 Centrals to play with young team in 2011
Nederlands
 DE BILT (Neth.) -
Centrals will play with a much younger team in 2011 than it had this season.
This is the result of nine players leaving the team, including three who retired.
The team added three new players to its roster.
This season, Centrals reached the Play-Offs for the first time in club-history and were close to an upset, as they forced Sparks Haarlem to go all the way in the best-of-five semi-final.
In the end, Centrals lost the series 3-2 to miss the Holland Series and therefore also a chance to qualify for an European Cup-tournament.
Righthanded Pitcher Shadenney Castillo, Infielder Eliza Rikkelman and Infielder/Outfielder Kirsten Vierdag are coming to De Bilt.
...Shadenney Castillo...
(© Ph: Marco Stoovelaar) |
RHP Shadenney Castillo will make her big league-debut next season.
This year, the 17-year old righthander played in her first season for Hoofddorp Pioniers after having played for Blue Hitters in Puttershoek the year before.
Shadenney started her career with ADO in The Hague, before starting a period of four seasons at Blue Hitters in 2006.
Last year, she participated with the Dutch National Junior Team in the 1st World Championship Under 17 in Prague (Czech Republic), where the team won silver.
This year, she was a member of the so-called Dutch Young Orange White Team.
...Eliza Rikkelman...
(© Ph: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Infielder Eliza Rikkelman last year played for First Divisionist Amsterdam Pirates before coming to Olympia Haarlem, where she played this year.
She made her big league-debut this season, playing in 17 games and hitting .130 (3-for-23), scoring three runs and having one RBI.
Eliza also played in the one big league-game for the Dutch Junior Team and was 0-for-2.
...Kirsten Vierdag...
(© Ph: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Infielder/Outfielder Kirsten Vierdag returns to Centrals and comes from Euro Stars.
After coming from HCAW, she made her big league-debut during the 2008 season, playing in two games for Centrals and going 0-for-1.
She then played in 10 games last year, before opting to go to Euro Stars, where she played in 16 games in the regular season, hitting .296 (8-for-27), scoring six runs and having six RBI's.
As a member of the Dutch Junior Team, Kirsten played in six big league-games, hitting 1-for-10 (.100).
Besides that, Kirsten also was a member of the Dutch National Women Baseball Team that participated in the World Championship in Venezuela.
Kirsten started her career in baseball, playing for The Red Caps at Leusden.
...Lisa Sweeney...
(© Ph: Marco Stoovelaar) |
American Righthanded Pitcher Lisa Sweeney probably will be back with Centrals next season.
This year, she played in 20 games, hitting .280 (14-for-50) with four runs and five RBI's.
As a pitcher, she was 6-4, throwing in 11 games.
In 66 1/3 inning, Lisa struckout 68 batters and walked only 19.
She also played an important part during the Play-Offs, keeping the team in the race for the Holland Series.
Centrals also will add some Junior-players to its roster for next season.
Righthanded Pitcher Vendy Draha, Catcher Anne Blaauwgeers, Infielder Silea Bos, Infielder Nikki Harte, Infielder/Outfielder Lotte Holvast and Outfielder Maaike Blaauwgeers all decided to go to another club, while Catcher/1B Amber Dammers, 1B Marieke Brouwer and 3B Maaike van Aarle retired.
...Anne Blaauwgeers...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Bos, the Blaauwgeers-sisters, Van Aarle, Dammers and Holvast were six of the teams seven best hitters this season.
Anne Blaauwgeers and her twin-sister Maaike Blaauwgeers both will play for Alcmaria Victrix next season, which promoted this year.
For both, Alcmaria will be their fourth team in the Dutch big league.
Catcher/Infielder Anne Blaauwgeers made her debut in 2003, playing in seven games for HCAW.
She then played in parts of three seasons for Sparks Haarlem, including a full season in 2007 when she played in 31 games, batted .338 and led the team with five stolen bases.
In 2009, Anne went to play for Centrals and had two successful seasons in De Bilt.
Last year, she batted .384 and led the team in batting average, runs (19), hits (38), triples (5) and stolen bases (12).
This season, Anne was the third best hitter of Centrals with a .288 average (30-for-104), but led the team again in runs (22), hits (30) and stolen bases (21).
Last year, Anne made her debut in the Dutch National Softball Team, with whom she won the European title and this year participated in the World Championship in Venezuela.
...Maaike Blaauwgeers...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Like Anne, Outfielder Maaike Blaauwgeers also played her first big league-games during the 2003 season for HCAW, appearing in four games.
And she joined Anne a year later to play for Sparks Haarlem, where she played in only nine games.
Maaike then played one season in the First Division for Almere '90, before going to Centrals, where she played in her first of three seasons in 2008.
This season, Maaike was the second-best hitter of the team with a .317 (26-for-82) batting average, scored 12 runs and had nine RBI's.
During the 2006 season, the twins played for a travel-ball team in the USA.
This year, Maaike was a member of the preliminary roster of the Dutch National Softball Team.
...Vendy Draha...
(© Ph: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Righthanded Pitcher Vendy Draha and Infielder Nikki Harte decided to go to UVV in Utrecht.
Vendy Draha played in her first games for Centrals in 2007 when she appeared in 19 games, which also were her first in the Dutch league.
As pitcher, she was 0-4 in her first season.
Last year, she was 1-1, playing in 22 games, including seven as pitcher.
This season, her fourth in De Bilt, Vendy played in only nine games, was 0-for-3 offensively and 1-1 as pitcher, throwing in 27 2/3 inning in which she struckout 15 batters, walked 14 and gave up 21 basehits.
