(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Royal Belgium Baseball Softball Federation, KBBSF)
     Netherlands empty-handed on European Championship Under-12 after big loss vs. Germany
Nederlands
 MORTSEL (Belgium) -
The Netherlands Under-12 Team finished in fourth place after suffering a huge 28-14 loss against Germany on Saturday (August 14) in the Bronze Medal-game of the 29th edition of the European Championship Under-12, which was held in Belgium.
The Orange Team trailed big early, came back to 18-14, but was left empty-handed and had to settle for fourth place.
In the Final, Italy shutout the Czech Republic 6-0 to capture its fourth consecutive European title.
The tournament was initially scheduled for last year, but then was postponed to this year due to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).
The European Under-12 Championship, which is held annually, was last played in 2019 in the Czech Republic.
Two years ago, the Final was played by Italy and the Netherlands.
Italy then won 7-5.
The Netherlands was a frequent participant in the Championship since it was first held in 1992, but last participated in 2002.
The Netherlands returned in 2017 when the event was organized on home-soil at the site of UVV in Vleuten.
This year's Championship was played at the site of Mortsel Stars in Mortsel, which is a suburb of Antwerp, where the tournament also would have been played last year.
The event went underway on Tuesday and during the Opening Ceremony, the ceremonial first pitch was thrown by Ben Weyts, the Flemish Minister of Sport and Education.
The Netherlands played in Pool B in the Preliminary Round and faced Austria in its opening-game on Tuesday.
The Orange-squad won its opener with a 16-5 win in five innings.
The next day, the Netherlands recorded a big 22-2 win against Belgium.
In this game, Ryan Bosch was 5-for-5 and batted in five runs.
Kay Barry had three doubles, scored five runs and also batted in five for the Orange Team.
On Thursday, the Netherlands had two games scheduled.
The first game against Lithuania ended in a huge 34-1 win, but was declared a 6-0 forfeit-win, due to the use of an ineligible pitcher by Lithuania.
The Orange Team rallied for 13 runs in the first inning and 15 in the fourth.
The team collected 30 basehits, including five by Camilo Araya Lemaire (one homerun), who scored five runs and batted in eight.
Seger Veneman and Raylano Clarke both had four basehits.
Clarke and Seanriq Westerburger batted in four runs.
Kay Barry also scored five runs.
Later on the day, the Netherlands suffered a big 22-5 loss in its final pool-game against Germany.
The German squad remained unbeaten in Pool B and recorded four big victories.
The Netherlands finished in second place in Pool B to qualify for the Semi-Final.
On Friday, in the Semi-Final, the Netherlands faced the Czech Republic, which was the unbeaten winner of Pool A.
The Czechs won 8-4 to advance to the Final.
The Netherlands would play in the Bronze Medal-game against Germany, which had lost its Semi-Final against Italy with a 19-11 score.
...Ben Weyts, Flemish Minister of Sport and...
...Education, throws the ceremonial first pitch...
(© Photo: KBBSF) |
After already suffering a big loss against Germany in the Preliminary Round, the Netherlands again faced a big (and early) deficit.
The team trailed 18-2 halfway the third inning.
But the Orange Team then had two productive at bats to come back into the game.
The team rallied for seven runs in the third inning and added five more in the fourth to narrow the deficit to 18-14.
However, the team was unable to turn the game around, as no more runs added in its final two at bats.
On the other hand, Germany scored a run in the fifth, then rallied for nine more runs in the sixth to record another big victory.
Germany collected 28 basehits in this game, including five by third baseman Samuel Redle, who hit for-the-cycle.
Redle hit a grand slam homerun, batted in eight runs and scored four.
Redle played in all six games for Germany and recorded 17 basehits, while scoring 19 runs and batting in 14.
He struckout only once and he also was the winning pitcher in the first game against the Netherlands.
Tyler Speer, Jules-Noah Moser and Benito Bull all had four basehits for the German team.
