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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Monique Valies, Hans Jansen de Vries, Playball Baseball Academy & Marco Stoovelaar) 5th Loek Loevendie International Indoor Christmas Baseball Tournament successful; Neptunus wins Nederlands AMSTERDAM (Neth.) - The fifth edition of the annual 2-day Loek Loevendie International Indoor Christmas Baseball Tournament has been another great success. Six teams from four countries participated in this years tournament with games being played on Saturday and Sunday (December 15-16) in the Pirates Indoor Arena at the site of L&D Amsterdam Pirates in the Dutch capital. On Sunday, Neptunus from Rotterdam (Netherlands) won 6-0 in the Final against Thamen Nippon (Netherlands/Japan) to win the tournament for the second year in a row. For next year, the organization considers adding a third day of competitition to the event. There were several attractive games with close scores, there were several great defensive actions and there were some nice homeruns! But most of all, everyone was in awe of the impressive Indoor Arena. Thanks to BP Sports BV, in the past few weeks, the indoor-facility of Amsterdam Pirates has been transformed into a real baseball-field, complete with artificial grass, running lanes, batter/catcher-circle, batter's boxes and paddings! And that increased the baseball-atmosphere even more! The fifth 'Uncle Loek' Christmas Tournament was the first event to be played on the new field! That was combined with Christmas-music, well-visted games and a lot of young players who enjoyed themselves! On Saturday, all games in the preliminary round were attended from the beginning to the end by Loek Loevendie himself. Loevendie, one of the founders of Amsterdam Pirates in 1959, has been active for more than sixty years as a coach in youth-baseball. He mostly coached the youngest players (juvenile-age category). Loevendie was one of the 'inventors' of Peanutball, the predecessor of the current BeeBall. Through the years, many of his players later went on to play in the Dutch big league, the Netherlands National Baseball Team or even went on to play professionally. Amongst the players he instructed and coached in the sixties and early seventies were Peter van Erk, Jan Hijzelendoorn, Marcel Joost, Frank Koot, Ronald Stoovelaar and Haitze de Vries, who all went on to play many seasons in the Dutch big league. The last five also played many years in the Netherlands National Team. In later years, future Dutch big league-players Pepijn Beerman, Peter Boon, Martijn Faneyte, Frans van Huffel, René van Huffel, Bas Kuijer, and Byron Ward were coached by Loevendie. Boon and Ward also played in the National Team. Beerman and Ward took the initiative for the annual Loek Loevendie Christmas Tournament in 2014 and since then have been members of the organizing committee. Kuijer was a coach of one of the participating Pirates-teams. ...Loek Loevendie watches from his 'throne' at the terrace and... ...overlooks the action on the field of the Pirates Indoor Arena... (© Photo: Hans Jansen de Vries) Amongst the players coached by Loevendie, who went on to play professionally were Tom de Blok, Tonny Cohen, Rikkert Faneyte, Raymond Hofer and Tim van Pareren. Of these players, Faneyte reached the Major League, playing for the San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers. In 1993, Faneyte became the second Dutch-born and raised player to reach the Major League after pitcher Win Remmerswaal had become the first in 1979. Loevendie was at home on Sunday, but was closely informed of all activities. Pepijn Beerman and Byron Ward took the initiative to organize an event in the Christmas-holiday in 2014 and named it after Loek Loevendie, who has done a lot for the development of youth-players in Amsterdam. In 2014, there were only three participating teams, who faced each other on one day. A year later, a tournament format was introduced with the participation of six teams, playing on two days. That format also was in use in the next three years. To make it more attractive, official statistics are recorded since 2016. During the Award Ceremony after Sunday's Final, Hibiki Hata of Thamen Nippon was named Most Valuable Player of this tournament. Like in the previous editions, he not only won an award, but also was invited to participate in the annual Playball Baseball Academy. The 25th edition of this weeklong camp will take place in 2019 on July 29 through August 2 at the site of Amsterdam Pirates. (December 15-16)

Final Standings 1 Neptunus (Neth.) 2 Thamen Nippon (Japan/Neth.) 3 Amsterdam Pirates 2 (Neth.) 4 Brasschaat Braves (Belgium) 5 Amsterdam Pirates 3 (Neth.) 6 Templiers Sénart (France) Final Standings Pool A 1 Thamen Nippon (Japan/Neth.) 2 Amsterdam Pirates 2 (Neth.) 3 Templiers Sénart (France) Final Standings Pool B 1 Neptunus (Neth.) 2 Brasschaat Braves (Belgium) 3 Amsterdam Pirates 3 (Neth.)

Game 1: Amsterdam Pirates 2 vs. Templiers Sénart In the opening game of the tournament, Templiers Sénart from France took a 6-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but would end up empty-handed. Opponent Amsterdam Pirates 2 got three runs back in its first at bat, then added four more in the second inning to win 7-6. Pirates won the game without hitting a basehit, as Templiers-pitchers Jason René, Clément Chauchard and Elliot Davy threw a combined No-Hitter. Templiers, which participated for the fourth consecutive time in the tournament, rallied for six runs with one out in its first at bat. With one out, Célyan Picard singled off of starting pitcher Bradley Verwoest. Picard hit the single at 9:37 AM. With that, he not only accounted for the first basehit of the tournament, but also recorded the earliest basehit in the 5-year history of the event. And that earned him a prize at the end of the tournament. The organization annually creates Special Awards during the tournament. Hereafter, the French team got the bases loaded when Elliot Davy was hit by a pitch and Harry Lemoine walked. A following walk for Jason René then opened the score. An error accounted for the second run. Hereafter, Axel Kurzenne, Shawn Tshibambe and Louis Techer-Villenin all delivered runscoring singles. A wild pitch lifted the lead to 6-0. In the bottom of the first inning, Pirates scored three runs off of starting pitcher Jason René. With one out, the home-team got the bases loaded when Kaio Laudermilk (walk), Micah Kreuning (hit by pitch) and Bradley Verwoest (walk) reached base. A wild pitch then enabled Laudermilk to score. The bases were re-loaded when Flip Dijksterhuis walked, then the next run was added when Jesse van den Steenhoven also walked. A wild pitch narrowed the deficit to 6-3. In the second inning, Amsterdam added four more runs. Micha Kuipers and Kaio Laudermilk both walked and with one out, the bases were loaded when Bradley Verwoest was hit by a pitch. Two wild pitches led to two runs and made it a 6-5 score. Amsterdam then got the bases loaded again when Jesse Coelho was hit by a pitch and Jesse van den Steenhoven walked. Verwoest scored the tying run when Milian Martinez was hit by a pitch, then Amsterdam took the lead when Levi Pront walked.

