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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen) Netherlands opens Olympic Qualifier with solid win against Czech Republic Nederlands PARMA (Italy) - The Netherlands Baseball Team opened the Europe/Africa Olympic Qualifying Tournament on Wednesday-afternoon (September 18) with a 4-1 victory against the Czech Republic in Parma. With that, the Netherlands took revenge for the surprising 8-6 loss last week during the European Championship in Germany. In a quick-paced game, which lasted just under two hours, the Orange Team played a solid game and got a fine outing from pitcher Orlando Yntema, who threw eight innings. Ademar Rifaela continued his offensive power and belted another homerun. Last week, Rifaela hit six homeruns during the European Championship. On Thursday-evening, the Netherlands meets Israel in Parma. During this tournament, a pitch clock is used, which already is custom for several years in softball. Within 20 seconds (which begins when the pitcher receives the ball), a pitcher has to make his delivery to a batter. If not, the batter gets a ball. Also, a batter must be ready within 10 seconds after the ball has received the ball. If not, the batter gets a strike. There also will be a 30 seconds limit for visits to the mound. The time between changing sides after the third out will be 90 seconds. This can be extended to 120 seconds for television commercials. During the tournament, replays can be used by the umpires. During a 9-inning game, each Manager has one challenge. When the call is reversed, he will keep the option for having another challenge. The WBSC Baseball Europe/Africa Qualifying Event for the Games of the XXXII Olympia Tokyo 2020, which is the official name of the event, is the first Olympic Qualifying Baseball Tournament for next years Olympic Games in Tokyo (Japan). On November 2-17, the second edition of the Premier12 will be held. The top team in this event from the Asia/Oceania Region (excluding Japan) and the top team from the Americas will both qualify for the Olympic Games. During a meeting in January of this year, the WBSC Executive Board decided that when no team from Asia or Oceania finishes in the top-six, this slot will be decided in the last Olympic Qualifying Tournament. In March 2020, the Americas Qualifier will take place in Arizona (USA) with the participation of eight countries. Participating will be the representatives from the Americas from the Premier12 that did not qualify for the Olympics plus the two best teams from the Pan American Games, that were played in Lima (Peru) in July/August. The winner will go to the Olympic Games, while the second and third best team get another chance in the final Qualifier. The last Qualifier will be played next year in Taipei City (Chinese Taipei) with the participation of six teams coming from around the world. The winner completes the field of participants for Tokyo 2020. At the Olympic Games, baseball was played in a tournament format from 1984 through 2008. In 1983, 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999 and 2007, the winner of the European Championship automatically advanced to the Olympics. The lone Olympic Qualifying Tournament in these years took place in 2003 in the Netherlands. That was won by the Netherlands, which also qualified in 1987, 1995, 1999 and 2007. With that, the Orange Team participated in the Olympic Games of 1988 (Seoul, South Korea), 1996 (Atlanta, USA), 2000 (Sydney, Australia), 2004 (Athens, Greece) and 2008 (Beijing, China). Italy represented Europe in 1984 (Los Angeles, USA) and 1992 (Barcelona, Spain). (September 18)

