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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen & Marco Stoovelaar) Thursday-afternoon was to be the start of Round 6 in Dutch big league Nederlands HOOFDDORP / AMERSFOORT / THE HAGUE / OOSTERHOUT (Neth.) - The opening game of the sixth 3-game series of the 2020 regular season in the Dutch big league was scheduled to be played this afternoon (Thursday, May 21). However, the baseball-season is currently on hold, as all regular season-games have been annuled through June 30 because of measures taken against the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. New dates have not yet been announced. (© Photo: Henk Seppen) From March 12 on, the Government of the Netherlands regularly announced several (stricter) measures due to the coronavirus. On Wednesday (May 6), there was another update regarding the measures and a little more freedom was announced then. But it was also announced that official games and competitions remain not possible through September 1. The latest update was last Tuesday (May 19). On Tuesday (May 12), the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Association (KNBSB) announced that it has annuled all official regular season games in all baseball/softball leagues through Tuesday, June 30. The KNBSB is in talks with the NOC*NSF (Netherlands Olympic Committee/Netherlands Sports Federations) regarding options how to continue, as it still hopes a new season can be played this year. Normally, games scheduled on weekdays are played in the evening. But today, Thursday, May 21, was the first day in the 2020 schedule that mid-week games were to be played in daytime, as it is Ascension Thursday. This day is annually used as a game-time. As this is a holiday, the games were to be played in the afternoon. With that, Silicon Storks and Twins Oosterhout were able to play a mid-week home-game at their own site. The site of Storks in The Hague has no light-installation, while the lights at the site of Twins in Oosterhout are insufficient for the highest league. Because of that, Storks plays its home-games in the evening at the site of Curaçao Neptunus in Rotterdam and Twins plays at the site of Gryphons in Rosmalen when it has an evening home-game scheduled. ...Ben Goorts, Feiko Drost & Marco Stoovelaar... (© Photos: Marco Stoovelaar) Today would have seen a unique moment in Amersfoort, as the three senior recordholding Official Scorers would be together at the same site at the same time. Feiko Drost, Ben Goorts and Marco Stoovelaar are the most experienced scorers in Dutch baseball and softball. The three are active now for 44 (consecutive) seasons (including this year) and are the recordholders in this category. This year, they also became the first Official Scorers to now have been active in six decades after making their debut in 1977. Except when they are assigned to work at the same tournament, it is rarely that the three are together at the same site for a regular season-game, as only two scorers are assigned for games in the highest Dutch baseball- and softball-leagues. Today, Drost was assigned for the baseball-game of Quick Amersfoort against Curaçao Neptunus, while Goorts and Stoovelaar were the Official Scorers for the softball double-header between Quick Amersfoort and Sparks Haarlem on the other side of the XL Lease Park 'Dorrestein'. The fourth scorer today, joining Drost at the baseball-game, also was to be a veteran scorer, as that would have been Linda Steijger, who in April returned at Umpiring Commissioner. We don't know when, but baseball and softball of course also will be back in the Netherlands! Of course only when it is safe to do so for everyone involved. Until then, take care and stay safe! Today, was the sunniest day so far with temperatures varying from 24 to 26 degrees Celsius (75,2-78,8 F) at game-times. Beneath are the games that were scheduled to be played today with the assignments of the game-officials. (May 21)

Hoofddorp Pioniers - DSS/Kinheim postponed R H E DSS/Kinheim - 0 0 0 Hoofddorp Pioniers - 0 0 0 pitchers DSS/Kinheim inn. SO BB H R ER - - - - - - pitchers Pioniers inn. SO BB H R ER - - - - - - Standings Scores Schedule Team Rosters Assigned Umpires: HP-Rob Has, 1B-Jeffrey Bentsnijder, 3B-Jeroen Rekveld. Assigned Official Scorer-Sten Wessel. Assigned Play-by-Play Scorer-Brigitte Brands. Public Address Announcer-. Scoreboard Operator-. Scheduled Starting Time-1:00 PM. Time Played-0:00 hrs. Site-ETO Ballpark, Sportpark Hoofddorp Pioniers, Park21, Hoofddorp. Game Notes: Following an announcement by the Dutch Government on April 21 to extend measures against the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the game was cancelled on April 29 by the KNBSB, which on that date annulled all games through June 9 to give the teams a new three-week preparation for an eventual start of the season. No new date has been announced yet. Weather conditions at game time: Sunny, 24,7° C (76,5° F); wind direction southeast; wind speed 11 kmh (6,8 mph); wind force 2 Bft; humidity 41%.