Amsterdam Pirates 2 - Templiers Sénart 7-6 (2 inn.) R H E Templiers Sénart 60 - 6 4 0 Amsterdam Pirates 2 34 - 7 0 1 pitchers Templiers inn. SO BB H R ER Jason René 1 3 3 - 3 3 Clément Chauchard, BS (1), L (0-1) 0.1 1 4 - 4 4 Elliot Davy 0.1 0.1 - - - - pitchers Pirates inn. SO BB H R ER Bradley Verwoest 0.2 1 2 4 6 5 Jesse van den Steenhoven, W (1-0) 1 1 1 - - - Umpires:-HP-Loek Christiani, 1B-Matthijs Versteeg. Official Scorer-Marco Stoovelaar. Public Address Announcer-Hans Jansen de Vries. Umpire Commissioner-Piet Sterk. Starting Time-9:34 AM. Time Played-1:01 hrs. Game Notes: Jason René, Clément Chauchard and Elliot Davy (Templiers) throw a combined No-Hitter. Célyan Picard (Templiers) hits the first basehit of the tournament. Célyan Picard (Templiers) hits the earliest basehit in tournament-history (9:37 AM).

Game 2: Amsterdam Pirates 3 vs. Neptunus The second game of the day was another attractive match-up, as the score was tied at 7-7 after three innings. Defending tournament-champion Neptunus then rallied for seven runs in the top of the fourth inning to win 14-7. Neptunus opened the score with two runs in the first inning. With two outs and Mauricio Montenegro (fielder's choice) on first base, D'Mani Boedhoe made good contact on a delivery from starting pitcher Tijn van den Steenhoven and hit the first homerun of this years tournament. Amsterdam Pirates answered with three runs in its first at bat off of starter Dean Moust. Kaj Barry led off with a walk, then Sam Kuijer reached on a single. With one out, Barry scored on a single by Samuel Hamfelt. The bases then got loaded when Ryan Bosch walked. With two outs, Amsterdam came alongside when Silver Moskou also walked. An error gave Amsterdam a 3-2 lead. In the second inning, Neptunus rallied for five runs to take a 7-3 lead. All runs were unearned due to an error. With two outs, Diquencio Allee (error) was on base and he scored the tying run on a single by Mickey Herbold. Next batter Sinan Tosun then reached on another error. Hereafter, Dean Moust reached on an infield-hit, which was followed by a runscoring error. A single by Mauricio Montenegro and two wild pitches then accounted for the next three runs to make it a 7-3 score. The game wasn't over yet, as Pirates came alongside in the bottom of the second inning off of four pitchers. Kaj Barry again led off with a walk and after a pitching change, Sam Kuijer and pinch-hitter Cas Poppelier also walked, which led to another pitching change. A passed ball and a wild pitch led to two runs and made it a 7-5 score. Pirates got the bases loaded when Samuel Hamfelt walked and Ryan Bosch was hit by a pitch. With one out, Silver Moskou also was hit by a pitch to bring in a run, then a wild pitch tied the score. After next batter Jesse de Boer walked to load the bases, another pitching change was made by Head Coach Brendan Bisschop Tony Kesaulya took over and closed the inning with a strikeout. Kesaulya, who is the bat-boy of the main-team of Neptunus, added three more strikeouts in the next two innings, gave up no more runs and became the winning pitcher. In the top of the fourth inning, Neptunus rallied for seven runs to take a decisive lead. In the inning, Salvador Tavares delivered a 2-run single, followed by a runscoring single by Sander van der Meer. Around these basehits, a wild pitch and two stolen base-situations accounted for three more runs. The inning ended with an RBI-single from Mickey Herbold that lifted the lead to 14-7.

Amsterdam Pirates 3 - Neptunus 7-14 (4 inn.) R H E Neptunus 250 7 - 14 8 1 Amsterdam Pirates 3 340 0 - 7 2 3 pitchers Neptunus inn. SO BB H R ER Dean Moust 1 (*) 3 5 2 4 4 Sander van der Meer - (**) - 2 - 2 2 Caleb Peterson, BS (1) 0.1 - 2 - 1 1 Tony Kasaulya, W (1-0) 2.1 4 1 - - - (*) - Moust pitched to one batter in the second inning (**) - Van der Meer pitched to two batters in the second inning pitchers Pirates inn. SO BB H R ER Tijn van den Steenhoven 2 3 2 4 7 2 Marijn Hertroijs, L (0-1) 1.1 1 4 - 2 2 Mace de Swaan - (*) - 2 4 5 5 (*) - De Swaan pitched to six batters in the fourth inning Homerun: Neptunus: D'Mani Boedhoe (1)(1st,2-run,off Van den Steenhoven). Umpires:-HP-Cor Coorengel, 1B-Roy van de Wateringen. Official Scorer-Marco Stoovelaar. Public Address Announcer-Hans Jansen de Vries. Umpire Commissioner-Piet Sterk. Starting Time-11:02 AM. Time Played-1:21 hrs.

