On a sunny afternoon at the Rob Hoffmann Valley in Bussum, not only the game between HCAW and Storks was scheduled.
The game also served as a examination game for this years scoring course Level 3 of the Dutch Assocation.
Some active Official Scorers also were at the site to do some practice scoring themselves before the start of the new season.
Storks and HCAW both get into scoring position in the first inning.
For Storks, Gino Gil singled with one out and Runai Coran walked with two outs, but they were left behind.
For HCAW, Roelie Henrique singled with two outs, then Vince Rooi walked, but they also stranded.
In the second inning, Storks was retired in order, while its defense turned a double play in the home half of the at bat.
It was then HCAW that opened the score in the bottom of the third inning off of starter Martin Kram.
Julian Goins led off with a single, moved on a sacrifice bunt by Jeandro Tromp and reached third base on a single by Delano Selassa.
Hereafter, Roelie Henrique delivered a runscoring single and a second run was added on a 2-out single by Bryce Cherry.
Storks answered with four runs in the top of the fourth off of starter Kaj Timmermans.
Runai Coran led off with a double and Kendrick Delima singled.
The bases got loaded when Aldi Guzman walked.
Moments later, the bases were cleared when Philipp Brandl connected for a 3-run double to put Storks ahead.
With one out, Brandl scored himself on a grounder by Giovanny Perez.
From the fourth through sixth inning, HCAW was silenced by reliever José Moreno, who allowed only one baserunner.
For HCAW, Timmermans retired the side in the fifth, then reliever Moreno Vork got two baserunners in scoring position in the sixth.
With one out, he walked Aldi Guzman and Philipp Brandl, who later would strand on second and third base.
But in the sixth inning, Storks added three more runs to increase its lead to 7-2.
Pinch-hitter Sergio Schoop and Gino Gil led off with walks, then both scored on a following triple by Joran Berkhout.
The latter then scored himself on a sacrifice fly by Runai Coran.
However, the apparant comfortable lead wasn't that comfortable, as HCAW rallied for five runs in the bottom of the seventh to come alongside.
Nick Winkel took over the Storks-pitching, but ran into problems.
The righthander walked Kevin Weijgertse and Julian Goins, then gave up a runscoring single to Jeandro Tromp.
The bases got loaded when next hitter Delano Selasso also singled.
The three baserunners then respectively scored on a single by Seb Visser, sacrifice fly by Vince Rooi and single by Bryce Cherry to narrow the deficit to 7-6.
That led to a pitching change, as Gijs Timmer was brought in to take over from Winkel.
Timmer got the bases loaded again when he walked Berend Ruben, then HCAW came alongside when Visser scored on a grounder by Patrick Bok.
With two more baserunners still in scoring position, the inning ended with another grounder.
In the eighth inning, Storks was retired in order by reliever Timo van Ancum.
Oscar Meuris pitched the ninth inning for HCAW.
He gave up a lead-off single to Sergio Schoop, but while running towards first base, he sustained a hamstring-injury and left the game.
His pinch-runner Tijani Dunlop (whom he had replaced an now re-entered) advanced on a sacrifice bunt, but stranded on second base.
HCAW got two scoring opportunities in its final two at bats.
In the eighth, Jeandro Tromp singled with one out and stole second base, but was left behind.
In the ninth, Vince Rooi led off with a walk, but he would strand on third base.
And with that, the game ended with a 7-7 tie.
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Exhibition game HCAW vs. Storks ends in tie
BUSSUM -
Finally, it was Spring!
Finally, the weather conditions were great to be at the ballpark and play a game.
Today's temperate varied from 19 degrees Celsius (66.2 Fahrenheit) and 23 (73.4) with an average temperature of 20 degrees (68) in the afternoon.
And so, all scheduled exhibition games were played and the teams were able to get into action under very comfortable and warm conditions.
Exhibition Game.