(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 DSS eliminated for Play-Offs without playing
Nederlands
 VLEUTEN (Neth.) -
DSS was eliminated for the Play-Off on Sunday (July 23) without completing its own game against Pickles UVV.
The Haarlem-squad led 2-0 halfway the third inning when the game was halted by rain.
After a delay, the game was cancelled due to the conditions of the playing field.
The game has been re-scheduled for coming Tuesday-evening in Vleuten, starting at 7:30 PM.
It marks only the second time this season that a game is cancelled due to rain.
On Saturday, May 13, the game between Hoofddorp Pioniers and Curaçao Neptunus didn't start due to rain and the conditions of the main field.
It was then initially proposed to move the game to Field #2 at the Pioniers-complex, but the conditions of that field led to the cancellation of the game, which was made up three days later.
On Thursday, DSS opened the 3-game series with an 8-2 victory, then added a 2-1 win on Saturday.
With these victories, DSS still had a theoretical chance of reaching the Play-Offs.
The lone chance for DSS to reach the top-4 was winning its four remaining games, while Pioniers had to end up losing its remaining seven games in the regular season.
However, Pioniers won 5-4 against Neptunus today to become the fourth and final team to reach the Championship Pool (or Play-Offs).
With that, DSS now will play its second half of the season in the Promotion/Relegation Pool.
In today's game, DSS took an early lead in the first inning off of starter Gilian van Lith.
The lefthander walked lead-off hitter Kevin Nieveld, but he was forced out on a following grounder by Devano Pieter.
With two outs, Van Lith's former teammate Omar Williams hit the ball over the left-centerfield fence for a 2-run homerun.
After last season, Williams moved from UVV to DSS.
The homerun was the lone basehit Van Lith gave up.
He retired the side in the second inning, then was supported with a double play in the top of the third after having walked two batters.
DSS-starter Sander Helmendach gave up three basehits in the two innings he pitched before the game was interrupted by rain.
With a 2-0 lead, he gave up singles to Rick Kuipers and Bryce Cherry that started the bottom of the first inning.
The two moved on a grounder, but Helmendach followed with a strikeout and a flyout ended the at bat.
In the second inning, he gave up another lead-off single, this time a bunt-single to Julian Rip, but he was caught stealing moments later.
In the end, when DSS would have won the game, it would have been left empty-handed after all, due to the victory today by Pioniers.
(July 23)
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Game halted due to rain halfway the 3rd inning with DSS leading 2-0.