(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
 Dashenko Ricardo rejoins Dutch Team
Nederlands
 NIEUWEGEIN (Neth.) -
Dashenko Ricardo returns to the baseball-field!
On Wednesday-evening (July 13), it was announced that he has re-joined the Netherlands National Team and that Manager Steve Janssen has added him to the squad, with whom he will participate in the upcoming Baseball Week Haarlem, which opens next Friday.
With this, it is expected that Ricardo also will return to reigning champion and current league-leader Curaçao Neptunus for the remainder of the season in the Dutch big league.
On June 7, Neptunus announced that Dashenko Ricardo had retired, effective immediately.
Neptunus then stated that Ricardo could not motivate himself anymore to play baseball.
There had been several talks between Ricardo and the board of the club to change his thoughts, but he said that after several intensive years, he didn't had the motivation anymore needed to play.
Shortly after the announcement, Ricardo returned to Curaçao, but he must have reconsidered his decision after a month, as he now returns again in uniform.
After completion of last season, he was named Most Valuable Player of the Dutch big league.
Shortly before the announcement of his retirement was made, Ricardo participated with Neptunus in the European Champions Cup-tournament in Italy and San Marino.
There, the team was dethroned by L&D Amsterdam Pirates, which went on to win the trophy.
Neptunus finished in fourth place after losing the bronze medal-game to UnipolSai Fortitudo Bologna (Italy), 7-6.
Ricardo didn't play in that game.
Before he left, Ricardo was the second best hitter in the league with a .434 batting average and at that time, he led with 33 basehits and 24 runs batted in.
Before coming to Neptunus, Ricardo played two seasons in Haarlem for Kinheim.
Ricardo played professionally in 2007-2013.
He initially played in the organization of the Baltimore Orioles (2007-2010).
Hereafter, in 2011-2012, he played in minor league-teams for the San Francisco Giants.
In 2013, he played in his last professional season for three minor league-teams of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
With the Netherlands Kingdom Team, he reached the semi-final of the World Baseball Classic in 2013 and won the European Championship-title with the Dutch Team.
Last year, he participated with the Orange squad in the first-ever Premier12.
(July 13)
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