Quick Amersfoort - Curaçao Neptunus postponed R H E Curaçao Neptunus - 0 0 0 Quick Amersfoort - 0 0 0 pitchers Neptunus inn. SO BB H R ER - - - - - - pitchers Quick inn. SO BB H R ER - - - - - - Standings Scores Schedule Team Rosters Assigned Umpires: HP-Efrem Silvania, 1B-John Beltman, 3B-Aad Otsen. Assigned Official Scorer-Feiko Drost. Assigned Play-by-Play Scorer-Linda Steijger. Public Address Announcer-. Scoreboard Operator-. Scheduled Starting Time-2:00 PM. Time Played-0:00 hrs. Site-XL Lease Park 'Dorrestein', Amersfoort. Game Notes: Following an announcement by the Dutch Government on April 21 to extend measures against the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the game was cancelled on April 29 by the KNBSB, which on that date annulled all games through June 9 to give the teams a new three-week preparation for an eventual start of the season. No new date has been announced yet. Weather conditions at game time: Sunny, 24,2° C (75,6° F); wind direction south; wind speed 10 kmh (6,2 mph); wind force 2 Bft; humidity 34%.

Silicon Storks - HCAW postponed R H E HCAW - 0 0 0 Silicon Storks - 0 0 0 pitchers HCAW inn. SO BB H R ER - - - - - - pitchers Storks inn. SO BB H R ER - - - - - - Standings Scores Schedule Team Rosters Assigned Umpires: HP-André Ficken, 1B-Edwin Louisa, 3B-Rudsel Schoobaar. Assigned Official Scorer-Brigitta Zaal. Assigned Play-by-Play Scorer-Norbert van Oosterhout. Public Address Announcer-. Scoreboard Operator-. Scheduled Starting Time-2:00 PM. Time Played-0:00 hrs. Site-Sportpark 'Kijkduin', The Hague. Game Notes: Following an announcement by the Dutch Government on April 21 to extend measures against the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the game was cancelled on April 29 by the KNBSB, which on that date annulled all games through June 9 to give the teams a new three-week preparation for an eventual start of the season. No new date has been announced yet. Weather conditions at game time: Sunny, 24° C (75,2° F); wind direction southeast; wind speed 8 kmh (4,9 mph); wind force 2 Bft; humidity 51%.

Twins Oosterhout - L&D Amsterdam Pirates postponed R H E L&D Amsterdam Pirates - 0 0 0 Twins Oosterhout - 0 0 0 pitchers Pirates inn. SO BB H R ER - - - - - - pitchers Twins inn. SO BB H R ER - - - - - - Standings Scores Schedule Team Rosters Assigned Umpires: HP-Jos van Eijsden, 1B-Richard Wessel, 3B-Martijn Bosschaart. Assigned Official Scorer-Jeanette van Drunen. Assigned Play-by-Play Scorer-Rob Schuurman. Public Address Announcer-. Scoreboard Operator-. Scheduled Starting Time-2:00 PM. Time Played-0:00 hrs. Site-Sportpark 'De Slotbosse Toren', Oosterhout. Game Notes: Following an announcement by the Dutch Government on April 21 to extend measures against the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the game was cancelled on April 29 by the KNBSB, which on that date annulled all games through June 9 to give the teams a new three-week preparation for an eventual start of the season. No new date has been announced yet. Weather conditions at game time: Sunny, 26° C (78,8° F); wind direction east-northeast; wind speed 6 kmh (3,7 mph); wind force 2 Bft; humidity 38%.

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