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| Compiled and Copyright © 1997-2023 by Marco Stoovelaar |
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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Hoofddorp Pioniers & Marco Stoovelaar)
  Belgian teams record double-figure wins on first day Frank Maduro Tournament
Nederlands
 HOOFDDORP (Neth.) -
The first edition of the international Frank Maduro Tournament began with a lot of rain.
Due to heavy rain on Friday, the six scheduled games for Saturday (April 1) were all cancelled, but in the end, two games could be played.
Despite the unfavorable weather conditions, the two participating teams from Belgium, Borgerhout Squirrels and (champion) Hoboken Pioneers wanted to come to Hoofddorp to play when possible.
And so, the tournament-committee compiled an alternative schedule for both today and tomorrow.
Today, the two Belgian teams played against the two teams of host Hoofddorp Pioniers.
Borgerhout won 13-7 against the main-team of Pioniers, Hoboken won 19-3 against the second team.
Sparks Haarlem and UVV, who completed the field of participants, will play two games on Sunday when four games are scheduled.
Initially, a game for third and fourth place, as well as a Final were scheduled, but these games were dropped.
Also, games were to last two hours, but in the new schedule, games would last nine innings.
In the original schedule, only the Final would be a 9-inning game with extra innings when needed.
...A lot of work was done to both playing-fields...
...On the photo, players, coaches and groundscrew...
...work together on the main-field on Friday...
(© Photo: Hoofddorp Pioniers) |
Since Thursday, a lot of work was done to the two fields, which were covered by large tarps.
The entire day on Friday and this morning/afternoon, players and coaches of the two Pioniers-teams, as well as the groundscrew, worked hard to prepare the two fields.
As the rain had cleared somewhat in the morning, both fields were playable and so, two games were scheduled to begin at 4 PM today.
At the main-field, Hoofddorp Pioniers would meet Borgerhout Squirrels and at Field #2 of the Pioniers-complex, Omron Pioniers was to play against Hoboken Pioneers.
However, a brief new rain-shower some 30 minutes before game-time made Field #2 unplayable.
It was then proposed (and agreed by everyone involved) to move the game from Field #2 to the main-field to be played after completion of the afternoon-game there.
That is what happened, making it a long day at the field.
The final out of the second game was recorded at 10:13 PM.
The tounament is named after Frank Maduro, who is a longtime contriutor to Hoofddorp Pioniers.
For many years, he has been a coach and instructor in both baseball and softball (youth and adults) and has done many other things for the Hoofddorp-club.
His son Remy Maduro also has played in youth-teams, as well as in the main-squad of Pioniers.
Before today's first game, Frank Maduro threw the ceremonial first pitch.
(April 1)
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Hoofddorp Pioniers vs. Borgerhout Squirrels
...Frank Maduro throws the...
...ceremonial first pitch...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
In what now was the first game of the Frank Maduro Tournament, host Hoofddorp Pioniers led 7-6 in the top of the ninth, but Belgian opponent Borgerhout Squirrels then rallied for seven runs to turn the game around in its favor.
Before the game, Frank Maduro threw the ceremonial first pitch.
Both team scored once in the first at bat.
Pioniers-starter Kaien Oukes walked lead-off hitter Timen Van Geel, who was awarded second base on a balk, moved to third base on an one-out single by Tim Veraghtert, then scored when another balk was called.
Pioniers came alongside moments later off of Squirrels-starter Glenn Mareels in what almost was an equal sequence.
Mareels also walked his first batter, Bodhi de Vreede, who then also moved to second base via a balk-call.
De Vreede advanced on a grounder by Miquel Willem, then scored on a single by Duncan Beljaards.
The Belgians re-took the lead in the third inning.
This time, Jens Boermans led off with a walk, moved on a wild pitch and reached third when Tim Veraghtert reached on an infield-hit.
When next batter Nick Van Thillo grounded into a double play, Boermans scored.
