(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos courtesy of Onze Gezellen)
 Onze Gezellen to open new baseball-field next month
Nederlands
 HAARLEM (Neth.) -
Haarlem-based Onze Gezellen will use its new baseball-field for the first time on Friday, Mach 25.
On that day, the team plays its first game of the Haarlem Series-tournament, organized by the club.
During the three-day event, the field will be officially opened.
This year, the field of participants has expanded to five teams, as the big league-squad of Kinheim also will play in the event.
With that, both big league-teams from Haarlem will participate in the tournament.
DSS, which last year made its debut in the highest league, also was one of the participants in the first tournament.
Also returning are Sparks Haarlem and RCH-Pinguïns and of course, host Onze Gezellen.
Last year, Onze Gezellen organized the tournament for the first time with the participation of four clubs from the Haarlem-area in a 2-day format.
On Saturday, March 28, DSS won 12-5 vs. Onze Gezellen, while Sparks Haarlem defeated RCH-Pinguïns with a 5-1 score.
Unfortunately, bad weather led to the cancellation of the games scheduled for the next day.
For the first time, there also will be a 3-team women softball-tournament included in the event.
Onze Gezellen will be joined by big league-clubs Terrasvogels and DSS, who both play in the Golden League.
In the off-season, the complex of Onze Gezellen at the Van der Aart Sportpark was renovated completely, thanks to hard work of the SRO Service of the Municipality of Haarlem.
SRO stands for Sports, Recreation and Education Facilities.
Some years ago, the baseball-field of Onze Gezellen disappeared, as some soccer fields were turned around.
Because of that, the baseball-team of Onze Gezellen played its home games the last ten years at the former field of Schoten at the same complex.
In 2014, Onze Gezellen promoted to the 'Overgangsklasse' (second highest league) and stayed in that league last year.
With its promotion to a national league, the field has to comply with the demands, as stipulated by the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Association (KNBSB).
That meant that the playing field had to be adjusted, including moving the outfield-fence backwards to the required 121 meters in centerfield.
As Onze Gezellen stayed in the same league, talks with the Municipality followed and were very successful.
As a result, the baseball-field of Onze Gezellen was turned around, got new grass and was modernized.
,,We're getting a real nice field'', the club's Chairman Paul van Kimmenaede recently said in a story in the Haarlem Dagblad.
,,It will be super nice.
I'm proud on what's happening right now and I want to give a big compliment to SRO.
They're delivering a nice job'', he added.
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...The new baseball-field of Onze Gezellen in Haarlem...
(© Photos courtesy of Onze Gezellen) |
(February 15)
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