In the original line-ups as they were on Thursday-evening when the game was halted, some changes were made by both teams tonight.
In the team of Neptunus, short stop John Polonius and rightfielder Coco Johnson were absent tonight in Bussum.
Benjamin Dille was inserted as pinch-hitter for Polonius, while Jarreau Martina batted as pinch-hitter for Johnson when the game resumed in the top of the second inning.
When Neptunus took the field, Martina also took Johnson's place in rightfield.
Dille became the new first baseman, taking over the position from Dudley Leonora, who moved to second base.
Thursday's 2B Dwayne Kemp moved to third base and 3B Stijn van der Meer became the new short stop, taking over for Polonius.
Kaj Timmermans took over the pitching from Diegomar Markwell, who was the starter on Thursday.
For HCAW, Nick Keur started the game on the mound in relief of Thursday's starter Luuk ter Beek.
Raibiëntly Mercalina replaced short stop Bob van der Meer and became the new second baseman, while Leandro Anasagasti took over the short stop-position and replaced 2B Christopher Ge in the original line-up.
On Thursday-evening, both teams were retired in order by then-starters Luuk ter Beek (HCAW) and Diegomar Markwell (Neptunus).
In the top of the second, Gianison Boekhoudt led off with a walk, then moved to third base on a single by Dudley Leonora.
Hereafter, Dashenko Ricardo fouled of a 2-0 count with the ball hitting a lamp in a light-tower between the backstop and the 1B dug-out.
The lamp was destroyed, then debris and pieces of glass fell on the artificial grass.
Besides, as it was drizzling, the situation in the light-tower had become hazardous and so, the game was halted.
When the game resumed tonight at 7:34 PM, Boekhoudt and Leonora returned as baserunners on respectively third and first base and Dashenko Ricardo stepped in the batter's box again.
He began with a 2-1 count, but faced a different pitcher.
Last Thursday, he faced righthander Luuk ter Beek and now he faced lefthander Nick Keur.
The next two pitches were outside the strike-zone and so Ricardo walked.
According to the scoring rules, the walk was credited to Ter Beek, who therefore also became responsible for the runner Ricardo.
When the game would have resumed on Friday-evening (rainout), Ricardo would have faced Dennis Burgersdijk, who then was pencilled in to pitch.
But that change never became official.
With the bases now loaded, Keur faced Gregory Muller.
Moments later, the game almost again ended prematurely, as Muller also hit a foul ball up in the same light-tower.
As said, on Thursday, a foul ball by Ricardo destroyed a lamp, which halted the game.
This time, there was no damage and the game could be completed.
Keur struckout Muller.
Hereafter, Shaldimar Daantji hit the ball into rightfield, where an error was made.
Boekhoudt scored and everyone advanced, as Daantji reached, while his at bat became a sacrifice fly.
Next, Keur struckout Jarreau Martina, who was inserted as pinch-hitter for the absented Coco Johnson.
With two outs, Stijn van der Meer delivered a 2-run single.
The fourth run was then added on a single by Benjamin Dille, who was the pinch-hitter for the also absented John Polonius.
Dwayne Kemp then flied out to end the inning, but Neptunus led 4-0.
In the bottom of the second inning, Kaj Timmermans took the mound in relief of original starter Diegomar Markwell.
With this, Markwell 'left' the mound with a lead, but he couldn't be credited with a win, as he didn't throw the required five complete innings.
And so, it was up to the Official Scorers to designate one of the relievers (in case there was more than one, which was the situation tonight) as winning pitcher, based on the effectiveness a respective pitcher has in the course of the game.
It was Timmermans who was credited with the win.
The second pitch Timmermans threw to Arthur Bonevacia ended over the rightfield-fence for a lead-off homerun.
Hereafter, the next three batters were retired.
Neptunus got an opportunity to do some scoring again in the top of the third, but instead left three runners behind.
Gianison Boekhoudt and Dudley Leonora opened with singles and with one out, the bases got loaded when Gregory Muller also singled.
Next, Boekhoudt was forced out at the plate on a grounder by Shaldimar Daantji.