Again, Pioniers answered immediately, this time with three runs, which were all unearned due to three defensive errors.
Bodhi de Vreede and Miquel Willem both reached on an error, which led to runners on first and third base.
In a double-steal situation, De Vreede scored the tying run.
With one out, Vincent Mevissen was hit by a pitch.
Willem and Mevissen then respectively scored on a single by Daan Terstall and a grounder by Dani Heiligers to put Pioniers ahead, 4-2.
In the top of the sixth, it was Borgerhout that scored three runs off of Sem Lauf, who had taken over the pitching in the fourth.
He encountered no problems in his first two innings, but now gave up three unearned runs.
Lead-off hitter Kevin Vervloet reached on an error and advanced on a passed ball.
With one out, pinch-hitter Cedric Vandesompele singled and moments later, Vervloet scored on a wild pitch.
Hereafter, Sander De Saedeleer, also a pinch-hitter, walked.
Vandesompele scored and De Saedeleer ended up on third base when Lauf made a throwing error on a sacrfice bunt by Zion De Brauwer, which made it a 4-4 score.
Hereafter, De Saedeleer scored the next run on another wild pitch, which gave Borgerhout the lead for the second time, 5-4.
That lead was shortlived, as Pioniers again scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning off of Ayoub Fatihi.
Like Pioniers-pitcher Sem Lauf, Fatihi didn't encounter much problems in his first three innings on the mound.
But then, two errors led to three unearned runs in the seventh.
With one out, Bodhi de Vreede reached on an error and got on second base via a balk.
He then advanced on a following grounder by Miquel Willem and scored the tying run when that was followed by a throwing error.
With two outs, Duncan Beljaards and Vincent Mevissen connected for back-to-back doubles, which put Pioniers ahead.
A single by Daan Terstall made it a 7-5 score in favor or Pioniers.
In the top of the eighth, Borgerhout narrowed the deficit to 7-6 off of new pitcher Nick Loos when Zion De Brauwer walked and scored on a double by Timen Van Geel.
In the bottom of the eighth, Pioniers came close to another run off of new pitcher Nick Van Thillo.
He hit lead-off hitter Michael Dumitrescu, but thereafter, two runners were eliminated on the base-paths.
First, Dumitrescu moved to third base on a single by Terrance Heemskerk, who himself was eliminated trying to advance to second base.
Hereafter, Dumitrescu was eliminated when he got into a rundown on a comeback-grounder by Andreas Meijer.
The latter stole second base, but then was left behind.
Trailing 7-6, Squirrels rallied for seven runs in the top of the ninth, which also was delayed some minutes due to an injury.
Reliever Nick Loos ran into problems quickly.
He got the bases loaded when Kevin Vervloet walked, pinch-hitter Matas Sirdegas singled and with runners on second and third base, Cedric Vandesompele was walked intentionally.
Tim Hoflack followed with a single.
Gienco Pacheco Alvarez, pinch-runner for Vervloet, scored the tying run, then Sirdegas also raced towards the plate, where he collided with catcher Duncan Beljaards.
Beljaards was standing close to the plate, but Sirdegas unnecessary ran into him and a hard collision followed.
In the meantime, Vandesompele advanced to third base.
After the collision, a discussion followed between Home Plate Umpire Elvin Englentina and Sirdegas, as well as with some other Belgian players, while players and coaches of Pioniers attended Beljaards.
Englentina then had a talk with his colleague Jeffrey Bentsnijder, who had been the lone Field Umpire since the sixth inning.
Peter de Haan initially had been the 1B Umpire, but he left after five innings to prepare for the next game in which he was the Home Plate Umpire.
After the review between the two umpires had ended, Bentsnijder pointed to the two runners and the bases, which initially made it look like that the runners were put back to their last occupied bases (first and second base), which would mean that an interference-call had been made.
However, that was not the case, the run was declared valid and the pointing was to make it clear that there were runners on third and first base when the game resumed.
