(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
Neptunus scores late to avoid sweep against Pioniers
Nederlands
HOOFDDORP (Neth.) -
After having lost the first two games, Curaçao Neptunus avoided a 3-game sweep against Vaessen Pioniers by winning 10-5 on Sunday (August 21).
This was the lone game played today.
Due to sometimes heavy rain, three other games were cancelled and re-scheduled for Monday, August 22.
It rained sometimes heavily throughout the morning in many parts of the country.
Schiphol International Airport reported 44,7 mm rain in a period of 24 hours.
Because of the weather conditions, the playing fields became unplayable, resulting in three cancellations.
It therefore is very remarkable that the lone game that was played today was situated in Hoofddorp.
Since the opening of the site, it is known that the main field there is one of the first to become unplayable when it rains and it then doesn't have to rain hard.
But today, it was the lone field that could be made playable again after the entire infield had been covered by a tarp.
Dashenko Ricardo hit a 2-run homerun in the first inning to give Neptunus an early 2-0 lead.
He initially thought that he had hit a ground-rule double and stopped running at second base.
Pioniers answered with three runs in the following at bats and led 3-2 after six innings.
Hereafter, Neptunus scored eight runs in the final three innings to turn the game its way.
Neptunus re-took the lead in the seventh, scoring three runs on only one basehit, which was a 2-run single by Raily Legito.
Neptunus added three more runs in the eighth, including two on a single by Urving Kemp.
In the top of the ninth, Ricardo hit his second 2-run homerun in the game.
Pioniers got two runs back in the bottom of the eighth off of Loek van Mil, thanks to a homerun by Brennan Nijhof and a double by Stephen Henson.
This also was the inning that saw the ejection of Pioniers' third baseman Mervin Gario, who argued a strike-call by Home Plate Umpire Winfried Berkvens.
Gario was replaced by pinch-hitter Duco Nuijten, who completed the at bat.
With that, the rookie accomplished a rare feat.
On Saturday, he took over the at bat of Stephen Henson, when he also was ejected after questioning the stike-zone of Home Plate Umpire Peter de Haan.
In that game, Nuijten made his debut in the main squad of Pioniers.
(complete recap will be added later)
(August 21)
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