(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Starting Pitchers coming series
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM -
Coming Thursday-evening (August 4), the final 3-game series of the regular season will begin.
The teams from the Top-4 Pool then will conclude this part of the season.
The five teams in the Bottom-5 Pool concluded their regular season last Sunday with two teams completing a weather-delayed-suspended game on Tuesday-evening.
Also on Thursday, the best-of-three Wild Card Qualifier begins.
Last Saturday, Hoofddorp Pioniers nipped Quick Amersfoort 3-2 to finish in first place of the Bottom-5 Pool.
The same day, DSS/Kinheim nipped RCH Memorie Sieraden 6-5 to claim second place in this Pool.
Pioniers ended up in first place, as it had won the head-to-head series against both DSS/Kinheim and RCH in the Bottom-5 Pool, which would be decisive in case of a tie.
DSS/Kinheim won its series against RCH 2-1 by winning on Saturday.
With that, Pioniers and DSS/Kinheim both secured their spot in the Wild Card Qualifier on Saturday.
And so, RCH, which had been in fifth of sixth place for a long time, ended up empty-handed, also because Pioniers came back strongly in this part of the season.
On Sunday, DSS/Kinheim led 10-3 when the game was halted in the bottom of the third inning due to rain.
The game was completed on Tuesday-evening.
With a win, DSS/Kinheim would finish in a tie with Pioniers, but the latter won the head-to-head series.
Wit a loss, DSS/Kinheim would finish in a tie with RCH, but would advance due to winning their head-to-head series.
When the game resumed on Tuesday, RCH came back, but in the end, DSS/Kinheim won 11-10.
As mentioned, this created a tie between Pioniers and DSS/Kinheim, but the first won their head-to-head 3-game series in this part of the season (2-1) to finish in first place.
And so, Hoofddorp Pioniers and DSS/Kinheim advanced to the best-of-three Wild Card Qualifier, which begins on Thursday-evening in Hoofddorp.
L&D Amsterdam Pirates is the leader in the Top-4 Pool.
In the upcoming series, the reigning champion meets HCAW and is one win away from securing a spot in the best-of-three Wild Card Top Series.
A 3-way tie between Pirates, HCAW and Curaçao Neptunus is also possible.
Neptunus plays against Twins Oosterhout, which is eliminated for the first two spots and will play in the Wild Card Bottom Series.
The teams in first and second place will meet in the best-of-three Wild Card Top Series and also secure a spot in the Play-Offs.
The teams in third and fourth place will go to the best-of-three Wild Card Bottom Series.
Both these series are scheduled for Augist 11-14.
In the upcoming Wild Card Qualifier, Pioniers and DSS/Kinheim will decide whom they will meet in the best-of-three Wild Card Bottom Series.
The two teams of the Wild Card Top Series (whether they win or loose the series) then will meet the winners of the Wild Card Bottom Series in the best-of-five Play-Offs (August 18-28).
The winners of those series advance to the Holland Series (first game September 15).
The losing teams of the Wild Card Bottom Series will play a best-of-five Play-Off (August 18-28) for fifth and sixth place.
RCH Memorie Sieraden, Quick Amersfoort and Silicon Storks, the teams that finished in third, fourth and fifth place in the Bottom-5 Pool, will continue their season in a new Pool.
They will meet UVV, Twins Oosterhout-2 and Sparks Haarlem, who respectively finished in first, second and third place in the Top-6 Pool of the First Division.
The six teams will meet each other in 3-games series and play a 15-game schedule.
However, it is not clear what these teams will play for in this Pool.
Before the start of the season, it was announced in the Competition Regulations that this Pool will be played in a pilot-format.
It reads that with that, the experiences and results of this part of the season can be evaluated in order to create a definitive format for the 2023 season.
The first games in this Pool will be played on Thursday, August 18.
Neptunus Tridents, Euro Stars and Omron Pioniers, the teams in fourth, fifth and sixth place in the First Division Top-6 Pool will play four games against each other in their remainder of the season.
The first games in this Pool are scheduled for August 19/20.
Just as is the case in the above mentioned Pool, it is also unclear what the reward is for the winner of this group.
Beneath are the announced starters for the games in the upcoming series.
As always, these assignments can change on game-days.
The record in the first parentheses is of the second half of the season, in the second parentheses is the record of the first half of the regular season.
(August 3)
Rosters
Live play-by-play & live-streams
| TOP-4 POOL |
| Roster | HCAW (10-4-1) (20-4) | vs. |
L&D AMST. PIRATES (10-4-1) (17-6-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers HCAW | G | # | Starting Pitchers Pirates |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 39 | RHP Lars Huijer (7-1) | 1 | 32 | RHP Scott Prins (5-0) | Th. Aug. 4, 7:30 PM, Bussum (1) |
| 14 | RHP Gio de Graauw (4-3) | 2 | 64 | RHP Shairon Martis (6-1) | Sa. Aug. 6, 2:00 PM, Amsterdam (2) |
| 7 | RHP Dennis Burgersdijk (9-1) | 3 | 54 | LHP Nelmerson Angela (5-1) | Su. Aug. 7, 2:00 PM, Bussum (1) |
| (1) - Rob Hoffmann Vallei, Sportpark Zanderijweg, Bussum; (2) - Loek Loevendie Ballpark, Sportpark 'Ookmeer', Amsterdam |
| TOP-4 POOL |
| Roster | CURAÇAO NEPTUNUS (7-7-1) (21-3) | vs. |
TWINS OOSTERHOUT (3-11-1) (12-11-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Neptunus | G | # | Starting Pitchers Twins |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 45 | RHP Juan Carlos Sulbaran (9-2) | 1 | 11 | RHP Koen Postelmans (5-4) | Th. Aug. 4, 7:30 PM, Rotterdam (3) |
| 36 | RHP Aaron de Groot (3-2) | 2 | 10 | LHP Ryan Huntington (4-8) | Sa. Aug. 6, 2:00 PM, Oosterhout (4) |
| 27 | RHP Kaj Timmermans (6-2) | 3 | 6 | RHP Simon Gross (3-4) | Su. Aug. 7, 2:00 PM, Rotterdam (3) |
| (3) - Neptunus Familiestadion, Sportpark Abraham van Stolkweg, Rotterdam; (4) - Sportpark 'De Slotbosse Toren', Oosterhout |
| BEST-OF-THREE WILD CARD QUALIFIER |
| Roster | HOOFDDORP PIONIERS (0-0) (9-3) (7-16-1) | vs. |
DSS/KINHEIM (0-0) (8-4) (11-13) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Pioniers | G | # | Starting Pitchers DSS/Kinheim |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 35 | RHP T'sean Martina (0-0) (3-2) | 1 | 3 | RHP Martijn Schoonderwoerd (0-0) (1-0) | Th. Aug. 4, 7:30 PM, Hoofddorp (5) |
| 38 | RHP Koen van 't Klooster (0-0) (4-1) | 2 | 27 | RHP Nick Boxelaar (0-0) (3-4) | Sa. Aug. 6, 2:00 PM, Haarlem (6) |
| 6 | RHP Yassir Lachkar (0-0) (2-3) | 3 | | to be decided | Su. Aug. 7, 1:00 PM, Hoofdorp (5) |
| (5) - ETO Ballpark, Sportpark Pioniers, Park21, Hoofddorp; (6) - Pim Mulier Stadion, Pim Mulier Sportpark, Haarlem |
| Game 3 will only be played when needed |
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