Game 3: Thamen Nippon vs. Amsterdam Pirates 2 The first series of three games ended with another close game between Thamen Nippon and Amsterdam Pirates 2. The Amsterdam-team had opened the tournament this morning with a come-from-behind 7-6 win against Templiers Sénart, while the Japanese team from Thamen played its first game. It was Thamen that broke a 2-2 tie in the second inning and went on to win 3-2. A year ago, Thamen ended up just short in the Final, losing 4-3 to Neptunus. Pirates got on base immediately in the top of the first inning when Jesse van den Steenhoven led off with a single. But hereafter, Thamen-starter Hibiki Hata struckout the next three batters and Van den Steenhoven stranded on third base. In the bottom of the first inning, Thamen struck with two runs off of starter Guido Thierry. The lefthander walked lead-off hitter Sora Hirakawa and Hibiki Hata followed with a homerun to give the team a 2-0 lead. Pirates came alongside in the top of the second inning. Lead-off hitter Jesse Coelho was hit by a pitch and stole second base. Hibiki Hata followed with two more strikeouts, but then walked Guido Thierry. Moments later, Mick Peters produced a runscoring single, then Thierry went on to score the tying run on a passed ball. Thamen re-took the lead in the bottom of the second inning. With one out, Takuma Toyoda and Runa Saito walked. After a pitching change, the latter was forced out on a grounder, but hereafter, Hibiki Hata delivered an RBI-single that gave Thamen a 3-2 lead. In the top of the third inning, the Japanese battery switched places. Pitcher Hibiki Hata took over behind the plate, while catcher Sora Hirakawa became the new pitcher. Hirakawa retired the side in the third, including two strikeouts. He then walked the first two batters in the fourth, but closed with three more strikeouts to earn a save. Thamen came close to an additional run in the bottom of the third inning. Lead-off hitter Katsuhiko Matsuda was hit by a pitch and moved on a grounder by Haru Yano. He then tried to score on a single by Kuranosuke Masui, but he was eliminated at the plate when a nice defensive play followed.

Thamen Nippon - Amsterdam Pirates 2 3-2 (4 inn.) R H E Amsterdam Pirates 2 020 0 - 2 2 0 Thamen Nippon 210 0 - 3 4 0 pitchers Pirates inn. SO BB H R ER Guido Thierry, L (0-1) 1.1 4 3 2 3 3 Jesse van den Steenhoven 1.2 1 - 2 - - Micha Kuipers 1 1 2 - - - pitchers Thamen inn. SO BB H R ER Hibiki Hata, W (1-0) 2 6 2 2 2 2 Sora Hirakawa, SV (1) 2 5 2 - - - Homerun: Thamen: Hibiki Hata (1)(1st,2-run,off Thierry). Umpires:-HP-Roy van de Wateringen, 1B-Matthijs Versteeg. Official Scorer-Marco Stoovelaar. Public Address Announcer-Hans Jansen de Vries. Umpire Commissioner-Piet Sterk. Starting Time-12:47 PM. Time Played-1:06 hrs.

King of the Diamond After the first three games, the King of the Diamond followed. In this battle to become the best fielder, two players of each team participated. The coaches of each team appointed their own players. Martijn Faneyte was in charge of this game. Faneyte played for Pirates for many years since his early youth and went on to play in the main-squad on the big league-level for several seasons. He briefly played in the Netherlands National Team and later coached several youth-teams of the club. The following players participated in the King of the Diamond: Micha Kuipers, Levi Pront (Amsterdam Pirates 2), Kaj Barry, Sam Kuijer (Amsterdam Pirates 3), Pablo Alegre, Leon Boliau (Brasschaat Braves), Dean Moust, Sinan Tosun (Neptunus), Elliot Davy, Harry Lemoine (Templiers Sénart), Hibiki Hata and Yuma Toyoda (Thamen Nippon). There were several great defensive plays (and some hard hit bad hops), there were some errors, but it all resulted in a suspenseful battle. And it must be said, the defensive highlights came from Japanese representatives Hibiki Kata and Yuma Toyoda. In the end, it was Yuma Toyoda who was the lone player left over and with that, he became the King of the Diamond!

Game 4: Neptunus vs. Brasschaat Braves In its second game of the day, Neptunus shutout Brasschaat Braves, 12-0, to become the winner of Pool B and reach the Final on Sunday. Neptunus won 14-7 in its first game. Brasschaat played its first game after having arrived earlier in the morning from Belgium. Three Neptunus-pitchers held Brasschaat to only two basehits. Both were hit by Daan Ruelle. It was Brasschaat Braves that came very close to opening the score in the top of the first inning off of starting pitcher Mickey Herbold. Daan Ruelle led off the game with a single, then stole second base. Hereafter, Yana Schoonheydt walked. Moments later, she was eliminated at first base after she was unable to advance to second base on a passed ball. The Belgians got the bases loaded when Viktor Schechter walked and Jonas Belmans was hit by a pitch. That led to a pitching change, as Tony Kesaulya took over. With the bases loaded, he got a grounder from Lennert Dielen, which led to a nice inning-ending double play. In the bottom of the first inning, Neptunus struck with four runs, three of which were scored with two outs. With the bases loaded, the first run was scored when Salvador Tavares walked. With one out, a force play followed on a grounder by Sander van der Meer, but that also led to a run. An error and a wild pitch then made it a 4-0 score. Neptunus added two runs in the second inning, which also were scored with two outs. With one out, Dean Moust singled, but later was caught stealing. Sinan Tosun then walked and Mauricio Montenegro followed with a homerun to increase the lead to 6-0. A 6-run rally followed in the bottom of the third inning, highlighted by a 3-run homerun by Salvador Tavares.

