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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar) Rain disturbs exhibition-schedule; Some games cancelled Nederlands BUSSUM / DORDRECHT / HAARLEM / HEEMSTEDE / HOOFDDORP / ROTTERDAM / VLEUTEN (Neth.) / ANTWERP / BORGERHOUT / DEURNE (Belgium) - The weather conditions played a major role in the exhibition-schedule for Saturday (March 25), which led to some cancellations and games moving to other fields. All nine big league-teams had exhibiton-games scheduled for today. However, three of them didn't come into action, as their games were cancelled, as rain in the previous days had made the fields unplayable. With that, the game between Hoofddorp Pioniers and First Division-team Euro Stars was cancelled in Hoofddorp. The same happened with the match-up between UVV and Quick Amersfoort in Vleuten. Curaçao Neptunus played two 7-inning games against Bonn Capitals from Germany. Initially, one game was to be played, but it was decided to cancel Sunday's game and play twice today. Neptunus won with scores of 7-1 and 5-2. RCH Memorie Sieraden was to organize the seventh edition of its Ringvaart Tournament. However, the home-field in Heemstede also had become unplayable due to the rain in the previous days and all three scheduled games were cancelled. Besides host RCH-Pinguïns, Dutch champion HCAW and previous champion Amsterdam Pirates were to be the other participating teams. As these two teams wanted to play, they decided to move their game to HCAW's home-site in Bussum. There, only four innings were played (due to the weather-conditions) and HCAW won, 1-0. At the Pim Mulier Stadium, all three scheduled games of the fourth Wim Oosterhof Tournament could be played as scheduled. Host DSS/Kinheim recorded a 10-1 win against First Divisionist Omron Pioniers. The second team of Pioniers then also lost to Sparks Haarlem with a 5-1 score on this windy afternoon. In the third game, Sparks Haarlem also won with a 5-1 score against the second team of DSS/Kinheim. In Borgerhout and Deurne, suburbs of Antwerp (Belgium), the third edition of the annual Johan Veraghtert Tournament was scheduled There, Twins Oosterhout played twice in Pool A of the tournament and met two Belgian teams. Twins first lost 3-2 to Brasschaat Braves, then won 7-5 against Borgerhout Squirrels. With that, Twins advanced to the Championship Round, which will be played on Sunday. However, not of the site of Borgerhout, but instead at the site of Antwerp Eagles, where the games also were played today. At Dordrecht, all four scheduled games of the annual Rob Noorlander Tournament could be played as scheduled. No big league-teams participated in this tournament. (March 25)

Curaçao Neptunus vs. Bonn Capitals German champion Bonn Capitals traveled to the Netherlands to play two exhibition games against Curaçao Neptunus today and tomorrow. However, due to the weather conditions, it was decided to cancel Sunday's game and play a double-header of two 7-inning games today instead. Both games were played on Field #2 of the Neptunus-complex in Rotterdam instead of the main-stadium. Neptunus won both games, 7-1 and 5-2. Bonn Capitals is the third German team to travel to the Netherlands in the past few weeks to play against big league-teams. Earlier, Cologne Cardinals and Hamburg Stealers traveled to Amsterdam to play against Amsterdam Pirates. Hamburg also played a game against RCH Memorie Sieraden in Amsterdam. Last weekend, Amsterdam Pirates played three games in Cologne, while HCAW then played twice in Bonn. Today, another German team was in the Netherlands, as Solingen Aligators played against the second team of HCAW. Initially, a double-header was scheduled, but a long 11-inning game was played instead. No other details of these games are available (yet).

7th Ringvaart Tournament As mentioned, RCH Memorie Sieraden was to organize the seventh edition of the Ringvaart Tournament at its home-site in Heemstede. However, on Friday, it was decided to cancel the games, as rain had made the field unplayable. At that moment, no decision was made yet regarding the games on Sunday, but in the late aftenoon on Saturday, it was decided to also cancel the three scheduled games for the second day of the tournament. Besides host RCH-Pinguïns, HCAW and Amsterdam Pirates were the other participating teams in this years tournament. HCAW and Pirates wanted to come into action and so, they decided to move their game to HCAW's home-site in Bussum. Both also were to play against the host-club, but those games were not played. After it was decided that the field in Heemstede also would be unsuitable for Sunday, HCAW put on helping hand again. It was proposed to both Pirates and RCH-Pinguïns to move the Sunday-games also to Bussum. Everyone agreed and that means that the three Sunday-games will be played at the site of HCAW. Today, only HCAW and Amsterdam Pirates played their game in Bussum. HCAW asked (club-)umpire Tom Huisman to lead the game and he did so in his own. However, due to the unfavorable weather-condtions, the game had to be halted and only four games were played. HCAW was the lone team to have a player cross home-plate and 'won' 1-0. ,,We had to stop because of the weather, we couldn't continue playing, so I don't really see it as a loss'', Pirates Head Coach Mervin Gario looked back to today's 'game'.

