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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
    Netherlands ends up short twice on Day 2 of European Championship
Nederlands
  LEDENICE / SEZIMOVO ÚSTÍ (Czech Rep.) -
On Day 2 of the 15th Men's Softball European Championship in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands ended up short twice on Tuesday (June 22), losing two games with a one-run difference.
In the afternoon, the Netherlands suffered an unexpected and surprising loss in its first game of the day as the team lost 7-6 to Croatia in Ledenice.
On Tuesday-evening, at the same site, the Orange-squad lost 10-9 in its first-ever game against France.
With the double loss, the Netherlands now shares sixth place with Israel, which will be the first opponent on Wednesday.
In the evening, the Orange Team meets Denmark, which is unbeaten.
With five games left, the Netherlands of course still has chances to reach the Championship Final on Saturday.
Denmark won its third game on Tuesday, which was a big 19-0 shutout against Sweden.
Reigning champion Czech Republic also won its third game on Tuesday-evening.
The team also played against Sweden and recorded a 11-0 victory in 3½ inning.
There is no Play-Off in this tournament.
The teams in first and second place after the Round Robin meet in the Final.
The teams in third and fourth place will play for the Bronze Medal.
The teams in eighth and ninth place also will meet each other on Saturday.
The teams in fifth, sixth and seventh place will play twice against each other on the final day of the event.
The two finalists will qualify for the WBSC Men's World Cup 2022, which will be organized November 26-December 4 next year in Auckland, New Zealand.
The World Cup initially was scheduled for February this year, but was postponed.
(June 22)
Other scores of Day 2
Denmark vs. Sweden 19-0 (2½ inn.); Israel vs. Slovakia 0-7 (6 inn.); Slovakia vs. Lithuania 15-7 (4½ inn.); Czech Republic vs. Sweden 11-0 (3½ inn.).
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Netherlands vs. Croatia
In its first game on Tuesday, the Netherlands faced Croatia.
The countries had faced each other eight times before.
Each time, the Netherlands had won and the team scored 126 runs in these games, while giving up only sixteen.
However, the last time the teams met three years ago during the European Championship in Prague, the Netherlands won only 9-8.
In that game, the Netherlands led 7-2 after two innings, but trailed 8-7 halfway the fifth.
The Orange Team then came alongisde in the fifth and scored the deciding run in the sixth on a single by Enio Kwas, who today was the starting pitcher for the Netherlands.
IN MEMORIAM
...Pero Čizmić...
(1950 - 2021) |
It is a tough and emotional tournament for Croatia, as last week, on June 16, Pero Čizmić, the driving force behind softball in Croatia, passed away at age 70.
For more than 25 years, he played an important role in the development of the sport in this country and he also was the longtime President of the Croatian Softball Association, which he had founded.
Thanks to his involvement, some fourteen years ago, first official softball-facility was opened in Zagreb.
Pero Čizmić also was the co-founder of Softball Klub Span in Zagreb.
He also was involved with Softball Klub Princ Zagreb of which he was the President.
On Monday, Croatia opened the event with a 10-0 shutout-loss against Denmark, then won 5-2 against Slovakia.
The Netherlands began with a huge 25-0 shutout-win against Lithuania in the lone game it played on Monday.
The Orange Team opened the score with two runs in the top of the third, but Croatia answered with three runs in both the third and fourth inning.
All these runs were scored on two 3-run homeruns by third baseman Hrvoje Jerbić, who was 3-for-3 and batted in six runs.
Both team collected eight basehits.
The Orange-batters faced Bruno Kukolja, who proved to be a tough opponent, as the righthander struckout fourteen batters.
On Monday, Kukolja also started against Denmark, but then left after one inning and was the losing pitcher.
Later in the day, he threw a complete game against Slovakia, struckout eleven batters, gave up only three hits and was the winning pitcher.
Today, Kukolja encountered no big problems in the first two innings, but then gave up two runs in the top of the third.
After lead-off hitter Jeff Delfina had walked, Dyron Juaquin followed with a homerun.
The next three batters were retired, two with a strikeout.
Croatia was more productive in its first two at bats off of Enio Kwas, but was unable to score.
The first inning ended with a double play and in the second inning, a runner was tagged out at the plate.
But in the bottom of the third inning, Croatia was more successful, thanks to Hrvoje Jerbić.
First, Kwas walked both Matej Kamenski and Kristijan Belas.
Hereafter, Jerbić homered.
With two outs, Croatia got two more baserunners, then Sontje Angelista took over the pitching from the 53-year old Kwas, who is one of the most experienced players in the team.
Angelista closed with a strikeout, but the Netherlands trailed 3-2.
After Kukolja had strikeout the side in the top of the fourth, Croatia added three more runs in its fourth at bat.
The same three players were involved.
With one out, Kamenski singled and Belas was hit by a pitch.
Hereafter, Jerbić belted his second 3-run homerun to make it a 6-2 score.
The Netherlands was able to come back somewhat in the fifth.
Emeron Lourens led off with a single and Jeff Delfina walked.
Both scored on a following triple by Dyron Juaquin.
With that, the deficit was narrowed to 6-4, there was a runner on third base and there were no outs.
Enough chances to do some more scoring.
However, Bruno Kukolja struckout the next three batters!
In the bottom of the fifth, Croatia added an important insurance run.
With two outs, Matej Kamenski walked and he then advanced to second base, third base and home plate on three consecutive passed balls.
The third one also resulted in a walk for Kristijan Belas.
That brought up powerhitter Hrvoje Jerbić again.
This time, with a runner on first base, Jerbić was walked intentionally to give him no opportunity to do some more damage.
Hereafter, the inning ended with a strikeout, but Croatia led 7-4.