Neptunus - Brasschaat Braves 12-0 (3 inn.) R H E Brasschaat Braves 000 - 0 2 3 Neptunus 426 - 12 5 0 pitchers Brasschaat inn. SO BB H R ER Viktor Schechter, L (0-1) 1 2 4 - 4 3 Andrew Kuntz 1 2 3 2 2 2 Lennert Dielen 1 2 3 3 6 - pitchers Neptunus inn. SO BB H R ER Mickey Herbold 0.1 - 2 1 - - Tony Kesaulya, W (2-0) 1 1 1 - - - Sinan Tosun 1.2 4 - 1 - - Homeruns: Neptunus: Mauricio Montenegro (1)(2nd,2-run,off Kuntz), Salvador Tavares (1)(3rd,3-run,off Dielen). Umpires:-HP-Matthijs Versteeg, 1B-Loek Christiani. Official Scorer-Marco Stoovelaar. Public Address Announcer-Hans Jansen de Vries. Umpire Commissioner-Piet Sterk. Starting Time-2:54 PM. Time Played-1:09 hrs.

Game 5: Templiers Sénart vs. Thamen Nippon The final game in Pool A was decisive for the ranking order. A French victory would create a 3-way tie, a Japanese win would give Thamen first place and a spot in Sunday's Final. Both teams played another good game and it was Templiers that ended up again with an one-run loss, as Thamen won 7-6. Trailing 6-2, Templiers was able to come alongside in the second inning, but then Thamen scored the decisive run in the third at bat. With this result, Amsterdam Pirates 2 finished in second place in Pool A, while Templiers ended in third place. Thamen rallied for five runs in the top of the first inning to take an apparent comfortable lead. Sora Hirakawa and Hibiki Hata led off the game with singles, which led to the first run. Initially, it appeared that centerfielder Louis Techer-Villenin caught the line drive hit by Hata. However, it was ruled that the ball first had hit the ground and so, the first run was scored in the confusion. Hereafter, a wild pitch, error and passed ball accounted for three more runs. With the bases loaded, Runa Saito reached on an infield-hit to bring in the fifth run in the inning. She was the ninth batter in the inning and with that, also the last one, as tournament-rules state that a maximum of nine batters can hit in one inning. It is not allowed to walk a ninth batter, so the ball has to be brought in the field. When there are runners on the bases, they of course try to score additional runs when the batter makes contact in this situation. On Saito's basehit, a run was scored, but a second runner was eliminated at the plate when he also tried to score. Templiers got two runs back in its first at bat. With one out, Célyan Picard singled, stole second base and went on to score on a wild pitch. Another wild pitch led to the second French run. Thamen added its sixth run in the second inning. With two outs, Yuma Toyoda, the winner of the King of the Diamond, walked and Katsuhiko Matsuda singled. In a steal-situation, Toyoda scored to make it a 6-2 score. Templiers brought the suspense back in the game when it scored four runs in the bottom of the second inning to tie the score at 6-6. Ugo Pagat led off with a walk and later scored on an error that followed on a grounder by Louis Techer-Villenin. With two outs, Célyan Picard walked and Shawn Tshibambe followed with a 2-run single. Hereafter, Harry Lemoine also singled to bring in the tying run. In the top of the third inning, Thamen re-took the lead. Kuranosuke Masui led off with a walk and later scored on a basesloaded walk for Sora Hirakawa. Hibiki Hata then pitched the bottom of the third for Thamen, retired the side (two strikeouts) and earned a save.

Templiers Sénart - Thamen Nippon 6-7 (3 inn.) R H E Thamen Nippon 511 - 7 4 3 Templiers Sénart 240 - 6 3 2 pitchers Thamen inn. SO BB H R ER Yuma Toyoda, W (1-0) 2 5 4 3 6 1 Hibiki Hata, SV (1) 1 2 - - - - pitchers Templiers inn. SO BB H R ER Elliot Davy 0.2 1 5 3 5 5 Harry Lemoine, L (0-1) 2 4 4 1 1 1 Umpires:-HP-Cor Coorengel, 1B-Piet Sterk. Official Scorer-Marco Stoovelaar. Public Address Announcer-Hans Jansen de Vries. Starting Time-4:26 PM. Time Played-1:04 hrs.

Game 6: Brasschaat Braves vs. Amsterdam Pirates 3 The final game on Saturday was decisive for second and third place in Pool B. Brasschaat Braves came from behind and won 7-4 to finish in second place and with that, the Belgian team played for the bronze medal on Sunday. After Brasschaat-starter Jonas Belmans struckout the side in the top of the first inning, the Belgian scored three runs in its first at bat. Cappy Kuntz and Yana Schoonheydt led off with walks, then the first run was scored on a single by Viktor Schechter. With one out, the bases got loaded when Andrew Kuntz also walked. The next run was added when Lennert Dielen walked, then the third run was scored on a wild pitch. Pirates reacted with four runs of its own in the top of the second inning. Samuel Hamfelt led off with a walk and Mace de Swaan singled. Both scored on two consecutive wild pitches. Later in the at bat, Marijn Hertroijs and Ryan Bosch walked and also went on to score on a wild pitch to put Pirates ahead, 4-3. The lead was shortlived, as Brasschaat immediately came alongside in the bottom of the second inning. Cappy Kuntz then was hit by a pitch with one out and scored the tying run on a 2-out single by Viktor Schechter, who was the lone Belgian player to hit a basehit and he did it twice. Brasschaat broke the 4-4 tie by scoring three runs in the bottom of the third inning without recording a basehit. An error, wild pitch and a grounder accounted for the runs.