After a 6-minute delay, Beljaards returned behind the plate, but after one pitch to next batter Zion De Brauwer, he left the game.
That led to another brief delay, as leftfielder Dani Heiligers became the new catcher and had to put on his gear.
With Borgerhout now leading 8-7, De Brauwer delivered a runscoring single, which led to a pitching change.
Rookie Maarten Smit took over and began with a strikeout.
Hoflack and De Brauwer advanced on a wild pitch, then a walk for Jens Boermans loaded the bases.
Next, two runners scored on a throwing error on a following grounder by Tim Veraghtert, who reached bases for the fifth time and was 4-for-5.
A wild pitch and a grounder by Glenn Van Donick accounted for two more runs and lifted the lead to 13-7.
In the bottom of the ninth, Miquel Willem and Max Vonk (who had replaced Beljaards) both walked.
Vincent Mevissen followed with a line drive, but that was caught.
Nick Van Thillo then struckout the next two batters.
And that ended the long game, which lasted more than three hours.
It was now almost 7:30 PM, time to prepare for the next game on this chilly Saturday-evening.
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| Hoofddorp Pioniers - Borgerhout Squirrels 7-13 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | | R | H | E |
| Borgerhout Squirrels | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | - | 13 | 10 | 5 |
| Hoofddorp Pioniers | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | 7 | 7 | 4 |
| pitchers Borgerhout Squirrels | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Glenn Mareels | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
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| Ayoub Fatihi | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | - |
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| Nick Van Thillo, W (1-0) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - |
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| pitchers Hoofddorp Pioniers | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Kaien Oukes | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
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| Sem Lauf, BS (1) | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - |
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| Nick Loos, L (0-1) | 2 (*) | 1 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
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| Maarten Smit | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | 2 | - |
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| (*) - Loos pitched to five batters in the ninth inning |
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Omron Pioniers vs. Hoboken Pioneers
After their game was moved from Field #2 to Field #1, both teams had to wait more than three hours before they could take the field.
Omron Pioniers was limited to five hits and three runs and also made five defensive errors.
Belgian opponent Hoboken Pioneers scored in all of the seven innings and collected seventeen basehits en route to a convincing 19-3 win.
The wait and (maybe even more so) the cold on this Saturday-evening must have been of influence in this game, as the Pioniers-team faced an early big deficit.
On the other hand, Pioniers also faced Hoboken's pitching-ace Kevin Desmedt, who had a strong outing and struckout twelve batters in the six innings he was on the mound.
The righthander gave up three basehits.
Desmedt also batted himself and was in the batting order as the team's designated hitter, meaning Hoboken used the so-called Ohtani-rule.
Under that rule, a starting pitcher not only can be in the batting order as a hitter, he can stay in the batting order as a designated hitter after being replaced as a pitcher.
The rule is named after Japanese two-way player Shohei Ohtani, who plays in the Major League for Los Angeles Angels.
Offensively, Desmedt was 3-for-4 (double), reached base six times, scored four runs and batted in two.
In previous years, Desmedt pitched for the Belgian National Team during the 2014 European Championship and the 2018 Super6.
He also played in college in the USA in 2015 and 2018.
Hoboken, which has captured the Belgian Championship-title in the past three seasons, rallied for six runs in the top of the first inning off of starter Bas Weijers.
Lead-off hitter Benjamin Goffaux walked, stole second base, advanced on a wild pitch and scored the first run on a following grounder by Wesley Janssen.
With one out, the Belgians got the bases loaded when Lucas Rizzi, Kevin Desmedt and Xander Verspreet all singled.
A walk for Lino Ballardini produced the next run and an error following an infield-fly led to another run.
With two outs, Christoff Peeters connected for a 2-run triple and later also scored on an error.
Hoboken added two runs in the second inning, both unearned as two more errors were made.
With one out, Rizzi and Desmedt reached on errors.
