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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen & Robert Bos) HCAW and Neptunus open Urbanus Tournament with wins Nederlands BUSSUM / AMSTERDAM (Neth.) - Organisor HCAW and Curaçao Neptunus won their first game of the 39th edition of the In Memoriam Charles Urbanus, Sr. Tournament on Thursday-evening (April 22). In Amsterdam, Neptunus won 6-3 against reigning champion L&D Amsterdam Pirates. Playing an away-game at home in Bussum, HCAW shutout Hoofddorp Pioniers, 10-0 in what was the first official game under new Head Coach Roy Berrevoets. He also led HCAW last weekend in its first three exhibition games, but he was officially named on Wedneday. This year, the event has a different set-up, as it is currently not allowed to organize tournaments due to the measures against the coronavirus (COVID-19). In a normal scenario, all six games of the tournament would have been played at the site of HCAW in Bussum. Now, the participating teams will also play a game on their own home-site. The same format was also used last year when the tournament was postponed from April to July. HCAW is the lone team that will play its three games at home. Coming Saturday, the team plays against Neptunus and on Sunday against Amsterdam Pirates. On Saturday, Pioniers will play at home against Pirates, then meets Neptunus on Sunday in Rotterdam. (April 22)

Hoofddorp Pioniers vs. HCAW Although there was a bright sun in left-centerfield tonight, a sun-delay was not needed and the game was played without a delay. Pioniers faced former teammate Lars Huijer, who transfered to HCAW after last season. The righthander already had left the team earlier and completed the season playing for Heidenheim Heideköpfe in Germany. In the first inning, Pioniers got its first two batters on base off of Huijer. Lead-off hitter Mark Smit struckout, but reached a passed ball. He stole second base, but then was eliminated at third base trying to advance on a comeback-grounder to Huijer by next batter Raul Jacobs, who himself stranded on first base. HCAW also got two baserunners in its first at bat off of Yassir Lachkar, but didn't score. Linoy Croes led off with a walk, but was caught stealing. With two outs, Victor Draijer (who also played for Pioniers last year) also walked, but was left behind. HCAW, which had ten batters in its batting order, then rallied for four runs on six hits in the top of the second inning. Max Draijer (another former Pionier) led off with a double and Arthur Bonevacia singled. With one out, Draijer scored the first run on a single by Kevin Dirksen. Hereafter, the bases got loaded when Berend Ruben also singled. Moments later, all runners were awarded the next base when a balk was called, resulting in a run. Bob van der Meer and Linoy Croes followed with runscoring singles to make it a 4-0 score, before a double play ended the at bat. ...Arthur Bonevacia... ...3-for-4, 2 runs... (© Photo: Henk Seppen) Hoofddorp Pioniers got into scoring position again in the bottom of the second inning. With one out, Denzel Brooks doubled and moved on a grounder by Jorrit Penseel. Jeldwin Orman then walked, but Lars Huijer closed with a strikeout. The double by Brooks would be the lone basehit tonight for the Hoofddorp-team. HCAW rallied for five more runs in the third inning, but only one was earned. With one out, Rodney Daal reached on an error, then the bases got loaded when Max Draijer walked and Arthur Bonevacia singled. The first two then scored on a double by Jules Cremer and the third scored on a sacrifice fly by Kevin Dirksen. When next batter Berend Ruben singled to put runners on first and third base, a pitching change followed. Lefthander Sebastian Kok took over, but was greeted with an RBI-double by Bob van der Meer. HCAW got the bases loaded again when Linoy Croes reached on an infield-hit. Ruben then scored HCAW's ninth run when Christopher Ge walked. A flyout ended the at bat, three runners were left behind, but HCAW had a comfortable lead. HCAW left runners behind on first and third base in the fourth. In this at bat, Arthur Bonevacia recorded is third basehit. He was 3-for-4 and scored twice. HCAW added another run in the fifth. With one out, Bob van der Meer (who was 3-for-3) singled and went on to score on a 2-out single by Christopher Ge. In the sixth and seventh inning, HCAW was unable to reach base off of Sem Lauf, who retired all six batters he faced. From the third inning on, Pioniers was unable to get into scoring position again. The team was retired in order by Huijer in the third and fourth inning. In the fifth, the righthander hit Denzel Brooks with a pitch, but he was eliminated in an inning-ending double play. Pioniers got three baserunners in the sixth off of reliever Steven van Groningen. He walked lead-off hitter Thom Hoogkamer, but he was forced out on a grounder by Nathan Berkel, who then also was forced on a following grounder by Mark Smit. The latter stranded on first base. In the bottom of the seventh, Van Groningen retired the side. He struckout the first two batters, then got a game-ending flyout from Jair Bogaerts, who arrived earlier this week and made his debut in a Pionier-uniform. Bogaerts is the twin-brother of Xander Bogaerts, who plays in the Major League for Boston Red Sox.

