(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Glenn Gervot)
    Netherlands Women's Baseball Team eliminated for Final European Championship
Nederlands
 MONTPELLIER (France) -
The Netherlands Women's Baseball Team was eliminated for the Final of the European Championship on Friday (August 5) after suffering a big 24-9 loss against the Czech Republic.
The second edition of the Women's Championship is organized in Montpellier (France).
The first Championship in 2019 also was hosted in France, then in Rouen.
Three teams then participated and the Netherlands reached the Final, but then lost 5-2 to France.
Eight players who played for the Orange Team in the 2019 Championship, are back with the team this year.
At the Greg Hamilton Baseball Park in Montpellier, the Netherlands Team opened the Championship on Wednesday with a 6-5 loss against France.
In that game, the Netherlands led 4-0 halfway the third inning, but ended up empty-handed.
In the first inning, Sascha Egas reached on an error, then scored on another error.
Three runs were added in the second at bat, thanks to a force play-grounder by Esther Maliepaard and a 2-run single by Anouk Vergunst.
France came back with three runs in the bottom of the third inning, but the Orange Team added another run in the fourth on another runscoring single by Vergunst.
Thereafter, the scoring stopped for the Netherlands, which left eight runners behind.
France came alongside in the fifth inning, then scored the winning run with two outs on a walk-off single by Yasmine Derbal in the bottom of the seventh.
...Zoë Lageweg as starting pitcher against Great Britain...
(© Photo: Glenn Gervot) |
On Thursday, the Netherlands recorded a 12-2, mercy-rule win in five innings against Great Britain, which had opened the day before with a big 27-10 win against the Czech Republic.
In the game against the British, the Orange Team collected only four basehits, including two more by Anouk Vergunst.
However, six British pitchers walked 14 batters, which contributed to the run-production.
Orange-pitchers Zoë Lageweg (2 2/3 inn.), Ciska Welboren (2 inn.) and Simone Willemse (1/3 inn.) threw a combined No-Hitter.
The No-Hitter was the first-ever in a European Championship for Women's Baseball.
But it was Great Britain that scored the first run in the second inning on a basesloaded walk.
The Netherlands answered with three runs in the third at bat, then rallied for six more runs in the fourth.
With a 9-2 lead, the mercy-rule run-difference was reached in the fifth when three more runs were added.
Later on Thursday, the Czech Republic won 11-9 against France.
That meant that all four teams were 1-1 after the first two days.
On Friday, the Netherlands ended up short against the Czechs, losing 24-9.
With that, the team was eliminated for first or second place and thus for the Final.
Like in the first game on Wednesday, the Netherlands initially led.
Trailing 4-0 halfway the first inning, the Orange Team scored six runs in its first at bat.
The Czechs re-took the lead by scoring three runs in the third.
But the Netherlands answered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Both teams scored once in the fourth and so, the Netherlands led 9-8.
However, the Czechs then struck in the next two at bats.
In the fifth, the team scored seven runs, then added a 9-run rally in the sixth and went on to become the first finalist.
In this game, the Netherlands collected six basehits, but also committed six errors, which resulted in nine unearned runs.
Six Dutch pitchers gave up fourteen basehits.
Nathalie Schindeler got two of the six Orange-basehits.
She also scored twice and batted in two runs.
In the final game of the preliminary round, France nipped Great Britain 13-12 to become the second finalist.
The Final will be played on Saturday, starting at 1 PM.
The roster of the Netherlands Team at the European Championship looked as follows:
Pitchers:
Anne Bonneveld, Marieke Crama, Kyra van Genderen (+OF), Nikki Groenemans (+IF), Zoë Lageweg (+1B), Merle Langevoord, Magali de Rooy (+IF), Anouk Vergunst (+IF), Ciska Welboren and Simone Willemse.
Catchers:
Sascha Egas (+IF), Emma Hesp, Vlin Rietema and Nathalie Schindeler (+OF).
Utility Players:
Houda Bakkech, Rosemarijn Beerse, Wendy Bladt, Esther Maliepaard, Cherise Stravers and Floor Wessels.
Coaching-staff:
Martin de Koning (Head Coach), Patrick Schneider (1B Coach), Thijs Bobeldijk (3B Coach), Wybe van Vlokhoven (Pitching Coach).
(August 5)
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