Brasschaat Braves - Amsterdam Pirates 3 7-4 (3 inn.) R H E Amsterdam Pirates 3 040 - 4 1 1 Brasschaat Braves 313 - 7 2 0 pitchers Pirates inn. SO BB H R ER Ryan Bosch 1 3 4 1 3 3 Kaj Barry, BS (1), L (0-1) 2 3 3 - 4 1 pitchers Brasschaat inn. SO BB H R ER Jonas Belmans 2 6 3 1 4 4 Daan Ruelle, W (1-0) 1 2 - - - - Umpires:-HP-Matthijs Versteeg, 1B-Roy van de Wateringen. Official Scorer-Marco Stoovelaar. Public Address Announcer-Hans Jansen de Vries. Umpire Commissioner-Piet Sterk. Starting Time-5:54 PM. Time Played-1:03 hrs.

Game 7: Templiers Sénart vs. Amsterdam Pirates 3 (5th/6th place) On Sunday, Amsterdam Pirates 3 broke a 4-4 tie in the third inning against Templiers Sénart with a 6-run rally and went on to win 14-5 and finish in fifth place. Templiers played another good game, but in the end again ended up empty-handed. It was the second time during this years tournament that a team scored 14 runs in one game. On Saturday, it was Amsterdam Pirates 3 itself that gave up 14 runs in the game against Neptunus. The record for most runs in one game was set on Saturday, December 17, 2016 when the Amsterdam Pirates 'Americans'-team scored 20 against Brasschaat Braves. Pirates opened the score with two runs in the top of the first inning. Lead-off hitter Oscar Boodie was hit by a pitch and later scored on a wild pitch. With two outs, Jesse de Boer walked and went on to score on an error. Templiers answered with three runs in the bottom of the first inning. With two outs, Harry Lemoine was hit by a pitch and scored on a wild pitch. Axel Kurzenne and Elliot Davy then both walked. A passed ball then led to an error and a fielder's choice, enabling both to score to give the French team a 3-2 lead. Pirates re-took the lead in the second inning, scoring two runs. Lead-off hitter Ryan Bosch was hit by a pitch and scored the tying run on a 2-out single by Cas Poppelier. He advanced on an error, then scored on a single by Silver Moskou to make it a 4-3 score in favor of Pirates. Templiers again reacted immediately and came alongside in its second at bat. Shawn Tshibambe led off with a walk and scored the tying run on a wild pitch. In the top of the third inning, Pirates rallied for six runs without hitting a basehit to take the lead for the third time and this time, it decided the game. There were five walks and a hit batter in this inning, plus two errors and four wild pitches, which led to the runs to give Pirates a 10-4 lead. In the bottom of the third, Templiers appeared to got two runs back. With one out, Harry Lemoine singled, then next batter Axel Kurzenne drove the ball into centerfield where it hit the wall above the blue outfield-paddings. According to the tournament-rules, this would have been a homerun. Unfortunately, the homerun was not called and Kurzenne had to settle for a single. Because of this, Kurzenne won the tournament's Bad Luck Trophy. Lemoine and Kurzenne were left behind, as reliever Tijn van den Steenhoven closed with two strikeouts. Pirates added four more runs in the top of the fourth inning. With two outs, Ryan Bosch and Marijn Hertroijs walked. Bosch then scored when Hertroijs stole second base. Mace de Swaan then also walked and Samuel Hamfelt followed with a 3-run homerun into deep centerfield to lift the lead to 14-4. Templiers scored one more run in its fourth at bat. Lead-off hitter Shawn Tshibambe then reached third base on a throwing error and scored when another error was made on a grounder by Louis Techer-Villenin.

Templiers Sénart - Ams. Pirates 3 5-14 (4 inn.) (5th/6th place) R H E Amsterdam Pirates 3 226 4 - 14 3 4 Templiers Sénart 310 1 - 5 2 5 pitchers Pirates inn. SO BB H R ER Oscar Boodie, W (1-0) 2 6 3 - 4 2 Tijn van den Steenhoven 2 4 - 2 1 - pitchers Templiers inn. SO BB H R ER Harry Lemoine 1 3 1 - 2 - Shawn Tshibambe, BS (1), L (0-1) 1 (*) 1 3 2 6 5 Axel Kurzenne 2 3 5 1 6 5 (*) - Tshibambe pitched to four batters in the third inning Homerun: Pirates: Samuel Hamfelt (1)(4th,3-run,off Kurzenne). Umpires:-HP-Cor Coorengel, 1B-Leo Markies, 3B-Matthijs Versteeg. Official Scorer-Marco Stoovelaar. Public Address Announcer-Hans Jansen de Vries. Umpire Commissioner-Piet Sterk. Starting Time-9:39 AM. Time Played-1:30 hrs. Game Notes: Amsterdam Pirates 3 finishes in 5th place; Templiers Sénart finishes in 6th place.

