In another very atttactive and suspenseful match-up between the two best baseball-teams in the country, Neptunus initially led 3-0, but the game turned around from the sixth inning on.
Neptunus was held scoreless and hitless from the fourth inning on, while Amsterdam Pirates managed to narrow the defiicit to 3-2, then stunned Neptunus by scoring twice in the bottom of the ninth with no outs on a walk-off walk to force a seventh and deciding game in the Holland Series.
Misja Harcksen started for Neptunus and did very well.
The righthander plans to play in Australia in the upcoming winter-competition in the Australian Baseball League.
Harcksen had two troublesome innings (third and fourth), but otherwise encountered no big problems.
Besides that, he was supported early with three runs.
However, closer Kevin Kelly ran into problems in the ninth.
...Winning pitcher Jim Ploeger...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Amsterdam Pirates-starter Rob Cordemans also had to troublesome innings in which he gave up three runs, two of them earned.
An outfield-error almost proved to be costly.
Lefthander Jim Ploeger took over in the fifth and had a great outing, not only keeping Nepunus scoreless, but also hitless.
In the top of the second inning, Neptunus opened the score, thanks to an error.
With one out, Quintin De Cuba walked, but was forced out on a grounder by Shaldimar Daantji.
Next batter Stijn van der Meer then singled into rightfield, where Denzel Richardson let the ball go by him, which enabled him to advance to third base.
With runners on first and third base, Jochem Koedijk also hit the ball into rightfield for what appeared to be an inning-ending catch.
However, the ball dropped in front on Richardson for a single that brought in Van der Meer.
In the regular season, Richardson mostly played in centerfield, while Linoy Croes was the regular rightfielder.
In the first three games of the Holland Series, Richardson was the centerfield, but in the following three games, Gilmer Lampe played that position.
Lampe mostly played in leftfield this season.
With runners on first and second base, the inning ended when Coco Johnson popped out.
Neptunus added two runs in the top of the third inning.
Benjamin Dille led off with a walk and with one out, Gianison Boekhoudt drilled the ball into rightfield for a line drive homerun that made it 3-0 in favor of Neptunus.
Neptunus got its first two batters on base in the fourth inning.
Lead-off hitter Shaldimar Daantji was hit by a pitch, then third baseman Rashid Gerard made a fielding error on a sacrifice bunt by Stijn van der Meer.
A nice defensive play followed.
Rightfielder Denzel Richardson not only made a nice catch on a hit by Jochem Koedijk, he also made a double play.
While it was not clear whether or not Koedijk's drive would drop for a basehit, Daantji took off from second base and already had reached third base when Richardson made the catch.
He threw the ball to short stop Sharlon Schoop, who then tossed the ball to second baseman Delano Selassa for a rare 9-6-4 double play, as Daantji had no chance of returning to second base in time.
Now with two outs and a runner on first base, the inning ended when Rob Cordemans struckout Coco Johnson.
In the top of the fifth inning, Jim Ploeger took over the pitching for Amsterdam Pirates.
Ploeger, who was the probable starting pitcher for a seventh game, did great.
The lefthander retired 13 consecutive batters and would not give up any additional basehits.
Including in this span were nice catches by leftfielder Roelie Henrique and rightfielder Denzel Richardson on line drives by Dudley Leonora (6th inning) and Stijn van der Meer (7th inning).
...Rashid Gerard homered for Pirates...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Amsterdam Pirates got its first runner in scoring position in the bottom of the second inning.
Kenny Berkenbosch led off with a single, who advanced on an one-out grounder by Rashid Gerard.
Hereafter, Misja Harcksen closed with a strikeout.
In the third inning, Harcksen got four baserunners.
Delano Selassa led off with a single, but was caught stealing.
Next batter Roelie Henrique walked and Gilmer Lampe followed with a single.
Hereafter, Henrique moved to third base when Sharlon Schoop flied out, but the inning ended when Lampe was forced out.
In the bottom of the fourth, Pirates got one run back, which was also scored on an error.
Kenny Berkenbosch led off with a single.
Initially, Harcksen appeared to get out of the inning successfully, as he retired next two batters.
But he then walked Max Clarijs and gave up a single to Delano Selassa.
The basehit was followed by an error by leftfielder Coco Johnson that enabled Berkenbosch to score.
With runners at the corners, the inning ended when Roelie Henrique popped out to rightfield.
Harcksen retired the side in the fifth.
He also got two quick outs in the sixth, including a check-swing strikeout on pinch-hitter Kalian Sams.
But hereafter, Rashid Gerard contacted well on an 1-0 pitch and hit a line drive homerun into leftfield.
Gerard is not known for hitting homeruns.
