Game 3 - HCAW vs. Twins Oosterhout
The game between HCAW and Twins Oosterhout remained scoreless in the first six innings.
Both teams then scored twice, but it was HCAW that scored the deciding run with no outs in the ninth inning.
The Twins-offense was kept scoreless in seven innings and was limited to only two basehits.
Besides that, no runner got into scoring position.
HCAW-starter Lars Huijer gave up an one-out single to Railison Bentura in the first inning, but a double play followed.
With two outs in the third, Mick Vos recorded the second Twins-basehit, but stranded on first base.
After Huijer had struckout the first two batters in the fourth inning, Shurman Marlin reached on an error, but also was left behind on first base.
In the fifth inning, Jim Ploeger took over the pitching and retired seven batters in a row.
He then walked Marlin with one out in the seventh, but he again stranded on first base.
HCAW got three runners in scoring position in its first six at bats, then scored twice in the seventh.
Twins-starter Koen Postelmans struckout the side in the first inning.
In the second inning, he hit the first two batters, rookie J'mar Calliste and Kevin Dirksen, but they stranded on second and first base.
In the third, Nathan Berkel led off with a walk.
He then tried to advance from first to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Brendly Martina.
However, after Martina had been eliminated, first baseman Shurman Marlin made a strong (and nice) throw towards third base, where catcher Jason Halman had taken over (of course, third baseman Jerzy van Gool had moved away on the bunt) and he tagged Berkel out, which completed a double play.
In the fifth, Julian Goins led off for HCAW with a single and stole second base, but then was left behind there.
In the sixth inning, Finn Kops took over the pitching for Twins and got one baserunner.
But in the seventh, he saw HCAW score two runs.
Max Draijer and Goins began with singles and were awarded the next base when a balk was called.
They were then unable to advance on a grounder, but moments later, both scored on a double by Berkel.
Shortly hereafter, Martina hit the ball towards third base and reached first base safely with an infield-hit on a close play.
Berkel initially stayed at second base, but then tried to advance on the throw, then was eliminated at third base.
Now with two outs, Martina stole second base, then another close play at first base followed, which resulted in an infield-hit by Jules Cremer.
This led to an 'exhibition discussion', as well as a pitching change.
German Simon Gross took over and got an inning-ending flyout.
In the top of the eighth, Twins not only got into scoring position for the first time, it also came alongside.
After Ploeger has started with a strikeout, the lefthander got the bases loaded, as Van Gool reached on an error and both Vos and Jarreau Martina walked.
That ended the afternoon for Ploeger, who was relieved by Bobbie Gnade.
He first got a force play-grounder from Bentura, which led to the elimination at the plate of Van Gool, but kept the bases loaded.
Arthur Bonevacia, who last season played for HCAW, then followed with a single that enabled both Vos and Martina to score, making it a 2-2 score.
This was only the third basehit in the game for Twins.
The at bat ended when Bonevacia was forced out.
In the bottom of the eighth, Dirksen reached base for the third time for HCAW, but he also was left behind for the third time on first base.
In the top of the ninth, Nick Keur took the mound and retired the side for HCAW, then went on to become the winning pitcher.
For Twins, Raf Cocu took the mound in the bottom of the ninth, but he got the bases loaded quickly.
Bob van der Meer and Nathan Berkel both walked and Brendly Martina reached on a bunt-single.
Shortly thereafter, Van der Meer scored the winning run on a passed ball.
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HCAW and Neptunus to play in Final Urbanus Tournament
BUSSUM / ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
Tournament-organisor HCAW and Curaçao Neptunus both won their games on Saturday (April 2) and with that, they will face each other in the Final of the 40th edition of the annual In Memoriam Charles Urbanus, Sr. Tournament on Sunday.
HCAW recorded a 3-2, walk-off victory against Twins Oosterhout, while Neptunus outscored reigning champion L&D Amsterdam Pirates, 10-3 in their first meeting since last years Holland Series.
Twins and Pirates will play for third and fourth place on Sunday.
Due to the cold temperatures (and snow) in the recent days, the first two games of the tournament, scheduled for Thursday-evening, were also both cancelled.
The game between Amsterdam Pirates and HCAW, which was to be played in Amsterdam, was already cancelled on Wednesday-afternoon.
The game between Twins and Neptunus, to be played in Oosterhout, was cancelled on Thursday-afternoon.
As both games were exhibition games, no risks were taken that might result in injuries, a week before the start of the new season..
Exhibition game.
Neptunus took an early lead, scoring once in each ot the first three innings.
After Pirates had narrowed the deficit to 3-2 in the fifth inning, Neptunus added a run in its fifth, then took more distance via a 4-run rally in the sixth inning.