Game 8: Amsterdam Pirates 2 vs. Brasschaat Braves (3rd/4th place) Amsterdam Pirates 2 also recorded a big score in the bronze medal-game, winning 12-2 against Brasschaat Braves to finish in third place. Initially, Brasschaat opened the score in the top of the first inning. With one out, Yana Schoonheydt singled, moved on a passed ball, stole third base, then scored on another passed ball. In the bottom of the first inning, Pirates answered with three runs. Jesse van den Steenhoven and Kaio Laudermilk began with a walk, then both scored when Bradley Verwoest followed with a homerun into centerfield. Pirates rallied for five runs in the second at bat. With one out, Micha Kuipers and Jesse van den Steenhoven walked. After a pitching change, they respectively scored on a single by Kaio Laudermilk and a double by Bradley Verwoest. With two outs and runners on second and third base, Levi Pront delivered a 2-run double and later scored himself on a wild pitch to lift the lead to 8-1. In the top of the third inning, Brasschaat scored its second run. With two outs, Daan Ruelle connected very well and drove a line drive homerun into deep centerfield. Pirates added another run in the bottom of the third. With one out, Micha Kuipers singled and scored on a grounder. Pirates scored three more runs in the fourth inning. With the bases loaded, a run was scored when Guido Thierry walked. An error on a force play-grounder by Milian Martinez and a wild pitch resulted in the next two runs to make it a 12-2 score.

Ams. Pirates 2 - Brasschaat Braves 12-2 (4 inn.) (3rd/4th place) R H E Brasschaat Braves 101 0 - 2 3 2 Amsterdam Pirates 2 351 3 - 12 5 0 pitchers Brasschaat inn. SO BB H R ER Yana Schoonheydt, L (0-1) 1.1 1 5 1 5 5 Daan Ruelle 1.2 4 1 4 4 3 Andrew Kuntz 1 3 3 - 3 1 pitchers Pirates inn. SO BB H R ER Guido Thierry, W (1-1) 2 3 - 2 1 - Bradley Verwoest 2 3 - 1 1 1 Homeruns: Brasschaat: Daan Ruelle (1)(3rd,solo,off Verwoest); Pirates: Bradley Verwoest (1)(1st,3-run,off Schoonheydt). Umpires:-HP-Matthijs Versteeg, 1B-Roy van de Wateringen, 3B-Cor Coorengel. Official Scorer-Marco Stoovelaar. Public Address Announcer-Hans Jansen de Vries. Umpire Commissioner-Piet Sterk. Starting Time-11:42 AM. Time Played-1:21 hrs. Game Notes: Amsterdam Pirates 2 finishes in 3rd place; Brasschaat Braves finishes in 4th place.

Homerun Derby After the first two games on Sunday, the Homerun Derby was held. Each team was represented by one player, who was selected by that team's coaches. Rikkert Faneyte, who was played for Amsterdam Pirates from an early age, acted as the pitcher. Faneyte played for several seasons in the Dutch big league with Amsterdam Pirates and later was the Head Coach of the team, leading it to a Championship-title in 2008. Faneyte also played for the Netherlands National Team, with whom he participated in two Olympic Games. In 1993, Faneyte became the second Dutch-born and raised player to reach the Major League. Faneyte played for San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers. The main-squad of L&D Amsterdam Pirates was represented by catcher Max Clarijs and outfielder Denzel Richardson. Both played for the Netherlands National Team, Richardson made his Orange-debut this year. Next season, he will make his debut with Pirates after having played for DSS this year. Clarijs and Richardson acted as fielders during the Homerun Derby. Participating in the Homerun Derby were: D'Mani Boedhoe (Neptunus), Samuel Hamfelt (Amsterdam Pirates 3), Axel Kurzenne (Templiers Sénart), Katsuhiko Matsuda (Thamen Nippon), Yana Schoonheydt (Brasschaat Braves) and Bradley Verwoest (Amsterdam Pirates 2). In the exciting Homerun Derby, a total of 24 homeruns were hit. All players got ten pitches. The First Round was won by Yana Schoonheydt, who hit four homeruns. She was followed by D'Mani Boedhoe, Samuel Hamfelt and Bradley Verwoest, who all hit three. Axel Kurzenne hit two and Katsuhiko Matsuda hit one and with that, they were eliminated for the Final Round. To decide who won join Yana for the Final, an one-pitch tie-break was needed. Bradley and Samuel both homered, while D'Mani didn't and therefore, he was eliminated. In the Final Round, Yana and Bradley both hit two homeruns. Samuel was eliminated after hitting one homerun. Another one-pitch tie-break followed to determine the winner. Bradley was able to hit a homerun, while Yana was unable to do so. And with that, Bradley became the Homerun King of this years tournament.

Game 9: Neptunus vs. Thamen Nippon (final) In the final, Neptunus shutout Thamen Nippon 6-0 to win the Loek Loevendie Christmas Tournament for the second year in a row. The team from Rotterdam broke a scoreless tie in the top of the third inning by scoring three runs. In the top of the first inning, Yuma Toyoda and Katsuhiko Matsuda both walked for Thamen and moved on a wild pitch, but stranded on second and third base. With two outs in the bottom of the first inning, Mauricio Montenegro singled for Neptunus and advanced on a passed ball. With two outs, he moved to third base on an error, but then overran the base and was tagged out to end the inning. Both teams left a runner behind in the second inning, then the score was opened in the next at bat. With two outs in the top of the third, Thamen Nippon got two baserunners. Yuma Toyoda doubled and moved on a wild pitch, then Katsuhiko Matsuda walked, but the two were left behind. Neptunus then opened the score in the bottom of the third inning. Dean Moust led off with a single, which was followed by two errors, enabling him to score the first run. Next batter Sinan Tosun doubled and scored when Mauricio Montenegro homered. Last year, Montenegro hit two homeruns in the final. He also hit a homerun on Saturday to give him four in the two tournaments he participated with Neptunus. Montenegro was the lone player this year to hit two homeruns. Last year, he was joined by Haruto Arai of Thamen Japan. In 2016, Loan Lagadec hit two homeruns for Templiers Sénart. With one out in the top of the third, D'Mani Boedhoe singled for Neptunus. With two otus, he tried to score on a passed ball, but was tagged out at the plate on a nice play by catcher Sora Hirakawa to end the inning. In the top of the fourth inning, the Japanese team of Thamen got the bases loaded, but was held scoreless. Kuranosuke Masui led off with a walk. With one out and after a pitching change, Momo Yano and pinch-hitter Haru Hirakawa both walked to load the bases. But they were all left behind. In the bottom of the fourth, Neptunus took more distance by again scoring three runs on five basehits. Diquencio Allee led off with a single and scored on a following single by Sander van der Meer. With one out, Dean Moust also produced a runscoring single, as did next batter Sinan Tosun which lifted the lead to 6-0. Hereafter, Mauricio Montenegro also singled (he was 3-for-3). Tosun tried to score, but was eliminated at the plate to end the inning. In the top of the fifth, reliever Tony Kesaulya retired the side to close the game. Neptunus collected eleven basehits in the game to set a tournament-record. The previous record was ten, which was set by Neptunus in last year's final.

