The game appeared to go the way of HCAW, as the Bussum-squad led 5-1 halfway the seventh inning.
However, the game was far from over, as Storks staged two 5-run rallies.
One of them in the bottom of the 10th inning, while trailing 11-7, highlighted by a grand slam homerun by Aldi Guzman.
HCAW took an early 2-0 lead with two outs in the top of the first inning off of starter Jurrian Koks.
The righthander gave up a lead-off double to Jeandro Tromp, then walked Vince Rooi with two outs.
Both runners scored when Bryce Cherry followed with a 2-run double.
HCAW added a run in the third inning, again with two outs.
Vince Rooi then singled, advanced on a wild pitch and this time scored on a single by Bryce Cherry.
Storks got on base once in its first two innings off of Chris Pfau, who had returned a few days earlier from the USA, where he was due to family-circumstances.
The lefthander retired six of the seven hitters, four of them with a strikeout.
Pfau began the third inning with two more strikeouts to give him five in a row.
He then gave up a triple to Quinlan de Windt and walked Jurriaan Dijk.
A wild pitch enabled De Windt to score the first run for Storks.
An infield-hit by Runai Coran gave the team from The Hague runners on the corners, but Pfau closed with another strikeout.
In total, he struckout eleven batters today.
The three middle innings remained scoreless.
In these at bats, HCAW left three runners behind in scoring position.
Storks stranded one in scoring position which happened in the sixth.
With one out, Kendrick Delima and Aldi Guzman both singled.
An error on a pick-off enabled Delima to advance to third base, but Guzman got into a rundown between first and second base.
While that was going on, Delima tried to score.
The rundown was discontinued, as the ball was thrown to the plate where Delima was eliminated.
In the meantime, Guzman arrived at second base, where he was left behind.
In the top of the seventh inning, HCAW added two more runs off of new pitcher Gijs Timmer to increase its lead to 5-1.
He gave up a lead-off single to Delano Selassa, who moved on a wild pitch and a bunt-single by Roelie Henrique.
Selassa scored on a sacrifice fly by Vince Rooi, then Henrique (after having stolen second base) scored on a 2-out single by Seb Visser.
The lead proved not to be enough, as it became a complete new ball-game when Storks rallied for five runs on five basehits with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Four of the runs were unearned due to two errors.
However, all five runs were team-unearned, as the lone earned run was scored off of a reliever, while there already could have been three outs.
With two outs, pinch-hitter Tyron de Windt singled, then his brother Quinlan de Windt reached on an error.
Jurriaan Dijk followed with a runscoring single, which also led to a pitching change.
Timo van Ancum took over from Chris Pfau, but he gave up a runscoring single to Runai Coran, then a 2-run double to Kendrick Delima, which tied the score at 5-5.
Hereafter, Aldi Guzman walked and pinch-hitter Nick Nefs reached on an error, which loaded the bases.
Another pitching change followed.
This time, Oscar Meuris took over, but he was greeted with a runscoring single from Philip Brandl, which gave Storks a 6-5 lead.
Innings like these, with some basehits, some errors and three different pitchers are much-liked by Official Scorers, as their knowledge of the rules is tested.
They then have to decide whether or not a run is batted in, whether or not it is earned or unearned or team-unearned, which pitcher is responsible for what run, how runners advance in error-situations and where the errors have to be noted on the scorecard.
And of course, keep in mind to check whether a pitcher becomes a pitcher-of-record.
The lead was shortlived, as HCAW answered with two runs in the top of the eighth off of new pitcher José Moreno.
These runs also were unearned, as this time, the Storks-defense committed two errors.
Moreno hit lead-off hitter Kevin Weijgertse with a pitch, then third baseman Quinlan de Windt made an error on a sacrifice bunt by Denzel Bryson.
A throwing error by Moreno during a pick-off led to runners on second and third base.
Shortly hereafter, Weijgertse scored the tying run on a single by Jeandro Tromp.
Next hitter Delano Selassa grounded into a double play, but on this grounder, Bryson scored to put HCAW ahead 7-6.
...While circling the bases after hitting his grand slam,...
...Aldi Guzman celebrates with 3B Coach Aldrin Martis...
(© Photo: Robert Bos) |
HCAW got a chance to do some more scoring in the top of the ninth, but left three runners behind.
Vince Rooi led off with a double, then Bryce Cherry walked.
The two moved on a sacrifice bunt by Seb Visser.
With first base open, Patrick Bok was walked intentionally.
Hereafter, Kevin Weijgertse lined out and Denzel Bryson flied out.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, it was Storks that stranded three runners, but could have decided the game.
But the team came alongside to force extra innings.
Runai Coran and Kendrick Delima began with singles.
With one out, they performed a double-steal.
To set up a force play, next hitter Nick Nefs was walked intentionally to load the bases.
However, Coran then scored the tying run on a wild pitch from Oscar Meuris!
Hereafter, Delima, who was running on third base, was eliminated on a grounder towards short by Philip Brandl.
In this situation, Storks got runners on second and third base, then got the bases loaded again when Imco Rudolph walked.
The inning ended with a foul-out.
And then, a very exciting tenth inning followed.
HCAW broke the 7-7 tie by scoring four runs with two outs in the top of the tenth inning.
Jeandro Tromp led off with a walk and moved into scoring position via a sacrifice bunt by Delano Selassa.
Tromp moved to third base on a grounder by Roelie Henrique.
To set up a force play, it was decided to walk both Vince Rooi and Bryce Cherry intentionally.
But with the bases loaded, José Moreno walked Seb Visser, which gave HCAW an 8-7 lead.
Hereafter, the bases were cleared when Patrick Bok followed with a 3-run double, which made it an 11-7 score.
Again, the lead was not enough, as Storks had a spectacular finish ahead of them.
After Quinlan de Windt led off with a walk, Moreno Vork took over the pitching for HCAW.
He began with a strikeout, but then got the bases loaded when he gave up singles to Runai Coran and Kendrick Delima.
For Delima, this was his fifth basehit in the game.
Vork then faced Aldi Guzman, who drilled an 0-2 pitch over the leftfield-fence for a grand slam homerun that made it an 11-11 score!
Next hitter Nick Nefs singled, which was followed by another pitching change.
Dennis Burgersdijk, who the starting pitcher in Thursday's game, took over and saw Nefs advance on a sacrifice bunt by Philip Brandl.
With two outs, Storks got runners on first and third base when next hitter Imco Rudolph reached on an error by short stop Delano Selassa.
That was costly, as Nefs scored the winning run moments later on a walk-off single by Tyron de Windt!
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Storks wins in 10th vs. HCAW; Aldi Guzman hits score-tying grand slam!
THE HAGUE (Neth.) -
Silicon Storks trailed three times on Sunday (May 13) against HCAW, but came back to record a stunning 12-11 win in ten innings.
