenny Van Den Branden, W (1-0)33-1--
Box Score
Play-by-Play
Scores
Schedule
Umpires: HP-Fabrizio Fabrizi (Italy), 1B-Arnoldas Ramanauskas (Lithuania), 3B-Mojmír Jankovič (Slovakia).
Official Scorers & Play-by-Play-Huub Nelissen (Netherlands), Stefan Slinger (Netherlands).
Technical Commissioners-Roberto Loperfido (Italy), Beppe Guillizoni (Italy).
Public Address Announcer-Hélène van Eijk.
Time-2:47 hr.



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