Grand Slam
Softball Recaps Canada Cup
July 1, 2006
Compiled and Copyright © 1997-2006 by Marco Stoovelaar

Saturday, July 1
Dutch team opens with win


Dutch team opens with win
Nederlands | Box Score | Play-by-Play
SURREY (Canada) - The Dutch National Softball Team is off to a good start in Canada as it opened the Canada Cup Tournament on Saturday with a 4-2 victory vs. Chinese Taipei on the beautiful Softball City-complex.

Trailing 1-0, the Dutch team scored four runs in the third inning on a 2-run double by Daisy de Peinder and a 2-run homerun by Sandra Gouverneur.
Rebecca Soumeru went the distance for the Dutch squad and gave up only four basehits.
This was only the tenth victory in 37 meetings by a Dutch team vs. Chinese Taipei, which won the bronze medal on the last World Championships in 2002.

Both Taipei and the Netherlands left a runner on second base in the first two innings. In the first at bat, Dutch lead-off hitter Saskia Kosterink singled and moved to second base on a sac-bunt by Lynn Geertman, but then Daisy de Peinder lined out and Sandra Gouverneur struckout to end the inning. But De Peinder and Gouverneur would take revenge two innings later.
Taipei got a runner on second base when Hui-Chuan Chiang doubled with one out. Two flyouts ended the Asian at bat.

In the third inning, Taipei opened the score. Dutch pitcher Rebecca Soumeru walked lead-off hitter Hui-Fang Liu, who then reached third base when next batter Li-Chiu Chang singled. She scored when Meng-Ting Lai followed with a sac-fly. But Soumeru, who this season throw for Macerata in Italy, then struckout the next batter and the inning ended with a pop-fly.

The Dutch squad answered with strong offense and a 4-run rally in the home of the third inning with two outs. With one out, Marjan Smit singled and advanced on a wild pitch by Sheng-Jung Lai. Saskia Kosterink then popped out, but Lynn Geertman reached base when she was hit by a pitch. With runners on first and second base and two outs, Daisy de Peinder drove the ball into the outfield for a 2-run double to give the Dutch team a 2-1 lead. Next batter Sandra Gouverneur, who is playing for Nuoro in Italy this season, then followed with a 2-run homerun to increase the lead to 4-1.

Rebecca Soumeru threw a fine game for the Dutch team. After giving up the single in the third inning, the righthander retired nine batters in a row, before giving up a lead-off single in the sixth inning that would result in the second Taiwanese run. In that at bat, Meng-Ting Lai led off with a single and moved to third base on a one-out single by Chiu-Ching Li. A grounder to first baseman Kristi DeVries was then misplayed, enabling Lai to score. But then next batter Hui-Chuan Chiang grounded into a double play to end the inning.

The Dutch team got another opportunity to add more runs in the sixth inning when it got the bases loaded with only one out, but all three runners were left behind. Sandra Gouverneur led of with a walk, which led to a pitching change. Chia-Yen Wu took over from Hsin-Lin Han, who had relieved starter Sheng-Jung Lai in the fourth inning. Wu was greeted with a single by Marloes Fellinger. The two runners then advanced on a sac-bunt by Kristi DeVries, after which the bases were loaded when Debbie Connor walked. But after Connor was replaced by pinch-runner Femke Haage, Wu recovered and struckout Kinge Bouma and Marjan Smit to end the at bat.
The 4-2 lead would not come in jeopardy, as Rebecca Soumeru retired the side in the seventh to secure the win.
(July 1)


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Last Update: July 3, 2006
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