Hoofddorp Pioniers was retired in order in the top of the first inning by starter Diegomar Markwell, but the lefthander gave up a run in the second at bat.
Rookie Joey de Koning led off for Pioniers and singled in his first big league at bat.
The ball dropped near the foul-line where it was picked up by rightfielder Gregory Muller.
De Koning continued running towards second base and reached it safely on a throwing error by Muller.
Last season, Muller mostly played as first baseman, but newcomer Dudley Leonora now played at that position tonight.
Last year, Leonora played for Pioniers, but he transfered to Neptunus in the off-season.
De Koning advanced to third base on a grounder by Jelle Kroft, who also made his big league-debut.
Last year, he played for Onze Gezellen, with whom he played in the Promotion/Relegation Pool.
De Koning scored on a single by Glenn Bakker.
Moments later, Bakker was eliminated after a pick-off by Markwell, then a flyout ended the at bat.
Neptunus got a chance to do some scoring in its first at bat off of starter Lars Huijer, but stranded two runners.
Stijn van der Meer led off with a walk, but was forced out on a grounder by Benjamin Dille.
Dwayne Kemp then singled, but two more force play-grounders followed to end the inning.
In the second inning, Neptunus got its lead-off hitter on base again.
Quintin De Cuba, who also played for Pioniers last season, led off with a single.
With one out, the inning ended when Ruendrick Piternella struckout, which ended in a double play, as De Cuba was caught stealing.
At the end of last season, Piternella made his debut in the main-squad of Neptunus during the Championship Pool.
But tonight, he made his official regular season-debut.
Neptunus then struck with four runs in the bottom of the third inning.
Jochem Koedijk and Stijn van der Meer led off with singles for the home-team, resulting in runners at the corners.
Koedijk then scored the tying run on a force play-grounder by Benjamin Dille towards second base.
It was attempted to eliminate Koedijk at the plate, but that was unsuccessful.
With runners on first and second base, a costly throwing error followed.
Dwayne Kemp's grounder ended up in front of the plate, then catcher Damian Melis made a throwing error towards first base.
That enabled both Van der Meer and Dille to score, but it also resulted in a collission between Kemp and Jelle Kroft.
The first baseman sustained a hand/wrist-injury and was unable to continue playing.
Melis took over as first baseman, while rightfielder Glenn Bakker took over behind the plate.
Replacing Kroft was Ibrahin Redan, who primarily had been used as a pitcher in his career, but now became the new rightfielder.
With Kemp at first base, Dudley Leonora singled and Shaldimar Daantji followed with a runscoring single that brought in Kemp and lifted the lead to 4-1.
Hereafter, Pioniers-starter Lars Huijer recovered strongly and struckout Quintin De Cuba, Gregory Muller and Ruendrick Piternella to close the inning.
...Neptunus Head Coach Ronald Jaarsma and Pioniers...
...rookie-Head Coach Mervin Gario shake hands...
...Looking on are 1B Umpire Winfried Berkvens,...
...3B Umpire Peter Brink, Home Plate Umpire Peter de Haan...
...and Pioniers Assistant Coach Raymond Beljaards...
(© Photo: Robert Bos) |
In the remainder of the game, Neptunus got only four more runners in scoring position, but was unable to take more distance.
In the fourth, the Pioniers-defense turned a double play and Dwayne Kemp stranded on second base.
In the sixth, the Rotterdam-squad left three runners behind off of Huijer.
Lefthander Ryan Oduber took over the pitching for Pioniers in the seventh inning.
The former professional pitcher, who made his debut, walked Quintin De Cuba with one out and then gave up a single to Gregory Muller, but both were left behind.
Pioniers then turned another double play in the eighth inning.
Pioniers got two opportunities to do something back, but failed to do so.
With two outs in the top of the fourth, trailing 4-1, the team got the bases loaded.
With one out, Joey de Koning walked, then moved to second base on a passed ball with two outs.
He then reached third base when Glenn Bakker reached when short stop Stijn van der Meer missed catching a soft line drive, which could have been the third out.
The bases got loaded when Mark Smit walked, but a grounder ended this scoring opportunity.
In the sixth inning, Pioniers got two baserunners with one out off of new pitcher Jiorgeny Casimiri, who made his big league-debut.
With one out, the righthander walked Ibrahin Redan and Glenn Bakker.
A combination of good defensive work and not so good baserunning ended the inning.
Next hitter Mark Smit grounded the ball to second baseman Benjamin Dille, who forced out Bakker at second base by throwing the ball to short stop Stijn van der Meer.
Redan advanced to third base, but then continued running towards the plate.
Van der Meer threw the ball to catcher Quintin De Cuba, who tagged out Redan to complete a double play and end the inning.
Casimiri was supported with another double play in the seventh inning, after he had walked lead-off hitter Damian Melis.
Loek van Mil and Berry van Driel completed the game on the mound for Neptunus.
Van Mil retired the side (two strikeouts) in the eighth.
Van Driel closed the game.
He gave up a 2-out single to Mark Smit, but a grounder ended the game, which earned Van Driel his first save of the season.
|
Champion Neptunus opens new season with win
ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
Finally, the regular season in the Dutch big league went underway on Thursday-evening (April 26).
The second highest league ('Overgangsklasse') already opened on April 6.
Hereafter, the two highest divisions in women's softball went underway.
The Golden League on April 14 and the Silver League on April 21.
The last national competition to start was that of the highest Dutch baseball-league.
The last time that a regular season started this late was in 1990, when the first games were played on Saturday, April 28.
Opening Night Regular Season.