Intercontinental Cup
	Netherlands vs. Cuba Final - November 19, 2006

Compiled and Copyright © 1997-2006 by Marco Stoovelaar

Dutch team wins silver
Nederlands | Box Score | Play-by-Play
TAICHUNG (Taiwan) - The Dutch National Team has won the silver medal in the Intercontinental Cup-tournament in Taiwan. In an exciting final, the team lost 6-3 to title-defender Cuba, which needed eleven inning to accomplish the feat.
Dutch first baseman Sharnol Adriana was named to the Tournament All Star Team afterwards and was the only Dutch player to win an award.

Individual Awards
Most Valuable Player	Yoandry Urgelles (CUB)
Best Hitter	Benjamin Risinger (AUS)
Best Pitcher, ERA	Adam Blackley (AUS)
Best Pitcher, W-L	Shota Oba (JAP)
Most RBI's	Yoandry Urgelles (CUB)
Most Homeruns	Bradley Harman (AUS)
Most Stolen Bases	Kei Nomoto (JAP)
Most Runs	Chung-Shou Yang (TAI)
Outstanding Def. Player	Yoandry Urgelles (CUB)

In an extremely exciting game, the Dutch team took a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Raily Legito then singled and Danny Rombley walked. Moments later, both scored on a double by Eugene Kingsale.
After Cuba reacted with a run in the third inning, Dutch starter Rob Cordemans threw three scoreless innings and allowed only three basehits in six innings. Diegomar Markwell then took over and and while not giving up any basehit, he saw Cuba tie the game in the seventh with an unearned run. The Dutch defense committed four errors in this game.

Tournament All Star Team
LHP	Adam Blackley (AUS)
RHP	Sandy Patrone (ITA)
C	Ariel Pestano (CUB)
1B	Sharnol Adriana (NED)
2B	Yung-Chi Chen (TAI)
3B	Michel Enríquez (CUB)
SS	Naoto Watanabe (JAP)
OF	Yoandry Urgelles (CUB) Frederich Cepeda (CUB) Giorvis Duvergel (CUB)
DH	Massimiliano De Biase (ITA)

As the Dutch team also was unable to add more runs after the second inning, the game went into extra innings and then Cuba took the lead on reliever Tom Stuifbergen. With one out, Giorvis Duvergel Rojas hit a homerun to give Cuba a 4-3 lead. This was only the fourth hit in the game by the Cubans.
But the game wasn't over yet, as the Dutch team came back great to tie the score in the home of the tenth. With one out, Michael Duursma reached base, then scored all the way from first base on a 2-out double into deep rightfield by Dirk van 't Klooster. After this, pitcher Frank Montieh Herrera, who took over in the third and threw seven scoreless inning, giving up only four basehits, was relieved by power-closer Pedro Luis Lazo Iglesias. He ended the at bat, meaning the game went into the eleventh inning.

In the eleventh, Cuba struck and scored three runs. After giving up a lead-off single, Tom Stuifbergen was relieved by Dave Draijer, who gave up another single. The two runners then advanced on a failed pick-off to second base, after which the bases were loaded with an intentional walk. Then, the bases were cleared when Yoandry Urgelles Cobas hit a triple to give Cuba a 6-3 lead. Urgelles was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament, which the awards being named and announced after completion of the preliminary round.
This time, the Dutch team was unable to come back again. But the Dutch squad has played an extremely well tournament and can be very proud of the silver medal, as all Dutch baseball fans are. For the first time in history, they reached the Intercontinental-final and were a contender for gold until the very last moment.

Box Score Netherlands vs. Cuba (Game Nine - Final)

Also on Sunday...
Taiwan won the bronze medal by winning 4-0 vs. Japan. Dutchman Feiko Drost was the lead Official Scorer in this game, while Jan Esselman was one of the Technical Commissioners. Feiko also was one of the three Official Scorers in the Final.
Australia trailed 2-0 after three innings vs. Italy, but then scored in the fourth, fifth and sixth inning to win 3-2 and claim fifth place.
In the morning, Korea won 5-1 vs. the Philippines to finish in seventh place.
(November 19)