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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar) Netherlands Cadets open European Championship with two wins Nederlands WIENER NEUSTADT / ROHRBACH IN OBERÖSTERREICH (Austria) - The Netherlands Cadets Team has started the U15 European Championship Cadets in Austria with two victories. The Orange-squad opened the event on Monday (July 17) with a big 16-1 win in four innings against host Austria. On Tuesday, after trailing 4-0, the team of Manager Eric de Bruin won only 7-4 against Poland, which had suffered a big 17-3 loss on Monday against the Czech Republic. The Netherlands had no game scheduled on Wednesday, then meets Russia on Thursday. The team closes the preliminary round on Friday against the Czechs, who last year captured the Championship-title when the event was held in France. The European Championship for Cadets was first organized in 2006 in Gijon (Spain) and then was won by the Netherlands. Initially, the maximum age for this event was 16 years old, but that was lowered to 15 in 2012. Since 2006, the Championship has been organized annually. The Netherlands has dominated the event and captured the title in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014. The Netherlands didn't partcipate in the last two years. The Czech Republic is the second most successful country The team won the title in 2007 and 2016 and finished in second place five times. (July 18)

Netherlands vs. Austria In the opening game, the Netherlands briefly trailed 1-0 halfway the second inning, but that would be the lone Austrian run in this game. The Netherlands got a chance to open the score in the bottom of the first inning, but then left three runners behind. With two outs, the bases got loaded when Emile Haswell walked, Chris Stuart singled and Jelle Bing also walked. But the inning ended on a force play-grounder from Ayran Araya Lemair. Austria then opened the score in the top of the first inning off of starting pitcher Kyshon Giterson. Lead-off hitter Jan Hoffmann reached on an error and later scored on a fielder's choice-grounder. The Orange-squad answered with five runs in its second at bat. The bases got loaded quickly when Jesse Velders and Kyshon Giterson both walked and Luca Pastor reached on a bunt-single. With one out, the tying run was scored when Tyriq Kemp walked, which also led to the first Austrian pitching change. With two outs, the bases were cleared thanks to a 3-run triple by Chris Stuart, who later scored himself on an error. The Netherlands again rallied for five runs in the third inning. With one out and runners on second and third base, a run was scored on an infield-hit by Raydley Legito, then another one when that was followed by a throwing error. Later in the at bat, Tyriq Kemp added an RBI-triple. Two more runs were scored on a double by Chris Stuart, who was then eliminated at third base trying to make it a triple. In the bottom of the fourth inning, the mercy-rule, 15-run difference was reached when the Netherlands scored six runs on five hits. With the bases loaded, a run was scored when Derek Paesch was hit by a pitch. After a pitching change and with one out, a run was scored on a wild pitch, then Tyriq Kemp and Emile Haswell added back-to-back runscoring singles. When the bases got loaded again, the next run was scored on a single by Jelle Bing. The game then ended when the 16th run was scored on a fielder's choice-grounder by Ayran Araya Lemair, which didn't result in an out. The Netherlands collected 11 basehits, including three by Chris Stuart (double, triple), who batted in five runs. Tyriq Kemp scored three runs and also batted in three, while Jesse Velders also scored three runs.

Netherlands - Austria 16-1 (4 inn.) R H E Austria 010 0 - 1 2 3 Netherlands 055 6 - 16 11 1 (one out when 15-run difference was reached in the fourth inning) pitchers Austria inn. SO BB H R ER Eoghan McGarry, L (0-1) 1.1 - 5 2 4 4 Florian Amon 1 1 2 3 6 5 David Taxacher 0.2 (*) - 1 3 4 4 Lenny Filarowski 0.1 - - 3 2 2 (*) - Taxacher pitched to four batters in the fourth inning pitchers Netherlands inn. SO BB H R ER Kyshon Giterson, W (1-0) 3 3 2 2 1 - Jayden Gonesh 1 1 - - - - Umpires: HP-Patrick Cibba (France), 1B-Edgaras Matusevicius (Lithuania), 3B-Alberto Fiorini (Italy). Official Scorers: Jakub Hauser (Czech Rep.), Tereza Zavranska (Czech Rep.), Martin Tulis (Czech Rep.). Technical Commissioners-Stephen Lesfargues (France), Jürgen Elsishans (Germany). Starting Time-6:20 PM. Time Played-1:55 hrs. Site-Ducksfield (site Diving Ducks), Wiener Neustadt (Austria).

Netherlands vs. Poland In its second game of the tournament, the Netherlands faced a 4-0 deficit after three innings against Poland, which maybe was somewhat underestimated. On Monday, Poland had opened with a big loss against reigning champion Czech Republic. Polish starter Kacpar Blacha gave up only one basehit in the four innings he pitched. He walked eight batters, but nevertheless, the Dutch offense scored only one run off of him. In the top of the first inning, Raydley Legito and Tyriq Kemp led off with walks for the Netherlands. With one out, a double-steal attempt ended in Legito being caught stealing, then a strikeout ended the at bat. In the second inning, the Dutch got its lead-off hitter on base again when Jesse Velders walked, but a double play followed. In the third, Legito led off with a single, but stranded on first base. Poland opened the score in the first inning off of starter Danny Albinus. With two outs, he gave up a single to Kacpar Blacha, who then scored on a following double by Tobiasz Swiatlowski. The Polish squad doubled its lead in the second at bat, again with two outs, this time on a single by Filip Sarota. Poland made it a 4-0 score in the third off of reliever Nick Boxelaar. The Orange-squad scored its first run in the top of the fourth inning without hitting a basehit. Ayran Araya Lemair and Jesse Velders began with walks, but then two force play-grounders followed. Hereafter, the bases got loaded when Jason Netten walked and a run was scored when Raydley Legito also walked. The team then left three runners behind when Tyriq Kemp flied out. In the fifth inning, the Netherlands turned the game its way by scoring four runs and taking a 5-4 lead. Emile Haswell led off with a single, reached third base on an error, then scored when next batter Chris Stuart reached on another error. Ayran Araya Lemair then walked. With one out, a run was scored on a single by Luca Pastor, then Nick Boxelaar delivered a 2-run triple to put the Orange ahead. Two insurance runs were then scored in the sixth inning, thanks to a single by Araya Lemair and a double by Velders. The Netherlands was outhit 9-6 and left 12 runners behind. However, three Polish pitchers walked 13 batters, but only seven runs were scored.

Poland - Netherlands 4-7 R H E Netherlands 000 142 0 - 7 6 0 Poland 112 000 0 - 4 9 3 pitchers Netherlands inn. SO BB H R ER Danny Albinus 2 1 - 4 2 2 Nick Boxelaar, W (1-0) 3 2 - 4 2 2 Chris Stuart, SV (1) 2 4 - 1 - - pitchers Poland inn. SO BB H R ER Kacpar Blacha 4 1 8 1 1 1 Tobiasz Swiatlowski, L (0-1) 1.2 - 2 5 6 5 Filip Sarota 1.1 1 3 - - - Umpires: HP-Edgaras Matusevicius (Lithuania), 1B-Boris Suroviagin (Russia), 3B-Dana Beszczynski (Austria). Official Scorers: Mara Benckendorff (Austria), Natalie Tauchenová (Czech Rep.), Lenka Richterová (Czech Rep.). Technical Commissioner-Aleksandar Horvatić (Croatia). Starting Time-5:00 PM. Time Played-2:15 hrs. Site-Site Crazy Geese, Rohrbach in Oberösterreich (Austria).

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