With the bases still loaded, Nick Keur closed the inning with a strikeout.
After HCAW was retired in order in its third at bat, Neptunus rallied for four more runs in the top of the fourth.
Stijn van der Meer led off with a single and moved on a grounder by Benjamin Dille, then scored on a single by Dwayne Kemp.
The latter stole second base, then Gianison Boekhoudt walked and Dudley Leonora followed with a 3-run homerun to increase the lead to 8-1.
In the top of the fifth, Neptunus added another run off of new pitcher Bobbie Gnade.
With two outs, Stijn van der Meer singled and Benjamin Dille walked.
The first then scored on a single by Dwayne Kemp.
Neptunus was held scoreless in the next four innings by three pitchers and got only one more runner in scoring position.
In the top of the sixth, Dudley Leonora led off with a single and moved to second base on an one-out grounder by pinch-hitter Darnell Collins.
In the seventh, Johannes Verroen Garcia took over the HCAW-pitching.
He walked Stijn van der Meer with one out, but he was left behind on first base.
In the eighth, he walked lead-off hitter Gianison Boekhoudt, but he was eliminated in a double play.
Verroen then walked Julian Goins, who had taken over the Neptunus-catching from Dashenko Ricardo in the fourth inning.
Goins stranded on first base.
Jasper Elfrink threw the ninth inning for HCAW.
He retired the side, including two strikeouts.
And how did HCAW do offensively tonight?
After giving up the homerun in the second inning, Kaj Timmermans retired the side in the third and fourth inning.
After having retired eleven batters in a row since the second inning, the righthander walked Leandro Anasagasti and Raibiëntly Mercalina with two outs in the fifth, but a foul-out ended the at bat.
In the sixth, Timmermans gave up a lead-off single to Jeandro Tromp, but next batter then grounded into a double play.
With Neptunus leading 9-1, rookie Joey Herbold was the new pitcher for the team in the bottom of the seventh inning and make his debut.
Herbold was on the team's roster in both 2018 and 2019, but then didn't throw in the big league.
He also was on the roster in the 2018 postseason (including Holland Series), but also didn't throw then.
Tonight, he retired the side in his first inning.
The lefthander then got three baserunners without giving up a basehit in the eighth, but he didn't gave up runs.
Herbold hit lead-off hitter Leandro Anasagasti with a pitch, then walked Raibiëntly Mercalina.
Both runners were eliminated in a double play on a following grounder by Pascal Zegwaard.
First, Anasagasti was forced out at third base by third baseman Dwayne Kemp.
Hereafter, Mercalina was eliminated at second base as Kemp got the ball in time to second baseman Dudley Leonora.
As triple play couldn't be completed, as Zegwaard reached first base with a grounded-into-double-play-fielder's-choice.
The inning ended when short stop Stijn van der Meer caught a line drive from Jeandro Tromp.
In the ninth inning, Gianison Boekhoudt, who was the designated hitter, threw for Neptunus and gave up HCAW's second run.
Boekhoudt walked lead-off hitter Berend Ruben, who advanced on a grounder by Arthur Lugtmeijer, then scored on a 2-out single by Rodney Daal.
Boekhoudt then ended the game with a strikeout.
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Halted game finally completed; Neptunus wins to reach Holland Series
BUSSUM (Neth.) -
The original opener of the 3-game series between HCAW and Curaçao Neptunus was finally completed on Monday-evening (September 28).
Neptunus won the game with a 9-2 score.
With tonight's win and based on the head-to-head results against HCAW, Neptunus became the first team to qualify for the best-of-seven Holland Series, which opens October 10.
It marks the ninth consecutive year since 2012 that the team will play in the Championship Final and the eleventh time in the last twelve years.
The remainder of the game was re-scheduled for Friday-evening.
As it was not possible to fix the light-installation in Bussum earlier that day, the game was moved to the site of Neptunus in Rotterdam.
While everyone was ready to play, the start of the game was postponed for 30 minutes due to the weather conditions, but then was cancelled due to rain and field-conditions.
Top-4 Pool.