(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Starting Pitchers coming Play-Off Series
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
On Thursday-evening (September 26), the two best-of-three Play-Off Series open.
Game 2 of the Series will be played coming Saturday.
If needed, Game 3 will be played on Sunday.
In the Play-Offs, reigning champion Amsterdam Pirates meets HCAW and Curaçao Neptunus will play against DSS/Kinheim.
Last weekend, HCAW and DSS/Kinheim won the best-of-three Wild Card Series to advance to the Play-Offs.
HCAW, the number three of the Top-4 Pool, swept UVV, which had finished second in the Bottom-5 Pool.
In the opener on Thursday, HCAW recorded a 4-0 shutout at home, on Saturday, the Bussum-team won 7-5 in Vleuten.
In this game, HCAW led 7-1 after the fourth inning, but stopped scoring.
UVV came back, scored a run in the fifth and added three more in the final two at bats, but ended up short.
In the other Wild Card Series, DSS/Kinheim, which finished in fourth place in the Top-4 Pool, met Oosterhout Twins, the winner of the Bottom-5 Pool.
The opener of that series was a game full of suspence with some unexpected turning of events.
In the top of the ninth, DSS/Kinheim led 2-1 with two outs and Twins-runners on first and third base.
A pop-fly appeared to end the at bat and thus the game.
However, the out was annulled, as a balk was called and so, the runner from third base was awarded home plate, making it a 2-2 score.
By the way, the balk-call led to an ejection.
As DSS/Kinheim didn't score, the game went into extra innings.
But before the tenth inning went underway, is was not clear whether or not the extra innings would begin with runners on first and second base, according to the tie-break rule.
After a 9-minute delay, in which the rules were checked, it was confirmed that the tie-break rule was not in effect in the postseason series (Wild Card, Play-Offs, Holland Series).
No runs were scored in the tenth through twelfth inning.
That also appeared the case in the thirteenth inning.
By the way, with midnight approaching, it was not clear how long the game would continue in case the game would remain tied, whether there was a curfew-time or whether the game indeed would continue until there was a winner.
In case of a curfew and a tie score, the game had to be completed before Game 2 on Saturday.
In the bottom of the 13th, DSS/Kinheim had a runner on third base with two outs.
A grounder towards second appeared to end the at bat and so, the fourteenth inning would follow.
A low throw from the second baseman followed, but appeared to be in time.
However, an 'off-the-bag' call followed, signaling that the first baseman apparently was not in contact with the base when he received the ball.
And so, the runner from third base scored the winning run on what remained a much talked about call.
There is no challenge or video-review system in the Dutch big league.
In Game 2 on Saturday, DSS/Kinheim led 4-0 halfway the fifth inning.
Twins then scored twice in the bottom of the fifth.
Both teams scored in the seventh and so, DSS/Kinheim led 5-3 halfway the eighth inning.
Twins then rallied for six runs to win 9-5 to force a deciding third game.
On Sunday, in Haarlem, DSS/Kinheim struck early and led 8-1 after three innings and appeared to be en route to a big win.
But Twins came back from the fourth inning on.
Trailing 9-4 after four innings, Twins scored twice in the fifth and came alongside in the seventh.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, DSS/Kinheim had the bases loaded.
American righthander Wyatt Lankford was inserted and he closed with a strikeout.
Again, an extra inning was needed to determine the outcome, but this time only one.
In the bottom of the tenth, DSS/Kinheim had runners on second and third base and one out.
An intentional walk was then issued to set up a force play.
But next batter, rookie Colin Broers, then lined the first delivery of Lankford into right/centerfield for a walk-off single!
Another rookie, pinch-runner Joris Meinsma (who is a pitcher) scored the winning run.
DSS/Kinheim won 10-9 and advanced to the Play-Offs.
Curaçao Neptunus and Amsterdam Pirates qualified for the Play-Offs by respectively finishing in first and second place in the Top-4 Pool.
And so, four teams are now left over in the race for the Championship-title.
The winners of the Play-Offs will advance to the best-of-seven Holland Series, which opens on October 5.
Beneath are the announced probable starting pitchers for the Play-Off Series that opens on Thursday-evening, September 26.
As always, these pitching assignments can change on game-days.
(September 25)
Scores, Schedule and Standings
Rosters
Live play-by-play & live-streams
| PLAY-OFF SERIES 1 |
| Roster | CURAÇAO NEPTUNUS (0-0) | vs. |
DSS/KINHEIM (0-0) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Neptunus | G | # | Starting Pitchers DSS/Kinheim |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 37 | RHP Tom de Blok (0-0) (7-1) | 1 | 39 | LHP Rick Rizvić (0-0) (3-6) | Th. Sep. 26, 7:30 PM, Rotterdam (1) |
| 39 | RHP Shairon Martis (0-0) (11-0) | 2 | 58 | LHP Jasper Elfrink (0-0) (4-6) | Sa. Sep. 28, 2:00 PM, Haarlem (2) |
| 88 | RHP Juan Carlos Sulbaran (0-0) (11-0) | 3 | | to be decided | Su. Sep. 29, 2:00 PM, Rotterdam (1) |
| (1) - Neptunus Familiestadion, Sportpark Abraham van Stolkweg, Rotterdam; (2) - Pim Mulier Stadion, Pim Mulier Sportpark, Haarlem |
| PLAY-OFF SERIES 2 |
| Roster | AMSTERDAM PIRATES (0-0) | vs. |
HCAW (0-0) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Pirates | G | # | Starting Pitchers HCAW |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 25 | RHP Pim Vijfvinkel (0-0) (5-3) | 1 | 39 | RHP Lars Huijer (0-0) (8-3) | Th. Sep. 26, 7:30 PM, Amsterdam (3) |
| | to be decided | 2 | 16 | RHP Kaj Timmermans (0-0) (6-4) | Sa. Sep. 28, 2:00 PM, Bussum (4) |
| | to be decided | 3 | | to be decided | Su. Sep. 29, 2:00 PM, Amsterdam (3) |
| (3) - Loek Loevendie Ballpark, Sportpark 'Ookmeer', Amsterdam; (4) - Rob Hoffmann Vallei, Sportpark 'De Sportvallei', Bussum |
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