Neptunus - Thamen Nippon 0-6 (4½ inn.) (Final) R H E Thamen Nippon 000 00 - 0 1 5 Neptunus 003 3X - 6 11 0 pitchers Thamen inn. SO BB H R ER Hibiki Hata 2 3 1 2 - - Sora Hirakawa, L (0-1) 1 2 - 4 3 3 Yuma Toyoda 0.2 1 - 5 3 3 pitchers Neptunus inn. SO BB H R ER D'Mani Boedhoe 2.1 5 4 - - - Dean Moust, W (1-0) 1 2 2 1 - - Tony Kesaulya, H (1) 0.2 1 2 - - - Diquencio Allee 1 1 - - - - Homerun: Neptunus: Mauricio Montenegro (2)(3rd,2-run,off Hirakawa). Umpires:-HP-Roy van de Wateringen, 1B-Cor Coorengel, 3B-Matthijs Versteeg. Official Scorer-Marco Stoovelaar. Public Address Announcer-Hans Jansen de Vries. Umpire Commissioner-Piet Sterk. Starting Time-2:22 PM. Time Played-1:13 hrs. Game Notes: Neptunus finishes in 1st place; Thamen Nippon finishes in 2nd place.

Individual Awards Most Valuable Player Hibiki Hata Thamen Nippon King of the Diamond (1) Yuma Toyoda Thamen Nippon Homerun King (2) Bradley Verwoest Amsterdam Pirates 2 Best Hitter Daan Ruelle Brasschaat Braves Best Pitcher Tony Kesaulya Neptunus Speedy Gonzalez (3) Jesse de Boer Amsterdam Pirates 3 Bad Luck Trophy (4) Axel Kurzenne Templiers Sénart Special Award (5) Célyan Pickard Templiers Sénart (1) - Winner of game with fielding-drills on Saturday (2 players per team) (2) - Winner of Homerun Derby on Sunday (1 player per team) (3) - Combination of Stolen Bases, Runs Scored, Times On Base (4) - Kurzenne hit a homerun, which wasn't called (5) - Pickard hit the earliest basehit in tournament-history on Saturday Team MVPs Amsterdam Pirates 2 Bradley Verwoest Amsterdam Pirates 3 Samuel Hamfelt Brasschaat Braves Yana Schoonheydt Neptunus D'Mani Boedhoe Templiers Sénart Shawn Tshibambe Thamen Nippon Hibiki Hata Winners Loek Loevendie Christmas Tournaments 2014 Amsterdam Pirates 1 (Netherlands) 2015 Amsterdam Pirates 1 (Netherlands) 2016 Amsterdam Pirates 2 (Netherlands) 2017 Neptunus (Netherlands) 2018 Neptunus (Netherlands)

Tournament Leaders, Hitting/Running Batting Average (min. 3 Plate App.) Runs Scored Basehits 1.000 Daan Ruelle (Brasschaat) 5 Mauricio Montenegro (Neptunus) 5 Mauricio Montenegro (Neptunus) .714 Mauricio Montenegro (Neptunus) 5 Dean Moust (Neptunus) 4 D'Mani Boedhoe (Neptunus) .667 D'Mani Boedhoe (Neptunus) 5 Bradley Verwoest (Pirates-2) 4 Dean Moust (Neptunus) .667 Samuel Hamfelt (Pirates-3) 4 Ryan Bosch (Pirates-3) 3 Hibiki Hata (Thamen) .667 Harry Lemoine (Templiers) 4 Samuel Hamfelt (Pirates-3) 3 Daan Ruelle (Brasschaat) .667 Katsuhiko Matsuda (Thamen) 4 Kaio Laudermilk (Pirates-2) 2 12 players .667 Dean Moust (Neptunus) 4 Sander van der Meer (Neptunus) .667 Shawn Tshibambe (Templiers) 4 Shawn Tshibambe (Templiers) .667 Bradley Verwoest (Pirates-2) 3 7 players .500 5 players Runs Batted In Walks Stolen Bases 6 Salvador Tavares (Neptunus) 5 Jesse vd Steenhoven (Pirates-2) 3 Jesse de Boer (Pirates-3) 5 Mauricio Montenegro (Neptunus) 4 Jesse de Boer (Pirates-3) 3 Tony Kesaulya (Neptunus) 4 Samuel Hamfelt (Pirates-3) 4 Ryan Bosch (Pirates-3) 3 Harry Lemoine (Templiers) 4 Hibiki Hata (Thamen) 3 12 players 3 Katsuhiko Matsuda (Thamen) 4 Bradley Verwoest (Pirates-2) 3 Jesse vd Steenhoven (Pirates-2) 3 D'Mani Boedhoe (Neptunus) 3 Guido Thierry (Pirates-2) 3 Sander van der Meer (Neptunus) 2 11 players 3 Levi Pront (Pirates-2) 3 Shawn Tshibambe (Templiers) 2 4 players