After a scoreless sixth inning, a suspenseful seventh at bat followed.
Jeff Delfina led off with a single, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a 2-out single by Revin Brooks.
Coen Merkx was inserted as pinch-runner for Brooks and he scored all the way from first base when a drive by Glennsig Polonius was missed in the outfield.
With Polonius on second base, Job Kremer walked.
But hereafter, Bruno Kukolja closed the inning and the game with his fourteenth strikeout to seal the win.
The first-ever win of Croatia against the Netherlands!
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| Croatia - Netherlands 7-6 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | | R | H | E |
| Netherlands | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | - | 6 | 8 | 1 |
| Croatia | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | X | - | 7 | 8 | 1 |
| pitchers Netherlands | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Enio Kwas, L (0-1) | 2.2 | - | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
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| Sontje Angelista | 3.1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
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| pitcher Croatia | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Bruno Kukolja, W (2-1) | 7 | 14 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 6 |
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| Homeruns: Netherlands: Dyron Juaquin (2)(3rd,2-run,0 outs,off Kukolja); Croatia: Hrvoje Jerbić 2 (2)(3rd,3-run,0 outs,off Kwas; 4th,3-run,1 out,off Angelista). |
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Netherlands vs. France
France participates in its first European Championship since 1995, the only other time the country played in this event.
Back then, the Championship was organized for the second time and was held in Denmark.
France finished in sixth place in the tournament, which was won by the Netherlands.
France opened the European Championship on Monday with a big 14-0 loss in a 4-inning game against host Czech Republic.
In the evening, France recorded a big 18-3 win in five innings against Sweden.
In the first-ever game between the two countries, France took an early lead, scoring twice in both the first and second inning off of starting pitcher Sontje Angelista.
In the first inning, Anthony Cros led off with a double and scored on an one-out triple by Jacques Boucheron, who later scored himself on a throwing error.
France added two more runs in the second inning, which began with a lead-off homerun by Mathis Guiraud.
Hereafter, Philippe Drouot singled, stole second base, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on an one-out single by Nicolas Garin.
The Netherlands got no scoring opportunities in its first two at bats, then cut the deficit in half in the top of the third off of Sylvain Buvat.
Coen Merkx led off with a double and scored on an one-out single by Jeff Delfina, who himself ended up on third base after an outfield-error.
He then scored with two outs on a double by Revin Brooks.
However, France answered with a 3-run rally with two outs in the bottom of the third inning.
With two outs, Rony Papa walked and Clément Colomes-Le Pichon was hit by a pitch.
The first scored when next batter Mathis Guiraud reached on an error and Philippe Drouot followed with a 2-run single.
Hereafter, Emeron Lourens took over the Dutch pitching.
Now trailing 7-2, the Netherlands scored twice in the top of the fourth.
Glennsig Polonius (lead-off) and Rob Hassink (with one out) both walked and scored on a double by Coen Merkx, but the next two batters were retired.
Again, France reacted immediately, at the team also scored twice in its fourth at bat, thanks to runscoring singles by Lucas Manglé (with one out) and Clément Colomes-Le Pichon (with two outs).
In the fifth, there was another Orange run.
Dyron Juaquin led off with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by Revin Brooks.
The game then turned into a thriller in the top of the sixth when the Netherlands scored three runs.
Jim Wursten led off with a single and scored on a following triple by Rob Hassink.
After Coen Merkx was hit by a pitch and a flyout accounted for the first out, Hassink scored when Jeff Delfina reached on a dropped fly.
Hereafter, Dyron Juaquin hit the ball into leftfield for a single.
Merkx scored and Delfina tried to score the tying run coming from second base.
However, after having rounded third base, he got in a rundown and was eliminated.
A grounder ended the at bat, but the Netherlands had narrowed the deficit to 9-8.
France then scored a deciding insurance run in the bottom of the sixth.
Lucas Manglé led off with a single, stole second base and scored on an one-out single by Clément Colomes-Le Pichon.
That gave France a 10-8 lead when the seventh inning began.
In the top of the seventh, the Netherlands got two quick outs.
Jim Wursten (who was 3-for-4) then homered, but hereafter, a flyout ended the game.
And with that, the Netherlands was left empty-handed for the second time and also suffered an one-run difference loss for the second time.
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| France - Netherlands 10-9 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | | R | H | E |
| Netherlands | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | - | 9 | 11 | 3 |
| France | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | X | - | 10 | 12 | 2 |
| pitchers Netherlands | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Sontje Angelista, L (1-1) | 2.2 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 4 |
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| Emeron Lourens | 3.1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 3 |
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| pitcher France | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Sylvain Buvat, W (2-0) | 7 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 9 | 9 |
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| Homeruns: Netherlands: Jim Wursten (1)(7th,solo,2 outs,off Buvat); France: Mathis Guiraud (1)(2nd,solo,0 outs,off Angelista). |
Umpires:
HP-Thomas Lohnert (Germany), 1B-Jan Svatoš (Czech Rep.), 3B-Tomislav Ozimec (Czech Rep.).
Official Scorers-Michaela Jiráčková (Czech Rep.), Zuzana Vaňková (Czech Rep.)
Play-by-Play Scorer-Lenka Richterová (Czech Rep.).
Technical Commissioner-Goose Gillett (Israel).
Starting Time-6:15 PM.
Time Played-2:12 hrs.
Site-Sharks Bay, Ledenice, Czech Republic (site Žraloci Ledenice).
Game Notes:
 286th international game of the Netherlands Men's Softball Team.
First game in history between the Netherlands and France.
Weather conditions at game time:
Partly cloudy, 23° C (73,4° F); wind direction northeast; wind speed 13 kmh (8,1 mph); wind force 3 Bft; humidity 66%. |
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