Since making his big league-debut in 2010, he hit only six homeruns, but none of them in the postseason.
For Gerard, this was his first homerun since June 16, 2018 when he hit one against DSS.
Besides that, it was the first homerun he hit in a home-game.
And with that, Pirates narrowed the deficit to 3-2.
In the seventh inning, Pirates got into scoring position again.
Lead-off hitter Delano Selassa reached when second baseman Dwayne Kemp made an error.
He then moved on a sacrifice bunt by Roelie Henrique.
But with the tying run on second base, leftfielder Coco Johnson made a nice diving catch on a line drive by Gilmer Lampe and Harcksen closed by striking out Sharlon Schoop.
As Misja Harcksen was throwing well, he returned to the mound in the eighth.
After getting two quick outs, Harcksen walked Kalian Sams.
As he now had thrown 113 pitches, Neptunus Head Coach Ronald Jaarsma came out to make a change, as he brought Kevin Kelly in to close the game.
The second pitch was in the ground, but nevertheless, catcher Gianison Boekhoudt almost picked off Sams at first base.
A grounder ended the at bat.
...Sharlon Schoop...
...walk-off walk...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the meantime, Amsterdam-reliever Jim Ploeger retired all twelve batters he had faced since taking over in the top the fifth.
In the eighth, short stop Sharlon Schoop made two nice outs.
First, he caught a line drive hit by Benjamin Dille for the first out.
The eighth inning ended with Schoop fielding a grounder behind second base hit by lefthanded batter Gianison Boekhoudt while playing the shift.
In the top of the ninth, Ploeger retired his 13th consecutive batter.
Hereafter, he walked Quintin De Cuba, who was then replaced by pinch-runner Kai Burema.
The inning ended when second baseman Delano Selassa caught a soft line drive just above the ground, then eliminated Burema in a double play at first base.
A wild and remarkable bottom of the ninth inning followed.
Neptunus led 3-2 and was three outs away from prolonging its Championship-title.
Five batters later, Pirates had walked off with a 4-3 win to force a deciding seventh game!
First, Kevin Kelly walked lead-off hitter Max Clarijs.
Hereafter, Delano Selassa singled into short centerfield.
Next batter Roelie Henrique placed a perfect bunt between pitcher Kelly and catcher Gianison Boekhoudt.
Kelly picked it up and could have had a chance to eliminate Henrique at first base.
Instead, Boekhoudt waved to third base and when Kelly started to throw the ball there, Clarijs already had almost arrived.
That loaded the bases and with that, Amsterdam had a good opportunity to at least come alongside to force extra innings.
But with no outs and the bases loaded, the home-team now also had a big opportunity to win the game.
Gilmer Lampe hit the ball towards short stop Dudley Leonora, who fielded the ball well.
However, he was unable to throw the ball to third base, as third baseman Stijn van der Meer wasn't there.
And so, everyone was safe on Lampe's infield-hit, while Clarijs scored the tying run.
With the bases still loaded, several moves followed.
Lampe was replaced at first base by pinch-runner Victor Draijer.
Neptunus Head Coach Ronald Jaarsma came to the mound and brought in Greg Muller to replace rightfielder Jochem Koedijk.
With the insertion of Muller, Jaarsma decided to go with an in-playing five-man infield to prevent Amsterdam from scoring.
Muller was posted at first base, a position he frequently plays, while first baseman Benjamin Dille moved up towards second base, which is his main position.
Second baseman Dwayne Kemp moved over to the short stop-side of second base, while short stop Dudley Leonora and third baseman Stijn van der Meer standing on the left side of the infield.
That left two players in the outfield, where centerfield was not occupied, as centerfielder Shaldimar Daantji had schifted towards rightfield.
When the infield was aligned, then game continued and Kevin Kelly faced Sharlon Schoop.
Kelly got to a 2-2 count, but then the next two pitches missed the strike-zone.
With that, Schoop received a walk-off walk, as Selassa came in to score the winning run!
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Amsterdam Pirates wins on walk-off walk, forces winner takes all 7th game in Holland Series
AMSTERDAN (Neth.) -
L&D Amsterdam Pirates has forced a seventh and deciding game in the Holland Series, winning 4-3 in another thriller against Curaçao Neptunus in Game 6 in Amsterdam on Saturday-afternoon (August 31).
In today's game, Neptunus led 3-0 halfway the fourth inning.
The team was unable to take more distance off of reliever Jim Ploeger, who took over in the fifth.
The lefthander had a great outing, gave up no basehits and allowed only one batter to reach base (who was doubled up in a double play).
An error led to the first run, then Gianison Boekhoudt hit a 2-run homerun in the third inning off of starter Rob Cordemans.
Game 6, best-of-seven Holland Series.