(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Fifth game Holland Series rains out
Nederlands
 ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
The fifth game of the best-of-seven Holland Series was canceled on Saturday (October 7) due to steady rain and the condtions of the playing field in Rotterdam.
The game has been re-scheduled for coming Monday-evening, starting at 7:30 PM.
It was also announced that Sunday's game in Amsterdam will begin at 1:30 PM instead of 2 PM.
This now becomes Game 5 of the Series.
After there had been spreaded showers throughout the night, a drizzling rain continued in the hours before the scheduled start of the game at 2 PM.
The umpiring crew and technical commissioner checked the field around 1:30 PM, then again at 2 PM.
It was then decided to postpone the game at least one hour, while the groundscrew kept working hard on the field.
When the field again was inspected around 3 PM, the umpires decided that it was not possible and also unwarranted to start the game due to the conditions of both the weather and the field.
With that, the game was canceled.
While there was an initial report that the game was moved to next Saturday, it was confirmed later that the game was re-scheduled for coming Monday-evening.
According to the league-rules for the Championship Final, a canceled game will be re-scheduled for the next possible day.
In this case, that will be Monday-evening, but rain is also expected then.
The game will then be moved to Tuesday-evening in case of another cancellation.
Last year, two games rained out during the Holland Series.
The Series opened on Thursday, September 28.
Amsterdam then was the better team and led 4-2 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but lost 5-4 in Rotterdam.
On the following Saturday, Neptunus handed Amsterdam a big 12-0 shutout-loss in Game 2 of the Final in the Dutch capital.
On Sunday, in Rotterdam, Amsterdam Pirates led 2-0 halfway the seventh inning, but trailed 3-2 when the ninth inning began.
The team then rallied for five runs in the top of the ninth to win 7-3.
Last Thursday-evening, the fourth game was played in Amsterdam.
Neptunus then nipped Pirates 3-2 to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Final.
Today's canceled game now becomes Game Six and will be played on Monday-evening in Rotterdam, if needed.
When the Series needs all seven games, the Final will close on Sunday, October 15 in Rotterdam.
(October 7)
Complete schedule
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Game Five, best-of-seven Holland Series 2017.