Hoofddorp Pioniers - HCAW 0-10 (7 inn.) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E HCAW 0 4 5 0 1 0 0 - 10 14 0 Hoofddorp Pioniers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 1 2 pitchers HCAW inn. SO BB H R ER Lars Huijer, W (2-0) 5 6 1 1 - - Steven van Groningen 2 3 1 - - - pitchers Hoofddorp Pioniers inn. SO BB H R ER Yassir Lachkar, L (1-1) 2.2 1 3 9 9 5 Sebastian Kok 2.1 - 1 5 1 1 Sem Lauf 2 1 - - - - Standings Scores Schedule Team Rosters Umpires: HP-Roy van de Wateringen, 1B-Efrem Silvania. Scorer-Han Monsees (HCAW). Starting Time-7:30 PM. Time Played-0:00 hrs. Site-Rob Hoffmann Vallei, Sportpark Zanderijweg, Bussum (site HCAW). Game Notes: Exhibition game; Game 1 In Memoriam Charles Urbanus, Sr. Tournament 2021. Weather conditions at game time: Partly cloudy, 10° C (50° F); wind direction north; wind speed 18 kmh (11,2 mph); wind force 3 Bft; humidity 54%.

L&D Amsterdam Pirates vs. Curaçao Neptunus In Amsterdam, L&D Amsterdam Pirates and Curaçao Neptunus met each other for the first time since last years Holland Series. Back then, Pirates won the first two games of the best-of-seven, which was then halted due to stricter measures against the coronavirus. As the Championship Final could not be completed, there was no champion in 2020. With that, Pirates is still the reigning champion after capturing the title in 2019 when it became the first team in history to win four games after having lost the first three. On a chilly-evening, the two teams played a 7-inning game, which was won by Neptunus with a 6-3 score. Both teams used four pitchers and both started with a lefthander, Nick Veltkamp for Amsterdam Pirates, Diegomar Markwell for the visiting Neptunus. The Neptunus-pitching walked eight batters and gave up only three basehits, but Pirates scored only three runs. Neptunus collected ten basehits. After Veltkamp had retired Neptunus in order in the top of the first inning, Pirates opened the score in its first at bat. With one out, Kalian Sams and Gilmer Lampe walked and both advanced when Denzel Richardson flied out. Sams then scored the opening-run on a single by Kenny Berkenbosch. ...Darnel Collins... ...3-for-3, 2 RBI's... (© Photo: Robert Bos) Neptunus answered with two runs in the second inning. The Rotterdam-team got the bases loaded when Dudley Leonora singled and Dashenko Ricardo walked with one out and Shadimar Daantji singled with two outs. Leonora then scored the tying run on a single by Darnel Collins and the next run was scored when Stijn van der Meer walked. Three runners were left behind, as a grounder ended the at bat. In the third, Dwayne Kemp led off for Neptunus with a double, but stranded on second base. Pirates then came alongside in the bottom of the third when Gilmer Lampe walked and scored on a triple by Denzel Richardson, who was left behind on third base. Richardson's triple was the last basehit Pirates hit in this game. Neptunus broke the 2-2 tie in the fourth off of rookie Jelle van der Lelie. He gave up a lead-off double to Quintin de Cuba, who scored on an one-out single by Darnel Collins. Neptunus rallied for three runs in the fifth to take more distance. Gianison Boekhoudt led off with a walk and Dashenko Ricardo singled with one out. Quintin de Cuba followed with a runscoring single, then Ricardo scored on a grounder by Shaldimar Daantji and De Cuba went on to score on a single by Darnel Collins. Neptunus was retired in order in the sixth and seventh inning by respectively Mike Groen (two strikeouts) and Kevin Geestman. Pirates got one run back in the bottom of the fifth off of Kevin Bakker, who had taken over the pitching in the previous inning with a 3-2 lead. He retired the side in the fourth, but then walked four batters in the fifth, which led to only one run. With one out, Kalian Sams and Gilmer Lampe walked and with two outs, Kenny Berkenbosch got a free passe. Sams then scored when Rashid Gerard also walked, but three runners were left behind when a grounder ended the at bat. Pirates was retired in order in the sixth by Misja Harcken and left a runner behind on first base in the seventh off of Kevin Kelly. Outfielder Darnell Collins was 3-for-4 for Neptunus. He will travel to the USA next week to start preparations for his first professional season in the organization of the Kansas City Royals. His brother Darryl Collins already is in the States and also will play in a Minor League-team of Kansas City this year.

L&D Amsterdam Pirates - Curaçao Neptunus 3-6 (7 inn.) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Curaçao Neptunus 0 2 0 1 3 0 0 - 6 10 0 L&D Amsterdam Pirates 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 - 3 3 0 pitchers Neptunus inn. SO BB H R ER Diegomar Markwell, W (2-0) 3 3 3 3 2 2 Kevin Bakker, H (2) 2 - 4 - 1 1 Misja Harcksen 1 - - - - - Kevin Kelly, SV (1) 1 - 1 - - - pitchers Amsterdam Pirates inn. SO BB H R ER Nick Veltkamp 3 1 2 4 2 2 Jelle van der Lelie, L (0-1) 2 1 2 6 4 4 Mike Groen 1 2 - - - - Kevin Geestman 1 - - - - - Standings Scores Schedule Team Rosters Umpires: HP-Winfried Berkvens, 1B-Aad Otsen. Scorer-Richard de Wolff (Amsterdam Pirates). Starting Time-7:30 PM. Time Played-0:00 hrs. Site-Loek Loevendie Ballpark, Sportpark 'Ookmeer', Amsterdam. Game Notes: Exhibition game; Game 2 In Memoriam Charles Urbanus, Sr. Tournament 2021. Weather conditions at game time: Partly cloudy, 10° C (50° F); wind direction north; wind speed 18 kmh (11,2 mph); wind force 3 Bft; humidity 56%.

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