Orlando Yntema set the tone in the top of the first inning. He retired the side and began the game with two strikeouts. ...Orlando Yntema threw 8 solid innings... (© Photo: Henk Seppen) His Czech colleague Ondřej Satoria was less successful in his first inning, as he gave up the first Orange-run. On his second delivery to lead-off hitter Calten Daal, Satoria gave up a single. With next batter Roger Bernadina in the batter's box, a pick-off attempt to first base by Satoria ended in a throwing error, enabling Daal to advanced to third base. Moments later, Daal scored the first run on a grounder by Curt Smith. Satoria recovered after the first inning and retired the side in the second. The Czechs got their first baserunner in the top of the second inning. After Yntema had started with another strikeout, he gave up a double to veteran Petr Čech. The Czech at bat ended with a double play. Second baseman Calten Daal caught a hit-and-run line drive from next batter Martin Mužík and stepped on second base to eliminate Čech, who had left on contact. The second Czech runner got into scoring position in the top of the third inning. Martin Červinka led off with a single, but was forced out on a grounder by Arnošt Dubový. With two outs, Martin Schneider singled. But with two outs, Matěj Hejma popped the ball up in the air. It was third baseman Sharlon Schoop who caught the ball near the mound in front of pitcher Orlando Yntema to end the at bat. The Orange Team also stranded a runner in scoring position in its third at bat. With one out, John Polonius doubled down the leftfield-line, just out of reach of the third baseman. But Polonius was left behind. Moments later, the Czech Republic came alongside in what was Yntema's least successful inning. The righthander gave up lead-off singles to Martin Červenka and Jakub Malík. The latter was forced out on a grounder by Petr Čech, but Martin Mužík followed with a runscoring single. Hereafter, Yntema got the bases loaded when Martin Červinka also singled. Yes, there are two Czech players with almost the same name. The Dutch team then escaped out of this jam thanks to a double play on a grounder by Arnošt Dubový. But at that moment, the Czechs were outhitting the Netherlands, 7-2. The Netherlands immediately re-took the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. And it was powerhitter Ademar Rifaela, who accounted for the renewed lead. With two outs and an 0-1 count, the lefthanded hitter drilled the ball deep over the rightfield-fence for a homerun. His first of this event and his seventh in his last six games. From this moment on, the game belonged to the Orange-squad. In the bottom of the fifth, the team took more distance by adding two runs. Hendrik Clementina led off with a double, then advanced on a line drive single into centerfield by Dwayne Kemp off the glove of short stop Martin Schneider. After Kemp had advanced on a wild pitch, John Polonius grounded to Schneider. Clementina took off from third base and was eliminated. Next, Kemp and Polonius advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Calten Daal and both scored when Roger Bernadina followed with a single. Despite getting some more baserunners, the Netherlands was held scoreless in the remainder of the game. In the sixth, Ademar Rifaela walked with one out off of new pitcher Lukaš Hlouch, but stranded on second base. In the seventh, off of new pitcher Ondřej Furko, Dwayne Kemp led off with a single. With one out, a hard grounder through the middle followed by Calten Daal. In a close play at second base, Kemp was called out, then a double play was completed at first base on another close play. In the eighth, Roger Bernadina led off with a single, but a double play followed. Hereafter, Sharlon Schoop walked, which led to the next Czech pitching change. Tomáš Duffek took over to face Ademar Rifaela. He greeted him with a comeback line drive. Duffek caught the ball, which jumped up, but then landed back in his glove. In the meantime, Orlando Yntema still pitched for the Netherlands and encountered no problems. Since the fifth inning, the righthander retired nine consecutive batters. With one out in the top of the eighth, the Czechs got another baserunner when Matěej Hejma hit the ball just inside the first base foul-line for a double. But he stranded on second base. Kevin Kelly pitched the ninth inning for the Netherlands. He gave up a lead-off single to Petr čech. A double play followed, then a pop-fly in rightfield ended the quick-paced game that lasted only one hour and 52 minutes. Playing for the Netherlands were: Calten Daal (2B, 1-for-3), Roger Bernadina (CF, 2-for-4), Curt Smith (1B, 0-for-4), Sharlon Schoop (3B, 0-for-3), Ademar Rifaela (LF, 1-for-3), Kalian Sams (RF, 0-for-3), Hendrik Clementina (C, 1-for-3), Dwayne Kemp (DH, 2-for-3), John Polonius (SS, 1-for-3) and pitchers Orlando Yntema and Kevin Kelly.

Netherlands - Czech Republic 4-1 R H E Czech Republic 000 100 000 - 1 9 1 Netherlands 100 120 00X - 4 8 0 pitchers Czech Republic inn. SO BB H R ER Ondřej Satoria, L (0-1) 5 3 - 6 4 3 Lukáš Hlouch 1 - 1 - - - Ondřej Furko 1.2 1 1 2 - - Tomáš Duffek 0.1 - - - - - pitchers Netherlands inn. SO BB H R ER Orlando Yntema, W (1-0) 8 7 - 8 1 1 Kevin Kelly, SV (1) 1 - - 1 - - Homerun: Netherlands: Ademar Rifaela (1)(4th,solo,2 outs,off Satoria). Scores Schedule Umpires: HP-Fabrizio Fabrizi (Italy), 1B-Kevin Sweeney (USA), 2B-Cuauhtemoc Suárez Hernandéz (Spain), 3B-Mojmir Jankovič (Slovakia). Umpire Clock Operator: Jens Waider (Germany). Replay Umpire: Elvin Jimenez (Venezuela). Official Scorers: Eleonora Tonelli (Italy), Feiko Drost (Netherlands), Juan Cubillo (Nicaragua). Technical Commissioners-André Lachance (Canada), Frank Marcos (USA). Starting Time-1:30 PM. Time Played-1:52 hrs. Site-Stadio Nino Cavalli, Centro Sportivo Aldo Notari, Parma (Italy). Game Notes: First Olympic Qualifying Tournament Baseball for 2020 Olympic Games. 8th overall European Olympic Qualifying Tournament (includes six European Championships). 14th game in history against the Czech Republic. 12th victory in history against the Czech Republic. Weather conditions at game time: Sunny, 25,4° C (77,7° F); wind direction east; wind speed 8 kmh (4,9 mph); wind force 3 Bft; humidity 78%.

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