Speer batted in five runs, Bull scored four runs.
The Netherlands got ten basehits, including three by Ryan Bosch, who batted in five runs.
Binq Cashoek scored three runs.
Both teams scored once in the first inning.
Germany opened the score off of starting pitcher Jayden Stols on a 2-out double by Jayme Warlies.
The Netherlands came alongside in the bottom of the first inning when Binq Cashoek led off with a walk, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on an one-out single by Ryan Bosch.
But Germany then struck with a 13-run rally in the top of the second inning.
That was done on twelve basehits, including three doubles and three triples.
With one out, there were three consecutive doubles.
And with two outs, Tyler Speer and Samuel Redle connected for back-to-back RBI triples.
Earlier in the inning, Redle had delivered a 2-run double.
Another highlight was a 2-run triple by Benito Bull.
The Netherlands again scored once in the second inning on a single by Seger Veneman, but Germany answered with four more runs in the top of the third.
Although Germany now led 18-2, the suspense came back completely thanks to a productive third and fourth Orange at bat.
In the bottom of the third, the Netherlands rallied for seven runs, thanks to a runscoring single by Raylano Clarke, a baseclearing, 3-run double by Dean Moust, an RBI-single by Binq Cashoek and a 2-run double by Ryan Bosch.
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...Rob Has, Peter Brink, Henk van der Linde...
(© All Photos: KBBSF) |
After Germany was kept scoreless in the fourth, the Netherlands added five more runs in the bottom of the fourth.
This time, the runs were scored on a basesloaded walk for Seger Veneman, a wild pitch, another walk with the bases loaded for Camilo Araya Lemaire and a 2-run single by Ryan Bosch.
For the Netherlands, the scoring stopped here, but Germany took more distance to finish the game with a big score.
After scoring once in the top of the fifth, the German Team rallied for nine runs in the top of the sixth.
Highlight in this at bat was a grand slam homerun by Samuel Redle, who with that not only hit his first homerun of the tournament, but also completed a cycle in this game.
Later in the at bat, Jules-Noah Moser added a 2-run triple.
In the Final, Italy shutout the Czech Republic 6-0, but needed an extra inning to do so.
After the regular six innings, the game was scoreless!
And so, the game went into extra innings, which was played according to the tie-break rule (beginning with runners on first and second base).
In the top of the seventh inning, Italy rallied for six runs, which was done on only one basehit.
There also were three walks (two with bases loaded), two errors, a runscoring wild pitch and an obstruction in this at bat.
Dutch Umpire Rob Has was one of the two Umpires in the Final.
He was the Umpire at first base, while Gabor Nemeth from Hungary was behind the plate.
There were two Technical Commissioners in this event, both from the Netherlands, Peter Brink and Henk van der Linde.
As such, both were also in function during the Final.
The players on the Netherlands roster were:
Camilo Araya Lemaire (P/IF), Kaj Barry (P/IF), Ryan Bosch (P/IF), Tom van den Brink (P), Marcus Callender (P/OF), Binq Cashoek (C/IF), Raylano Clarke (C/IF), Jayvian Curiel (P/IF), Roman Ernst (IF/OF), Tyrese Fraay (P/OF), Tim Hanemaaijer (P/IF), Tristan Knol (P/OF), Rafael Morales Gomez (P), Dean Moust (P/OF), Jayden Stols (P/OF), Seger Veneman (P/IF) and Seanriq Westerburger (C/IF).
Coaching-staff: Peter Herkemij (Head Coach), Pepijn Beerman (1B Coach), Rikkert Faneyte (3B Coach).
Supporting staff: Sam van Dijck (Doctor).
(August 14)
Final Standings:
1. Italy, 2. Czech Republic, 3. Germany, 4. Netherlands, 5. Hungary, 6. France, 7. Austria, 8. Belgium, 9. Lithuania, 10. Poland.
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Bronze Medal-game European Under-12 Championship Baseball.