4th Wim Oosterhof Tournament Host DSS/Kinheim was the lone big league-team to participate in the fourth edition of the Wim Oosterhof Tournament. The tournament is named after club-icon Wim Oosterhof, who was a longtime boardmember and contributor to the Haarlem-based club Kinheim. Mister Oosterhof passed away in 2021. Also participating this year are three teams from the First Division: the second team of DSS/Kinheim, Omron Pioniers, which is the second team of Hoofddorp Pioniers, and Sparks Haarlem. In the opening-game, DSS/Kinheim recorded a 10-1 win against Omron Pioniers in a game that lasted 4½ inning. DSS/Kinheim had a productive outing off of Pioniers-pitchers Peter Hegeman and Bas Weijers. Amongst the basehits of DSS/Kinheim were two triples by Sem Kuijper. Martijn Schoonderwoerd started for DSS/Kinheim and threw the first two innings. He was then succeeded by Jemail Streedel and Nick Boxelaar. ,,When you think that this game already started at 10 AM and the weather wasn't that favorable, this was a fine game'', DSS/Kinheim's Head Coach Etienne Meijer said. In the afternoon, the wind became much stronger and blew across the field of the Pim Mulier Stadium. Pioniers-starter Erik Remmerswaal was bothered by the wind in the game against Sparks Haarlem. He is known for his fine control, but due to the wind, some of his pitches ended outside the strikezone, leading to some walks. Rob de Beer and Siebe van Pelt also pitched for Pioniers, which ended up empty-handed and lost 5-1. In the third game today, Sparks Haarlem also won 5-1 against the second team of DSS/Kinheim.

3rd Johan Veraghtert Tournament Borgerhout Squirrels and Deurne Spartans jointly organize the annual Johan Veraghtert Tournament again at their home-sites. The tournament is named after Johan Veraghtert, the longtime groundskeeper at the site of Borgerhout, who passed away in 2018. The tournament was first organized by Borgerhout in 2019 with the participation of four Belgian clubs, but then was cancelled due to measures against the coronavirus (COVID-19) in 2020 and 2021. Last year, the tournament returned, the second edition was organized and games were then played again at both Borgerhout and Deurne. Twins Oosterhout then participated for the first time, as did Amsterdam Pirates. This year, Twins Oosterhout is the lone team from the Netherlands in the tournament. Also coming from outside Belgium is Cologne Cardinals from Germany. Four teams from Belgium complete the field of participants: Borgerhout Squirrels, Brasschaat Braves, Deurne Spartans and reiging Belgian champion Hoboken Pioneers. Due to the weather conditions, the games that were scheduled to be played at the site of Borgerhout Squirrels were moved to that of Antwerp Eagles. In February, the site of Borgerhout was completely renovated with new grass and a new infield. To protect that, the team already played at Deurne a week ago. However, due to the weather conditions, the site of Antwerp Eagles also was not that playable, but the games could be played. In 1983, the Interncontinental Cup-tournament was played at the site of Antwerp Eagles. Twins lost its first game with a 3-2 score to Brasschaat Braves, then won its next game against Borgerhout Squirrels, 7-5. In the first game, the Twins-defense made five errors. That led to the three runs of Brasschaat, which collected only three basehits. On the other side, the Twins-offense was unable to break through the defense of the Belgian opponent. Koen Postelmans started for Twins and struckout four batters in the four innings he pitched. Terrence Garcia (three strikeouts) then threw the next three innings. In the second game, Twins clearly had a better outing at the plate and won against Borgerhout in a 6-inning game. Pitchers Raf Cocu and Simon Gross both threw three strong innings. Cocu struckout four batters and gave up three basehits, Gross struckout seven and kept the Belgian opponent hitless. Twins collected eight basehits, including homeruns by Jerzy van Gool and Railison Bentura. With that, Twins advanced to the Championship Round, which will be played on Sunday. As mentioned above, the games in this round will be played at the site of Antwerp Eagles.

Rob Noorlander Tournament At the site of host The Hawks in Dordrecht, the annual Rob Noorlander Tournament was organized and four games were played. No big league-teams participate in this event, which is named after Rob Noorlander, former player and contributor of the club. However, Storks, which played in the highest league last year, was one of the participants. By the way, The Hawks itself also played some seasons in the big league. Both lost their games today. First, Storks lost 8-2 to Schiedam, then closed the day with a narrow 8-7 loss against Jeka. Schiedam and Jeka also won their first game in which both faced The Hawks. Schiedam opened with an 11-2 win, while Jeka won 10-5. With that, Schiedam and Jeka both reached the Final of the tournament, which is scheduled for Sunday.

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