(Story Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen)
   Kingdom Team crushes Italy in third game Premier12
Nederlands
 DOULIU CITY (Taiwan) -
The team of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on Thursday-evening (November 12) outscored Italy 16-1 in seven innings in its third game of the Premier12.
With that, the Orange could have moved into a tie for first place in Pool A in case Chinese Taipei defeated Canada in the game which was still going on when the Dutch game ended.
That game was a thriller, which was won by Canada 9-8, meaning they remained unbeaten and still are in first place, followed by the Netherlands.
In the eighth inning, there was a controversial call that ended that Taiwan-at bat with a ball hit into rightfield, caught by two outfielders after it had possibly hit the wall.
It was initially ruled 'in-play', but then after discussion by the umpires ruled an out, otherwise it would have been a double that tied the score.
In the first game against Italy since the (won) final of last years European Championship, the Netherlands collected 17 basehits, including five by Randolph Oduber and four by Curt Smith.
The latter also homered, as did Kalian Sams and Dashenko Ricardo.
Smith batted in six runs.
The Netherlands began the event on Monday with a 7-4 win vs. Chinese Taipei, then lost 6-5 to Cuba on Wednesday.
Tonight, Manager Hensley Meulens made two changes to his starting line-up.
Dashenko Ricardo was the starting catcher instead of Shawn Zarraga, who got the day off after being hit by a foul-ball on his right arm the day before against Cuba.
Hainley Statia started on second baseman instead of Sharlon Schoop.
The Orange squad will play its next game on Saturday and then meets Puerto Rico in Taichung, starting at 12:30 PM local time (5:30 AM Dutch time).
There are no games scheduled for Friday, which will be an off-day.
(November 12)
The Netherlands got a chance to open the score in the first inning, but it was Italy that scored first instead.
In the top of the first at bat, Randolph Oduber led off with a double on the first delivery from starting pitcher Carlos Richetti.
With two outs, Wladimir Balentien walked, but the two runners stranded.
Italy then opened the score in the bottom of the first inning off of veteran Rob Cordemans, who is the oldest player of the event with his 41 years.
Juan Carlos Infante led off with a single, moved to second after short stop Carlton Daal made a great defensive play on a hard grounder by Erick Epifano, then scored on a 2-out single by Mario Chiarini.
...Randolph Oduber...
...5-for-6, 2 2B, 3 R, 2 RBI...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
The lead was shortlived, as the Orange squad answered with five (unearned) runs in the top of the second inning, sending eleven batters to the plate.
The inning started well for Italy.
Kalian Sams led off with a walk, but then was caught stealing.
He initially slid into second base safely, but then overslid the base and was tagged out after all.
Hereafter, three costly errors followed, which turned into a 5-run rally.
Hainley Statia walked, then was safe at second base on a force play-grounder by b>Dashenko Ricardo.
Second baseman Alessandro Vaglio threw the ball to short stop Erick Epifano, but he was standing in front of the base instead of on the base.
A throwing error then followed, resulting in runners on second and third base.
Next, a hard hit ball by Carlton Daal went through the legs of first baseman Alex Sambucci and that enabled Statia to score the tying run.
Hereafter, the Orange took a 2-1 lead on a single by Randolph Oduber.
Next batter Yurendell de Caster then popped up into foul territory where Sambucci made the catch, but the speedy Daal advanced to third base.
Moments later, Oduber stole second base, then both runners scored on a single by Andruw Jones.
Wladimir Balentien followed with another single off of Richetti.
The righthander then also gave up a single to Curt Smith that brought in another run and lift the lead to 5-1.
The bases then got loaded when Kalian Sams walked again in his second at bat in the inning.
Hereafter, Richetti was finally relieved.
He was clearly frustrated when returning into the dug-out, as he kicked a chair out of his way.
Filippo Crepaldi took over the pitching and ended the long inning by striking out Hainley Statia.
In the bottom of the second inning, Cordemans began with a strikeout, then walked Paolino Ambrosino.
After next batter Stefano Desimoni lined out to Daal, Cordemans ended the inning with a successful pick-off at first base.
The Netherlands added another run in the third inning.
With one out, Carlton Daal tripled and scored on a single by Randolph Oduber, which was his third basehit in three innings.
Two more runs were scored in the fourth inning.
Curt Smith led off with a single, then Kalian Sams drove the ball into deep leftfield for a 2-run homerun, lifting the lead to 8-1.
...Curt Smith...
...4-for-5, 2B, HR, 3 R, 6 RBI...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the bottom of the fourth, Curt Smith made a great play defensively at first base on a hard grounder to eliminate Alex Sambucci.
In this inning, Smith took over at first base for Andruw Jones, who was replaced out of precaution due to an injury in his left upper leg.
A 10-run difference was reached in the top of the fifth inning when the Orange scored three more runs.
Randolph Oduber led off with his fourth basehit, then Yurendell de Caster walked.
With one out, Gianny Fracchiolla became the new pitcher for Italy.
The lefthander struckout Wladimir Balentien, but then gave up a 3-run homerun into deep leftfield by Curt Smith that made it an 11-1 score.
In the top of the sixth inning, off new pitcher Yomel Rivera, Randolph Oduber hit an one-out double and with that was 5-for-5 at that moment.
Rivera then walked Yurendell de Caster and Dwayne Kemp (who had replaced Jones).
Another run was then added on a sacrifice fly by Wladimir Balentien.
And the scoring wasn't over yet, as Curt Smith followed with a 2-run double to make it a 14-1 lead for the Orange.
Moments later, Smith scored the next run on a single by Kalian Sams.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Berry van Driel took over the pitching for Cordemans.
The righthander had retired 12 of the last 14 batters he faced since the first inning.
After giving up two hits in the first inning, Cordemans gave up only one more in his next innings.
With one out in the sixth, Van Driel gave up Italy's fourth basehit, registered by pinch-hitter Freddy Noguera.
After Van Driel struckout his second batter, Alex Sambucci appeared to hit a single up the middle.
After fielding the ball, new short stop Gianfranco Wawoe couldn't get it under control, but then saw that he still had a change of eliminating Sambucci at first base, which wasn't even a close play.
After hitting the ball, Sambucci didn't immediately ran out of the batter's box and appeared to say something to the umpire, maybe thinking it was catcher's interference.
But he didn't ran full force and with that, he missed an infield-hit.
The Netherlands scored again in the top of the seventh.
18-year old Ludovico Coveri (the youngest player of the tournament) became the new Italian pitcher and he saw he first delivery to Dashenko Ricardo end in a lead-off homerun that made it a 16-1 score.
And with that, all nine starting players in the Dutch line-up had at least one basehit.
In the bottom of the seventh, Mike Bolsenbroek retired the side to end the game.
The starting players, their replacements, positions and hitting in this game were:
1 - Randolph Oduber (CF, 5-for-6);
2 - Yurendell de Caster (3B, 1-for-4);
3 - Andruw Jones (1B, 1-for-3), replaced by Dwayne Kemp (LF, 0-for-1);
4 - Wladimir Balentien (DH, 1-for-3);
5 - Curt Smith (LF, 1B, 4-for-5);
6 - Kalian Sams (RF, 2-for-2);
7 - Hainley Statia (2B, 1-for-4);
8 - Dashenko Ricardo (C, 1-for-5);
9 - Carlton Daal (SS, 1-for-3), replaced by Gianfranco Wawoe (PH, SS, 0-for-2);
Pitchers - Rob Cordemans, Berry van Driel, Mike Bolsenbroek
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