Tournament Leaders, Pitching ERA (min. 2 innings pitched) StrikeOuts Games Won 0.00 Tony Kesaulya (Neptunus) (4 IP) 11 Hibiki Hata (Thamen) 2 Tony Kesaulya (Neptunus) 0.00 Jesse vd Steenhoven (Pirates-2) (2.2 IP) 7 Sora Hirakawa (Thamen) 1 Oscar Boodie (Pirates-3) 0.00 D'Mani Boedhoe (Neptunus) (2.1 IP) 7 Harry Lemoine (Templiers) 1 Hibiki Hata (Thamen) 3.00 Harry Lemoine (Templiers) 7 Tijn vd Steenhoven (Pirates-3) 1 Dean Moust (Neptunus) 3.60 Hibiki Hata (Thamen) 7 Guido Thierry (Pirates-2) 1 Daan Ruelle (Brasschaat) 4.50 Kaj Barry (Pirates-3) 6 Jonas Belmans (Brasschaat) 1 Jesse vd Steenhoven (Pirates-2) 4.50 Tijn vd Steenhoven (Pirates-3) 6 Oscar Boodie (Pirates-3) 1 Guido Thierry (Pirates-2) 8.10 Guido Thierry (Pirates-2) 6 Tony Kesaulya (Neptunus) 1 Yuma Toyoda (Thamen) 9.00 Oscar Boodie (Pirates-3) 6 Daan Ruelle (Brasschaat) 9.00 Sora Hirakawa (Thamen) 6 Yuma Toyoda (Thamen) Innings Pitched Saves Games Pitched 5 Hibiki Hata (Thamen) 1 Hibiki Hata (Thamen) 3 Hibiki Hata (Thamen) 4 Tony Kesaulya (Neptunus) 1 Sora Hirakawa (Thamen) 3 Tony Kesaulya (Neptunus) 4 Tijn vd Steenhoven (Pirates-3) 2 11 pitchers 3.1 Guido Thierry (Pirates-2) 3 Sora Hirakawa (Thamen) 3 Harry Lemoine (Templiers) 3 Bradley Verwoest (Pirates-2) 2.2 Daan Ruelle (Brasschaat) 2.2 Jesse vd Steenhoven (Pirates-2) 2.2 Yuma Toyoda (Thamen)

Team Rosters AMSTERDAM PIRATES 2 Jesse Coelho - Flip Dijksterhuis - Micah Kreuning - Micha Kuipers - Kaio Laudermilk - Milian Martinez - Mick Peters - Levi Pront - Jesse van den Steenhoven - Guido Thierry - Bradley Verwoest AMSTERDAM PIRATES 3 Kaj Barry - Jesse de Boer - Oscar Boodie - Ryan Bosch - Samuel Hamfelt - Marijn Hertroijs - Sam Kuijer - Silver Moskou - Cas Poppelier - Tijn van den Steenhoven - Mace de Swaan BRASSCHAAT BRAVES Pablo Alegre - Jonas Belmans - Leon Boliau - Lennert Dielen - Andrew Kuntz - Cappy Kuntz - Daan Ruelle - Viktor Schechter - Yana Schoonheydt - Zitta Segers - Josse Verhaert NEPTUNUS Diquencio Allee - D'Mani Boedhoe - Thomas Doff - Divayo Granger - Mickey Herbold - Tony Kesaulya- Sander van der Meer - Mauricio Montenegro - Dean Moust - Caleb Peterson - Salvador Tavares - Sinan Tosun TEMPLIERS SÉNART Clément Chauchard - Nathan Chevet - Elliot Davy - Axel Kurzenne - Harry Lemoine - Ugo Pagat - Célyan Picard - Jason René - Shawn Tshibambe - Louis Techer-Villenin THAMEN NIPPON Hibiki Hata - Haru Hirakawa - Sora Hirakawa - Kei Lefeber - Kuranosuke Masui - Katsuhiko Matsuda - Kosei Saito - Runa Saito - Takuna Toyoda - Yuma Toyoda - Haru Yano - Momo Yano OFFICIALS Umpires: Loek Christiani - Cor Coorengel - Leo Markies - Piet Sterk - Matthijs Versteeg - Roy van de Wateringen. Official Scorer: Marco Stoovelaar. Umpire Commissioner: Piet Sterk. P.A. Announcer: Hans Jansen de Vries.

...An overview of the beautiful Pirates Indoor Arena... ...Left: An overview of all the trophies, awards and medals... ...At right: A snow-covered bridge early Sunday-morning... ...The games were well-visited... ...The teams line up for the Award Ceremony with the three best teams with their Award at right... ...Left: The team MVP's with their Awards, Samuel Hamfelt (Pirates 3), Bradley Verwoest (Pirates 2),... ...Shawn Tshibambe (Templiers), D'Mani Boedhoe (Neptunus), Yana Schoonheydt (Brasschaat) and Hibiki Hata (Thamen)... ...Right: Tournament-MVP Hibiki Hata with Karel Crouwel of Playball Baseball Academy... ...Left: Umpires Matthijs Versteeg, Roy van de Wateringen, Cor Coorengel and Piet Sterk... ...with Official Scorer Marco Stoovelaar breaking in at the left... ...Right: Neptunus won the tournament for the second year in a row... (© Photos: Hans Jansen de Vries, Monique Valies, Playbal Baseball Academy & Marco Stoovelaar)

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