 Euro Stars has to go into a new direction
Nederlands
 CAPELLE a/d IJSSEL (Neth.) -
Euro Stars was hit hard after completion of the season, as the entire team left in the transfer-period, except for one player.
This season, Euro Stars finished in sixth place and secured its big league-place for next season in the 'ranking round'.
After completion of the season, for some reason, players started to leave the team.
Two weeks after completion of the season, Head Coach Ton van Koeverden left and was named the new Head Coach of Twins on September 23.
Initially, some four players were left over, leading to reports that the team would withdraw from the big league for next season, as it could not field a representative team.
The management at Euro Stars was indeed thinking of withdrawing and requested the Federation for a position in the 'Overgangsklasse', one division below the big league.
However, the KNBSB-board rejected this request, as teams that withdraw have to play two divisions lower.
The Euro Stars-board then decided to remain playing in the big league next season and see how far they can get and announced their decision on October 27, four days before the expiration of the transfer-period.
In the end, twelve of the 13 players who were regulars this season left, including two, who retired.
And so Euro Stars will now head into a new direction.
Only one player of this years squad remained with the club, being Davinia de Kwant and she will get company from young, but talented players of the second Euro Stars-team.
Also joining her is the lone newcomer Dominique Harteveld, who played for Blue Hitters this season.
The club is also in contact with some foreign players, both from Europe as the USA.
In the meantime, the club also continues its search for a new coachingstaff and confirmed that it is having talks with some candidates.
...Rebecca Antonissen...
(© Ph: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Righthanded Pitchers Rebecca Antonissen and Daisy Verstappen both retired after the season.
Rebecca Antonissen played in the big league since 2003.
In that year, she played in six games for Birds, where she would play for four seasons.
After having thrown in six games in her first two seasons, Rebecca won her first big league-game during the 2005 season.
2007 was Rebecca's first of four seasons playing for Euro Stars.
There, she also was used more in the batter's box and got 33 at bats, hitting .333, while being 4-10 as pitcher, throwing in 85 innings.
After having played in 20 games in 2008, she played in only 12 last season.
This year, Rebecca played in 21 games for Euro Stars, hitting 0-for-15 and was 2-2 as pitcher, striking out 15 in 51 innings, while walking 28 and giving up 62 hits, finishing with a 3.84 ERA.
...Daisy Verstappen...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Daisy Verstappen also made her debut in 2003 in the big league playing for Birds, where she was a teammate of Rebecca for four seasons.
Besides pitching, Daisy also played at first base and therefore was used more offensively than Rebecca.
In her first full season in 2005, Daisy batted .256 with 23 basehits, eight runs and 15 RBI's.
Daisy joined Rebecca in 2007 to play for Euro Stars and batted .233 in her first season there, while being 6-6 as pitcher, throwing 71 2/3 inning.
But after one season, Daisy went on to play for Centrals in 2008, where she was 2-7.
Last year, Daisy returned to Euro Stars and played in 23 games, while finishing with a 6-7 record and 61 strikeouts.
This season, she played in all 32 regular season-games and batted .224 (17-for-76) with eight runs and eight RBI's.
As a pitcher, she was 6-8 and threw 86 1/3 inning in which she struckout 66 batters and walked 26, while giving up 98 basehits and finished with a 3.57 ERA.
In 2009, Daisy was a member of the preliminary roster of the Dutch National Softball Team.
...Laura Belardinelli...
(© Ph: Marco Stoovelaar) |
American Righthanded Pitcher Laura Belardinelli returned to the USA and will not be back with the team next season.
This season, her first in the Dutch big league, Laura played in 29 games, including 18 as pitcher.
She finished with a 4-9 record and 4.95 ERA, while throwing 65 innings.
Laura struckout 41 batters, walked 33 and gave up 84 basehits.
As a batter, Laura hit .286 (16-for-56) with three doubles, scored three runs and had 10 RBI's, which was the third highest total of the team, a position she shared with Kim Donkers.
Catcher/Infielder Cheryl Hiele, Catcher Ellen Venker and First baseman Kim Donkers all opted to go to Gryphons, which will play in the 'Overgangsklasse' next season, meaning this trio leaves the big league for at last one season.
...Cheryl Hiele...
(© Ph: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Catcher Cheryl Hiele, who also played at third base and in the outfield, made her big league-debut this season, playing in two teams.
For Euro Stars, she played in 16 games, hitting 0-for-26, but scored three runs.
For the Dutch Junior Softball Team, Cheryl played in 14 games and batted .314 (11-for-35), scored one run and had one RBI.
With the Dutch Juniors, Cheryl participated in the European Championship in Vienna (Austria).
Last year, she was a member of the Dutch Juniors that won the silver medal on the World Championship under 17 at Prague (Czech Republic).
