Heavy rain, accompanied by possible severe thunder and strong winds, was predicted throughout the day.
According to several weather predictions, the rain could arrive as early as 8 PM in the Rotterdam-area, which would be 30 minutes after the game had started.
However, that didn't happen.
At least not on that time.
The game in Rotterdam started under fair and sunny weather conditions.
But just after 9 PM, it started to rain.
Some 20 minutes later, just after Kinheim had tied the score and Neptunus was in a pitching change, the predicted thunderstorm arrived in full force.
The game was interrupted, but it became clear soon that it was impossible to resume, as the heavy rain blanked not only the playing field, but also the area surrounding the stadium.
Closeby the stadium in Rotterdam, highways and the Kleinpolderplein Interchange had to be closed due to water inconvenience.
It was reported that some 14,000 flashes of lightning were recorded tonight throughout the country.
In the Amsterdam-area, the first rain was initially predicted to arrive around 9 PM.
Like in Rotterdam, the game went underway as scheduled on 7:30 PM and Amsterdam took a 2-0 lead.
In the top of the eighth, just after 10 PM, the game was interrupted for the first time by rain.
After a 24-minute delay, the game resumed and Pioniers came alongside.
The game was interrupted by rain again in the bottom of the eighth (26 minutes) and in the bottom of the ninth (14 minutes).
Just after midnight, with the score tied at 2-2, the top of the tenth was about to start, but then the rain came again.
This time heavier and with lightning, resulting in the umpiring crew to stop the game definitively.
For Pioniers, Dirk van 't Klooster singled with one out in the first inning off of starter Rob Cordemans, but stranded on first base.
Moments later, Pirates opened the score in its first at bat off of starter Ricardo Hernandez Sanchez.
Michael Duursma led off with a walk and advanced on a passed ball.
He then moved to third base when Nick Urbanus singled and the bases got loaded when Kenny Berkenbosch also walked.
While having the bases loaded and no outs, the Amsterdam-squad scored only one run.
Hernandez struckout Bas Nooij, then got a grounder from Remco Draijer.
That forced out Berkenbosch on second base, but enabled Duursma to score.
After Draijer had stolen second base, Hernandez limited the runs to only one, as he closed the at bat by also striking out Koen Nooij.
In the top of the second inning, Quintin De Cuba tripled with two outs for Pioniers, but rookie Djewi Appelman then flied out, ending the inning.
Amsterdam added its second run in the bottom of the second inning.
Jesse Aussems led off with a bunt-single and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Rashid Gerard.
With two outs, Aussems scored on a following single by Michael Duursma to make it 2-0.
Duursma advanced to second base on the throw to the plate, then stole third base moments later.
Hernandez again avoided more runs by closing again with a strikeout, this time for Nick Urbanus.
In the third inning, Amsterdam got its lead-off hitter on base when Berkenbosch singled.
He moved on a sacrifice bunt, then Draijer walked, but then Koen Nooij grounded into a double play, which ended this scoring opportunity.
In the fourth, Amsterdam got another scoring chance.
With one out, Rashid Gerard singled.
However, with two outs, Gerard was eliminated at the plate trying to score on a double by Michael Duursma, who had a productive night.
In the fifth, Berkenbosch reached on an error with one out, but this time, it was Bas Nooij who grounded into a double play to end the at bat.
In the bottom of the sixth, Hernandez struckout three batters, but also allowed a 2-out single to Jesse Aussems
He stranded when Gerard became the third strikeout-victim in this inning.
Amsterdam got another runner in scoring position in the seventh inning.
With one out, Michael Duursma walked and was awarded second base on a balk.
With two outs, Hernandez was relieved by Sedley Karel, who got a flyout to end the inning.
Pioniers also got several baserunners off of Cordemans after the second inning, but failed to score.
In the third, the righthander gave up a lead-off single to Kevin Weijgertse, but then retired the next three batters.
In the fourth, Vince Rooi led off for Pioniers with a single and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Mark-Jan Moorman.
After a groundout, a force play was created by walking Quintin De Cuba intentionally.
However, a wild pitch put runners on second and third base, but Cordemans then closed with a strikeout.
After retiring the side in the fifth, Cordemans saw Pioniers get another baserunner in the sixth.
Danny Rombley then led off with a double and Vince Rooi walked.
But hereafter, Rombley was forced out on third base, then a flyout and groundout ended the inning, stranding two runners.
In the top of the seventh, Daniel Fernandes singled with two outs, but was left behind.
And so, the eighth inning began with Amsterdam still leading 2-0, meaning the team was six outs away from the victory.
In the top of the eighth, the rain and Pioniers struck, while the Amsterdam-defense committed two costly errors.
With one out, Vince Rooi walked and that led to a pitching change.
Cordemans was relieved by lefthander Robin Schel to face lefthanded hitter Mark-Jan Moorman, but he also walked.
With two runners on base and one out, the game was then interrupted for the first time by rain.
A 24-minute delay followed and when the game resumed, Tom de Blok took over the pitching for Amsterdam.
On his first pitch, he was greeted with a runscoring single by Kevin Dirksen that narrowed the deficit to 2-1.
After Daryl Williams was inserted as pinch-runner for Moorman, the bases got loaded when Quintin De Cuba reached on a fielding error by first baseman Kenny Berkenbosch.
Next, another error followed, this time by second baseman Nick Urbanus on a force play-grounder by Djewi Appelman.
This not only kept the bases loaded, it also led to the tying run.
And so, Pioniers suddenly had an opportunity to take the lead, but the inning ended when Kevin Weijgertse grounded into a double play.
Ten minutes later, just before the start of the bottom of the eighth inning, a 26-minute rain-delay followed, but after resuming, three Amsterdam-batters were then retired in order by new pitcher Bayron Cornelisse.
In the top of the ninth, Tom de Blok walked lead-off hitter Daniel Fernandes and was replaced by Daan Hendrix.
He gave up a bunt-single to Dirk van 't Klooster to put runners on first and second base.
Hereafter, Danny Rombley grounded into a double play.
With Fernandes now on third base, another force play was created via an intentional walk for Vince Rooi, but Hendrix ended the inning by striking out Daryl Williams.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Jesse Aussems led off with a walk.
While it started raining again, he moved to third base via a sacrifice bunt and a flyout, then Cornelisse walked off the mound.
When he returned to face Michael Duursma, the game was halted and a third rain-delay followed.
This led to some arguments, due to the fact that Cornelisse had left the mound instead of pitching.
When a pitch had been made, it could have end in a runscoring situation, ending the game, but of course, also could have led to an out, we will never know.
Anyway, the game was interrupted again by rain.
When the game resumed again after 14 minutes, Michael Duursma flied out on the fourth pitch by Cornelisse to end the inning, meaning the game went into extra innings.
One minute after midnight, the tenth inning was about to start.
Daryl Williams (1st base) and Vince Rooi (2nd base) were to be the tie-break runners.
However, it didn't come that far, as rain struck again, this time much heavier and accompanied by lightning.
Moments later, the game was stopped definitively by the umpiring crew.
The game resumes at 1 PM on Saturday, August 15, before the start of the regular scheduled second game between the two teams in Amsterdam.
|
Heavy rain disrupts tie-break in Amsterdam
AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
The Play-Offs began with a lot of rain and thunder on Thursday-evening (August 13), resulting in both games to be halted with a tie score.
Both games will resume at 1 PM before the start of the regular scheduled game on Saturday.
The two teams that finished the regular season in first and second place failed to hold onto a minimal lead, as they enabled their opponents to come alongside side.