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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen) Tonight was the original Opening Night of Netherlands Major League baseball Nederlands HOOFDDORP / ROTTERDAM / BUSSUM / HAARLEM (Neth.) - Tonight (Thursday, April 23), the regular season in the Dutch Major League was originally set to open. However, like last week, there was no baseball, as all sports-accomodations are currently closed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. (© Photo: Henk Seppen) On March 15, after new measures were announced by the Dutch Government, all activities were cancelled through April 6. That meant that all scheduled exhibition games up to that date were scrubbed. As it would be not possible to open a new season without a proper period of preparation, the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Association (KNBSB) on March 23 announced that it had cancelled all games through April 27. It did so to give teams a three-week period to prepare in case it would be possible to open the new season. On March 31, the Goverment-measures were extended through April 28 and all gatherings and events were cancelled and were forbidden through June 1. The next day (April 1), the KNBSB announced it had annulled all games through May 19 to keep the three-week preparation period intact. Last Tuesday (April 21) was the most recent announcement regarding the corona-measures. Most announced measures were extended through May 20, while all gatherings and events are now cancelled and forbidden through September 1. When both the health and safety situations enable to do so, measures could be adjusted. Next Tuesday (April 28), the KNBSB will come with an announcement what the effects of the new extended measures will have on the scheduling and format of the new baseball- and softball-seasons. Initially, tonight (April 23) was to be Opening Night in the Dutch Major League. However, on March 2, the WBSC Final Qualifier (April 1-5), to be played in Taiwan, for this years Olympic Games was postponed. The event, in which the Netherlands Baseball Team participates, was moved to June 17-21. With that, the season in the Dutch big league needed some adjustments. A 3 game series scheduled for the half of August was moved up front, meaning the season was to open last Thursday (April 16). Two other 3-game series were also re-scheduled. On March 24, the Olympic Games, to be held in Tokyo (Japan), were postponed to 2021. Shortly thereafter, the Final Olympic Qualifier also was cancelled and will be re-scheduled on to be announced dates. In the past 20 years, it would have been only the second time that the baseball-season was to open this late when April 23 would have been Opening Night. The other time was in 2018 when the first games were played on Thursday, April 26. Last year, the season opened on Thursday, April 4, which was one of the earliest dates ever. Tonight, Remko Helms was assigned for the game between HCAW and Curaçao Neptunus to make his debut as Official Scorer. That debut will now come at a later date. The above mentioned game was to be the first evening home-game for HCAW. As it was another bright and sunny day today, we probably would have had the first (early) sun-delay in the season for which the field in Bussum is wellknown. However, the sun-delay will also come at a later date. And we're looking forward to it! (April 23)

Hoofddorp Pioniers - Quick Amersfoort postponed R H E Quick Amersfoort - 0 0 0 Hoofddorp Pioniers - 0 0 0 pitchers Quick inn. SO BB H R ER - - - - - - pitchers Pioniers inn. SO BB H R ER - - - - - - Standings Scores Schedule Team Rosters Assigned Umpires: HP-Stenar van Groningen Schinkel, 1B-André Ficken, 3B-Bernard Flohr. Assigned Official Scorer-Norbert van Oosterhout. Assigned Play-by-Play Scorer-Brigitte Brands. Public Address Announcer-. Scoreboard Operator-. Scheduled Starting Time-7:30 PM. Time Played-0:00 hrs. Site-ETO Ballpark, Sportpark Hoofddorp Pioniers, Park21, Hoofddorp. Game Notes: Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19), the game was cancelled on March 23 by the KNBSB, which on that date cancelled all games through April 27 to give the teams a new three-week preparation for an eventual start of the season. Weather conditions at game time: Sunny, 17,9° C (64,2° F); wind direction east-northeast; wind speed 11 kmh (6,8 mph); wind force 2 Bft; humidity 47%.

Silicon Storks - L&D Amsterdam Pirates postponed R H E L&D Amsterdam Pirates - 0 0 0 Silicon Storks - 0 0 0 pitchers Pirates inn. SO BB H R ER - - - - - - pitchers Storks inn. SO BB H R ER - - - - - - Standings Scores Schedule Team Rosters Assigned Umpires: HP-Edwin Louisa, 1B-Peter de Haan, 3B-Jeffrey Bentsnijder. Assigned Official Scorer-Sten Wessel. Assigned Play-by-Play Scorer-Rienette Hamers. Public Address Announcer-. Scoreboard Operator-. Scheduled Starting Time-7:30 PM. Time Played-0:00 hrs. Site-Neptunus Familiestadion, Sportpark Abraham van Stolkweg, Rotterdam (site Neptunus). Game Notes: Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19), the game was cancelled on March 23 by the KNBSB, which on that date cancelled all games through April 27 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, 18,1° C (64,6° F); wind direction west; wind speed 10 kmh (6,2 mph); wind force 2 Bft; humidity 46%.

HCAW - Curaçao Neptunus postponed R H E Curaçao Neptunus - 0 0 0 HCAW - 0 0 0 pitchers Neptunus inn. SO BB H R ER - - - - - - pitchers HCAW inn. SO BB H R ER - - - - - - Standings Scores Schedule Team Rosters Assigned Umpires: HP-Efrem Silvania, 1B-Roy van de Wateringen, 3B-Rudsel Schoobaar. Assigned Official Scorer-Remko Helms. Assigned Play-by-Play Scorer-Dieks Bannink. Public Address Announcer-. Scoreboard Operator-. Scheduled Starting Time-7:30 PM. Time Played-0:00 hrs. Site-Rob Hoffmann Vallei, Sportpark Zanderijweg, Bussum. Game Notes: Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19), the game was cancelled on March 23 by the KNBSB, which on that date cancelled all games through April 27 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, 20,1° C (68,2° F); wind direction north-northwest; wind speed 13 kmh (8,1 mph); wind force 2 Bft; humidity 32%.

DSS/Kinheim - Twins Oosterhout postponed R H E Twins Oosterhout - 0 0 0 DSS/Kinheim - 0 0 0 pitchers Twins inn. SO BB H R ER - - - - - - pitchers DSS/Kinheim inn. SO BB H R ER - - - - - - Standings Scores Schedule Team Rosters Assigned Umpires: HP-Niek Elshof, 1B-Aad Otsen, 3B-Rob Has. Assigned Official Scorer-Karin Pieneman. Assigned Play-by-Play Scorer-Huub Nelissen. Public Address Announcer-. Scoreboard Operator-. Scheduled Starting Time-7:30 PM. Time Played-0:00 hrs. Site-Pim Mulier Stadion, Pim Mulier Sportpark, Haarlem. Game Notes: Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19), the game was cancelled on March 23 by the KNBSB, which on that date cancelled all games through April 27 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, 17,9° C (64,2° F); wind direction east-northeast; wind speed 13 kmh (8,1 mph); wind force 2 Bft; humidity 47%.

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