At Gryphons, Cheryl will be re-united with André Prins, who was the Manager of the Dutch Juniors in Prague and will be the Head Coach of Gryphons next season.
...Ellen Venker...
(© Ph: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Veteran player Ellen Venker made her big league-debut in 2001, playing for DSC '74.
At DSC '74 (which became Olympia Haarlem a few years ago), Ellen became the regular catcher of the Haarlem-based team.
There, she got two good offensive seasons in 2005 (in which she had a career-high 15 RBI's) and 2006, hitting .327 and .318 respectively.
Ellen left DSC '74 after the 2006 season (in which she had a career-high 35 hits) and went on to play for Euro Stars.
In her first year there, she batted .274, then missed several games due to an injury in 2008.
Therefore, she caught lesser games in the 2009 and 2010 season, when she also played in the outfield.
Last year, Ellen scored a career-high 20 runs.
This season, she played in all 32 regular season-games, hitting .255 (25-for-98), scored 19 runs and had only one RBI.
Ellen played in the Dutch National Softball Team from 2002-2008 and participated with the Orange in the Olympic Games of 2008 in Beijing, one World Championship and three European Championships amongst other events.
...Kim Donkers...
(© Ph: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Kim Donkers made her big league-debut in 2006, playing in nine games for Birds.
From 2007 on, she played for Euro Stars, where she played in all regular season-games in the last three seasons.
In 2008, Kim she was second best hitter with a .290 average and led the team with 31 basehits.
Last year, she again batted .290, but then was fourth best, but led with 21 runs.
This season, Kim was the best hitter of Euro Stars, hitting .376 (38-for-101) and also led the team in runs (10, with Ellen Venker) and basehits (38), while having 10 RBI's.
Also this year, Kim became a member of the preliminary roster of the Dutch National Softball Team and participated with Terrasvogels in the Cup Winners Cup as a pick-up player.
...Celine van Roon... |
...Michelle van Driel... |
| (© Photos: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Catcher/Outfielder Celine van Roon and Outfielder Michelle van Driel both will play for Dutch champion Sparks Haarlem in 2011.
Outfielder Michelle van Driel plays eight years in the Dutch big league.
She made her debut on the highest level in 2003 playing in 18 games and .172 in her first of four years at Birds.
In 2007, Michelle played for Twins, hitting .296 in 31 games for the team from Oosterhout, where she also played in 2008.
Last season, she played in her first season for Euro Stars.
This season, she played in all 32 games, hitting .216 (16-for-74) with nine runs and two RBI's.
Catcher/Outfielder Celine van Roon this year made her debut in the big league, playing in 25 games for Euro Stars.
In her rookie-season, she batted .111 (3-for-27) with two runs and one RBI.
...Daphne Endlich...
(© Ph: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Infielder/Outfielder Daphne Endlich was one of the last players to leave Euro Stars.
She will return to Birds, where she had played through the 2009 season.
This year, Daphne played in her first big league-games for two teams.
For Euro Stars, the second baseman played in 25 games, hitting .151 (8-for-53), scored six runs and had five RBI's.
For the Dutch Juniors, Daphne played in seven games and batted 1-for-12 (.083).
...Anouk van den Heuvel...
(© Ph: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Infielder Anouk van den Heuvel will play for Iber Lengua Terrasvogels in the new season.
The short stop made her big league-debut in 2004, playing in 30 games for Euro Stars, where she then played for seven seasons.
In her rookie-season, she hit .247, but then reached the .300 mark the next year and hit .300 of higher in five of the next six seasons, including the last three.
In 2008, she led Euro Stars with a .329 batting average, then reached a career-high last season with a .360 average, which was the second best of the team, where she was also second best with 32 basehits en 18 RBI's.
This season, Anouk played in 32 games, hitting .325 (27-for-83), hit her first big league-homerun, scored 14 runs, also had 14 RBI's and led the team with 16 walks.
In 2005, Anouk participated with the Dutch National Softball Team in the Canada Cup and this year was a member of the preliminary roster.
...Kirsten Molle...
(© Ph: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Infielder/Outfielder Kirsten Molle next year will play for Twins.
In 2004, she made her big league-debut, playing in one game for Birds, then played her next games in the highest division during the 2006 season, also for Birds.
In 2008, Kirsten played in her first of three seasons for Euro Stars and played in 32 games.
Last year, she played in only six games, but this season, Kirsten played in 25 games and batted .184 (9-for-49), scored four runs and had three RBI's.
...Kirsten Vierdag...
(© Ph: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Infielder/Outfielder Kirsten Vierdag returned to Centrals.
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.
Of the 12 players who are leaving Euro Stars, six have played for Birds in the past.
(November 15)
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