(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 RCH-Pinguïns opens season with win in record-setting game
Nederlands
  AMSTERDAM / OOSTERHOUT (Neth.) -
Opening Day of a new season is always something special.
You celebrate being back on the field to begin a new year full of action.
Well, Opening Day 2022 really was something special in Amsterdam on Thursday-evening (April 7)!
After a day full of rain and rumors of a cancellation, hard work to the playing field in Amsterdam payed off.
Despite another brief shower some half hour before game-time, the game could be played with a 20-minute delay.
And what a game it was!
A game for the record-books!
A game in which both teams must have thought afterwards what they had witnessed this evening and what had happened.
It was something many will talk about for a long time.
Imagine this.
RCH Memorie Sieraden played in its first big league-game since 2009.
Playing against reigning champion L&D Amsterdam Pirates, the team boldly took an 1-0 lead, but that was brief.
After six innings, Pirates was having a comfortable 18-1 lead and was three outs away from recording a mercy-rule victory.
At moments like that, some spectactors might leave and see how the final score would be when they returned home.
As the leading team, you are ready to pack up your equipment and leave the field.
As the team that is facing such a big deficit, you might think, well, get if over with, make those three outs and also leave the field.
Well, that wasn't the scenario in Amsterdam.
In the top of the seventh, with Pirates leading 18-1, a pitching change was made.
But then, something very remarkable happened.
One batter after another kept reaching base for RCH and the team kept on scoring runs.
The outs couldn't been made.
Not only was the deficit narrowed, it even was erased!
RCH scored a record-setting 23 runs in the top of the seventh to take a 24-18 lead.
Moments later, the game was over (due to the curfew-rule).
The top of the seventh inning lasted longer than the average sun-delay at the site of HCAW in Bussum, as it took some 40 minutes to complete!
There were 28 batters, who recorded only eight basehits.
There were four pitchers on the mound for Pirates.
The first three combined on walking 16 batters, which also is a record.
In the end, it was first baseman Kenny Berkenbosch, who took the mound with one out.
He faced only two batters, whom he both retired (flyout, strikeout).
Overall, the Pirates-pitching issued 20 walks!
Well, what can you say about a game like this?
How is it possible that a team with a 17-run lead can end up empty-handed?
It was even possible for the relievers to give up seven runs and still end the game via the mercy-rule.
But RCH scored 23.
And you can't really call it a rally, due to the many walks that enabled the batters to reach base.
Oh, there was a highlight for Pirates, as Rachid Engelhardt became the first player to hit a homerun in this year's competition.
A complete recap of this memorable game (as well as the others) will be added later and almost surely will include much more records.
In Oosterhout, the game between Twins Oosterhout and Quick Amersfoort started 10 minutes later due to rain and field-maintenance.
Quick won with a 9-2 score.
The other two scheduled games were cancelled due to the rainy weather conditions.
At Rotterdam, Curaçao Neptunus was to play against DSS/Kinheim.
And in Hoofddorp, HCAW was the home-playing team against Hoofddorp Pioniers.
Both games are re-scheduled for Friday-evening.
(April 7)
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