They then scored on a single by Verspreet and a grounder by Ballardini.
Trailing 8-0, Pioniers scored its first run in the bottom of the second inning.
With two outs, Kevin Desmedt gave up a single to Yannick Romeijn, who was awarded second base on a balk.
Desmedt made several different wind-up moves during his stay on the mound.
Sometimes, he balanced on one leg before throwing, then made a 'normal' wind-up on the next delivery, which sometimes looked like a quick-pitch.
Romeijn went on to score on a single by Kevin Karper.
Hoboken Pioneers again scored twice in the third inning, this time on a wild pitch and a grounder.
In the fourth, the Belgians scored their eleventh run off of new pitcher Rob de Beer.
He gave up a lead-off single to Desmedt, but followed with a strikeout.
The bases got loaded when Ballardini and Jason Jie Sam Foek also singled.
Again, De Beer struckout a batter, but a walk for Lieven Buerms then led to a run.
With the bases still loaded, De Beer closed with his third strikeout in this inning.
In the bottom of the fourth, Pioniers scored its second run.
Angelo Wicklert led off with a walk and with two outs, Yannick Romeijn also walked.
Again, it was Kevin Karper, who then delivered a runscoring single.
With a 11-2 lead, Hoboken staged a 5-run rally in the top of the fifth.
Wesley Janssen led off with a single and scored on a double by Lucas Rizzi.
De Beer then got the bases loaded when he hit both Kevin Desmedt and Xander Verspreet with a pitch.
Lino Ballardini followed with a 2-run double.
With runners on second and third base, former pro Swen Huijer took over the Pioniers-pitching.
He got a grounder from Jason Jie Sam Foek, but that also led to a run.
After having stuckout the next batter, an error accounted for another Belgian run and lifted the lead to 16-2.
In the sixth inning, Desmedt delivered a 2-run single.
Moments later, with the bases loaded, Huijer struckout two batters and got an inning-ending grounder.
In the seventh, a 2-out single by Xander Verspreet brought in Hoboken's 19th run.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Brendan Verspreet took over the pitching from Kevin Desmedt.
He had retired the final seven batters he faced, six of them with a strikeout.
Verspreet gave up the third Pioniers-run.
Lead-off hitter Jonas Punselie struckout, but reached on a wild pitch.
He then stole second base and moved to third base on a single by Kevin Karper, who was 3-for-3.
With two outs, Punselie scored on a single by Miles Burleson.
A grounder then ended the game.
And that also ended a long day at the field, as the final out was recorded at 10:13 PM.
But the first two games of the first edition of the international Frank Maduro Tournament were in the books!
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| Omron Pioniers - Hoboken Pioneers 3-19 (7 inn.) |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | | R | H | E |
| Hoboken Pioneers | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | | | - | 19 | 17 | 0 |
| Omron Pioniers | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | | - | 3 | 5 | 5 |
| pitchers Hoboken Pioneers | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Kevin Desmedt, W (1-0) | 6 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
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| Brendan Verspreet | 1 | 3 | - | 2 | 1 | 1 |
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| pitchers Hoofddorp Pioniers-2 | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Bas Weijers, L (0-1) | 3 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 6 |
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| Rob de Beer | 1 (*) | 3 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
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| Swen Huijer | 3 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
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| (*) - De Beer pitched to five batters in the fifth inning |
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Umpires: HP-Peter de Haan, 1B-Fred ter Beek.
Official Scorers-Marco Stoovelaar, Stefan Slinger.
Public Address Announcer-Jason Houtkamp.
Scoreboard Operators-Judith Stoovelaar, Monique Hoogkamer.
Starting Time-7:45 PM.
Time Played-2:28 hrs.
Site-Field #1, ETO Ballpark, Sportpark Hoofddorp Pioniers, Park21, Hoofddorp.
Game Notes:
 Game 2 - 1st Frank Maduro Tournament 2023. |
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