...Nikki Harte...
(© Ph: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Nikki Harte made her big league-debut in 2006 when she played in one game for Centrals, whom she is leaving after having played with the squad in five big league-seasons.
After having played in five games in 2007, she became a more regular player the year after.
Last season, Nikki played in all 35 games for the team and batted .108.
This season, the infielder played in 25 games, hit .152 (7-for-46) with three runs and three RBI's, but also led the team with 13 errors.
Infielder Silea Bos will play for Sparks Haarlem next season.
Silea made her big league-debut, while playing in three games for Euro Stars in 2006.
After not having played in the highest league in 2007, Silea returned to the big league while playing for Gryphons in 2008, appearing in only 19 games.
Last season, she also played for Gryphons, which then relegated.
This year, Silea was the leading hitter of Centrals, batting .321 (26-for-81), scoring eight runs and collecting 10 RBI's.
...Silea Bos...
(© Photos:
Marco Stoovelaar) |
...Lotte Holvast... |
Outfielder Lotte Holvast, who also can play in the infield, will play for Iber Lengua Terrasvogels next season.
She made her big league-debut in 2005, playing in five games for Tex Town Tigers, scoring two runs and having one official at bat.
In the next season, she played in 18 games and registered her first big league-hits.
Lotte also was with the team when it won the Dutch title in 2008 and 2009.
In 2008, she played in only 11 games, but then appeared in 27 games last year, hitting .205.
This season, Lotte played for Centrals, setting a career-high with 29 games, 10 basehits and seven runs batted in.
She hit .161 and also scored five runs.
In the first months of this year, Lotte was a member of the preliminary roster of the Dutch National Softball Team.
...Amber Dammers...
(© Ph: Marco Stoovelaar) |
C/1B Amber Dammers, 1B Marieke Brouwer and 3B Maaike van Aarle all retired from the big league-team, but all will remain active players for Centrals next season, as they will play in the second team of the club.
This probably means, that all three probably will return to the big league-team during next season a some point to give the young squad some additional experience.
Catcher/1B Amber Dammers played for Centrals since 2006 after having played in four big league-seasons for Amsterdam Pirates.
In the capital, Amber made her big league-debut in 2002 playing in 35 games and hitting .301 with 28 basehits.
In 2006, she played in 33 games in her first season in De Bilt, hitting only .256.
But a year later, Amber led the team with a .351 average, 26 basehits and 8 RBI's, while committing no errors in 126 total chances.
In the next season, she again was the best hitter of Centrals, hitting .301 and again led the team in RBI's (10).
...Marieke Brouwer...
(© Ph: Marco Stoovelaar) |
This season, Amber hit .185 (15-for-81), scored nine runs and had six RBI's and had another errorless season, being successful in 194 total chances.
At the end of 2008, Amber briefly was a member of the preliminary roster of the Dutch National Softball Team.
1B Marieke Brouwer played in five big league-seasons for Centrals after making her debut in 2006, playing in 31 games and hitting .198.
A year later, Marieke led the team with eight runs.
This season, she played in only eleven games and was 1-for-22 (.045) with her lone hit being a double.
Marieke scored four runs and had one RBI and retired during the season, having played in 141 big league-games for Centrals.
...Maaike van Aarle...
(© Ph: Marco Stoovelaar) |
3B Maaike van Aarle was the most experienced player in the team of Centrals.
In 1997, she made her big league-debut, playing in 40 games for Ducks together with her sister Hanneke van Aarle.
After Ducks relegated from the highest division that season, Maaike remained with the team, but returned to the big league in 2000 when she played in her first of two seasons for DSC '74.
In 2002 and 2003, the infielder played for Amsterdam Pirates, then returned to DSC '74 for the 2004 season.
In 2007, her fourth and last season for the Haarlem-team, Maaike led the squad with a .344 batting average, 33 basehits and 19 RBI's.
She then went on to play in three seasons for Centrals, whom she led with 14 runs in 2008 and with 14 RBI's in 2009.
This year, Maaike played in 30 games, batted .232 (19-for-82), scored nine runs, had nine RBI's and led the team with three doubles.
After having played in 392 big league-games, Maaike retired after completion of the Play-Offs vs. Sparks Haarlem.
In 1998, Maaike was a member of the preliminary roster of the Dutch National Softball Team.
...Molly Yetman... |
...JJ Hartung... |
(© Photo Molly: Marco Stoovelaar)
(© Photo JJ: Fred Versluis) |
Also not returning in De Bilt next season will be Canadian Righthanded Pitcher Molly Yetman and American Infielder Jessica Hartung.
Pitcher Molly Yetman was with the team only in the first part of the season, before returning home.
The righthander threw in eight games and was 3-5 with a 2.73 ERA when she left.
In 48 2/3 inning, Molly struckout 47 batters, walked 12 and gave up 58 basehits.
Before coming to Centrals, Molly pitched for the Wayne State University Warriors in Detroit.
In September and October of this year, Molly pitched for the University of Western Ontario Mustangs in London (Ontario, Canada).
The team remained unbeaten and won the Ontario Intercollegiate Fastpitch Championship.
Infielder Jessica 'JJ' Hartung replaced Molly on the roster for the remainder of the season.
Jessica played in 14 games and batted .357 (15-for-42), including two doubles and the lone homerun for Centrals this season.
She scored nine runs and also had nine RBI's, which was the third highest total of the team, despite playing in only 14 games.
Defensively, she made no errors in 18 total chances.
In 2011, Centrals will be led again by Head Coach Glyniss Kenepa, while Willy van der Lee is returning as his assistant.
(November 15)
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