DSS was outhit 16-7 and committed five errors, but nevertheless, the team left the field victorious.
In this game, there were 13 runs, 23 basehits and nine errors, a lot of action on the field, a bench-clearing, an ejection and seven pitchers.
This all made it an interesting initiation for debuting Official Scorer Melanie Dijkhuizen, whose knowledge of the scoring-rules was immediately tested.
But in her first game at the big league-level, she was accompanied by experienced scorer Linda Steijger.
...Melanie Dijkhuizen (left) made her debut as Official Scorer...
...She was accompanied in her first game by Linda Steijger,...
...who did the data entry for the play-by-play...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Initially, the game appeared to go the way of Pioniers, which was leading 2-0 halfway the fifth inning.
However, the team couldn't take enough distance and DSS came alongside.
In the top of the sixth inning, playing Head Coach Mervin Gario hit a 3-run homerun, which appeared to be decisive.
Going into the bottom of the ninth, Pioniers led 5-3 and was one out away from its first victory of the season.
But a triple and a balk then tied the score to force extra innings.
Pioniers re-took the lead in the eleventh, only to see DSS react with two runs of its own.
Both teams got into scoring position for the first time in the second inning.
For Pioniers, Jelle Kroft led off with an infield-hit in the second.
He advanced on a grounder, but stranded on second base.
For DSS, Omar Williams led off with a walk and moved on a grounder.
With two outs, (former Pionier) Sander Paap walked, then Koen Werkman followed with a single.
Williams tried to score, but was eliminated at the plate, which ended the inning.
Pioniers opened the score in the top of the third inning, but also left three runners behind off of starter Tom Stuifbergen.
The run was unearned, as two errors were involved.
Damian Melis (who last season played for DSS) led off with a single and reached second base safely when an error was made on a force play-grounder by Duco Nuijten.
The bases then got loaded when another error was made on a sacrifice bunt by Joey Eeman.
While bunting, Eeman sustained an injury to his finger and had to leave the game after the inning ended.
Hereafter, Stuifbergen struckout Mervin Gario, but then gave up a runscoring single to rookie Joey de Koning.
A flyout and strikeout ended the at bat and so, three runners were left behind.
In the bottom of the third, the Pioniers-defense turned a double play, as did DSS in the top of the fourth.
Pioniers doubled its lead in the top of the fifth.
Ibo Redan, who had replaced Joey Eeman, led off with a single and stole second base with one out.
Hereafter, Joey de Koning walked and Jelle Kroft followed with an RBI-double.
With runners on second and third base, no one was able to advance when Glenn Bakker reached on a throwing error.
But the three runners were left behind, which was costly.
Moments later, DSS came alongside off of Dion Steijl.
The lefthander walked lead-off hitter Koen Halderman, who moved on a sacrifice bunt by Sander Paap.
He then advanced to third base when a throwing error from the outfield followed a flyout.
Kevin Nieveld then walked and Tommy van de Sanden made it a 2-2 score with a triple down the leftfield-line.
In the top of the sixth, Pioniers appeared to take a decisive lead, but also, tempers heated up a little.
Tim Halderman took over the pitching for DSS, but ran into problems.
He gave up singles to Damian Melis and Duco Nuijten.
As an outfield-error was involved, this led to runners at the corners.
After Nuijten had stolen second base, Halderman struckout Ibo Redan, but then gave up a 3-run homerun to Mervin Gario.
After he had hit the homerun, Gario started his walk around the bases, but while on his way towards first base, there was an exchange of words with someone in the DSS dug-out.
After Gario had scored, Home Plate Umpire Peter de Haan warned both benches and had a brief talk with the coaches.
Now leading 5-2, Pioniers got the bases loaded when Joey de Koning, Jelle Kroft and Glenn Bakker all singled, but again three runners were left behind.
Pioniers also went to the bullpen in the bottom of the sixth, as Gilian van Lith took over.
With one out, the lefthander walked Omar Williams, but he stranded on first base.
In the top of the seventh, Pioniers came close to another run.
With one out, Duco Nuijten hit a triple, but Halderman followed with a strikeout.
The inning ended when Mervin Gario flied out.
On his way back, it again came to an exchange of words near the dug-out of DSS, which resulted in the benches clearing onto the field.
The order was restored and Gario was ejected.
Afterwards, Gario publicly apologized to both teams and the fans for his reactions.
Moments later, DSS got one run back in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Gilian van Lith walked lead-off hitter Sander Paap and was relieved by rookie Daniel Vos.
He walked Koen Werkman, then runners were awarded the next base on a balk.
Next, Paap was eliminated on a grounder by Kevin Nieveld towards third base, which almost was very costly for the home team.
However, DSS got the bases loaded when Tommy van de Sanden singled, then a run was scored on a sacrifice fly by Tino van Erk.
The run was credited to Van Lith, as he became responsible for a runner from Vos after his own runner (Paap) was eliminated in a fielder's choice-situation.
In the next two innings, Pioniers again failed to do some scoring, leaving runners behind in scoring position.
In the eighth inning, a runner stranded on second base and in the ninth, three runners were left behind.
...Odion Gouverneur...
...winning run...
(© Photo: DSS) |
The suspense was building in the bottom of the ninth when DSS scored a run with two outs and had a runner on third base.
Moments later, the score was evened!
The inning began with a walk for Sander Paap, which was followed by another pitching change (just as two innings before).
Alexander Valdez took over, but he was immediately charged with a balk that brought Paap to second base.
Valdez followed with a strikeout, then a flyout accounted for the second out.
Paap then scored when Tommy van de Sanden hit his second triple in the game.
DSS came alongside when another balk was called, which brought in Van de Sanden.
Mike Groen became the new pitcher for DSS in the top of the tenth and retired the side (two strikeouts).
DSS got a chance to decide the game in its tenth at bat when it got the bases loaded with one out.
Denzel Richardson led off with a single and Omar Williams reached on an error.
With one out, the bases got loaded when Koen Halderman was hit by a pitch.
But the three runners were left behind when a flyout and groundout ended the at bat.
This was another situation that could have been costly, as Pioniers re-took the lead in the top of the eleventh inning.
With one out, Damian Melis doubled, advanced on a flyout and scored on a single by Ibo Redan.
He was one of four players of Pioniers with three basehits, the others being Jelle Kroft, Damian Melis and Duco Nuijten.
In the bottom of the eleventh, DSS struck by scoring two unearned runs.
Kevin Nieveld led off with a single and moved on a sacrifice bunt by Tommy van de Sanden (who had three of his team's seven basehits).
Next hitter Tino van Erk walked and was then replaced by pinch-runner Odion Gouverneur.
The bases got loaded when Denzel Richardson reached on an outfield-error.
The tying run was then scored on a sacrifice fly by Omar Wiliams.
Now with two outs, Gouverneur stole third base, then scored the winning run when a grounder by Devano Pieter ended in an error.
And that ended the game after three hours and 46 minutes.
The starting time of the game was moved up from 2 PM to 1 PM in order to enable players to attend music festivals which were organized today as part of the celebrations of National Liberation Day.
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DSS turns deficit-into-win-in-eleventh-inning
HAARLEM (Neth.) -
DSS trailed 5-2 after six innings against Hoofddorp Pioniers on Saturday-afternoon (May 5), but came alongside and won 7-6 in the eleventh inning.
Melanie Dijkhuizen makes her debut as Official Scorer in the Dutch big league.