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(Story & Photos by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Sparks Haarlem forced to tie-break, but extends winning streak to 50 games
Nederlands
 SANTPOORT-ZUID (Neth.) -
League-leader Oolders Omaco Sparks Haarlem added two more victories on Saturday (June 6) to extends its record-setting winning streak to 50 games since the start of the 2014 season.
But the winning streak almost ended in the opener of today's double-header against Terrasvogels.
With veterans Nancy Lodder and Margot Mels sharing pitching duties, Sparks Haarlem led 4-1 when the bottom of the seventh inning began, but Terrasvogels then rallied for three runs to force extra innings.
Sparks Haarlem then prevented a loss thanks to a 4-run rally in the eighth inning to win 8-4.
The last time that Sparks Haarlem needed to play a tie-break in the regular season was almost exactly three years ago.
On June 10, 2012, it also was Terrasvogels that forced a tie-break against Sparks Haarlem.
Like today, the game also was the first of a double-header an also was played in Santpoort.
The game remained scoreless for seven innings, then a scoreless eighth inning was added.
Sparks Haarlem then finally won 3-1 in nine innings.
As almost always, there are some similarities in these kind of games.
Both three years ago and today, Rob Veldkamp was one of the umpires and Leo van den Brun was the official scorer.
What the players are concerned, Sparks Haarlem had four players who played in both games, while Terrasvogels had three.
In the second game today, Sparks Haarlem won 7-2 behind the pitching of Kirsten Scheele, who became the first 10-game winner of the season.
(June 6)
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Game 1
With pitcher Dagmar Bloeming and 3B Virginie Anneveld now in the States and pitcher Rebecca Soumeru and infielder Damishah Charles on the disabled list, Sparks Haarlem added four veteran players to its roster a week ago.
Pitchers Nancy Lodder and Margot Mels and infielders/outfielders Marloes Fellinger and Kim Kluijskens joined the team before last weekend's games.
Except for Nancy Lodder, they got into action a week ago.
Today, Nancy Lodder made her comeback in the Dutch big league.
She last pitched in the highest division in 2003.
...Veteran pitchers Nancy Lodder (left) and Margot Mels...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
After they retired from playing at the highest level, these four players kept on playing in a lower level team.
In recent years, they played together in the third team of Sparks Haarlem, which is filled with former big league-players.
And so, when needed, Sparks Haarlem always can add these experienced players, as they remain available to fill in.
Terrasvogels also has some experienced, former players on its non-roster list, who always can be activated when needed.
Sparks Haarlem opened the score in the first at bat.
With one out, Nathalie Gosewehr singled.
With two outs, she scored when Karin Tuk hit the ball into the outfield, where it appeared to be an out-opportunity, but it ended up being a runscoring double.
Nancy Lodder made her first start in the big league in more than 11 years and clearly had to find the strike-zone.
The righthander gave up a lead-off single to Kimberly Jones.
With one out, she walked Jessie van Aalst and Marisèla de Wind to load the bases, but Terrasvogels scored only once in this situation.
The run was scored when Lizzie Clarijs was hit by a pitch.
But then a force out at home followed and the inning ended with a flyout.
Sparks Haarlem re-took the lead in the second inning.
Manoa Weijgertse led off with a walk, moved to third base on an error and scored on a sacrifice bunt by Kiki Draaijer.
But hereafter, Terrasvogels-pitcher Malou van Dusschoten threw four fine innings and held Sparks Haarlem scoreless.
Terrasvogels got a chance of coming alongside in the fourth at bat.
Anouk van den Heuvel led off with a walk and advanced on a sac-bunt by Jeske Meewisse, then the bases got loaded when Jessica Waasdorp and Myrthe Smid also walked.
That led to a pitching change and one veteran replaced another, as Margot Mels took over.
The righthander began with a strikeout, then the inning ended with a pop-fly, leaving three runners behind.
Sparks Haarlem left runners on second and third base in the fifth after Karin Tuk had walked and Areke Spel singled with two outs.
The inning then ended with a great diving catch by Marisèla de Wind in centerfield.
But in the top of the seventh inning, Sparks Haarlem added two unearned runs to take some distance.
Chantal Versluis led off with a walk and moved on a sac-bunt by Nathalie Gosewehr.
With two outs, a drive into the outfield ended in an error, which led to a run.
Next, Areke Spel tripled to bring in the next run and lift the lead to 4-1.
The 3-run lead appeared to be decisive, but then Terrasvogels rallied for three runs to come alongside.
This could have end the winning streak of Sparks Haarlem when Terrasvogels had played an errorless game.
The rally began with a nice bunt-single by pinch-hitter Ella Krommendijk, then Kimberly Jones singled.
A run was then scored when a force play-grounder by Lisa Waasdorp ended in a throwing error and also put runners on second and third base.
The next run was scored on a sacrifice fly by Jessie van Aalst and the score was tied via a nice squeeze sacrifice bunt by Marisèla de Wind.
Hereafter, Lizzie Clarijs walked, but the inning then ended when Anouk van den Heuvel flied out.
And so, the game went into extra innings!
In its first tie-break in three years, Sparks Haarlem rallied for four runs in the top of the eighth inning to take a decisive lead.
Tie-break runner Manoa Weijgertse scored when a sacrifice bunt by Anne Blaauwgeers went errant.
Pinch-hitter Marloes Fellinger then reached on a rare single.
She popped up to short, where short stop Lizzie Clarijs lost the ball in the sun and it landed on her head (luckily, no injuries).
And so, Fellinger was credited with an infield-hit and was replaced at first base by pinch-runner Cindy van der Zanden (who re-entered).
With one out, Chantal Versluis singled in the next run, then Nathalie Gosewehr delivered an RBI-double down the rightfield-line.
A following sacrifice fly by Maxime van Dalen then accounted for the fourth run and lifted the lead to 8-4.
In the bottom of the eighth, regular pitcher Kirsten Scheele took over from Margot Mels to secure the lead.
With Anouk van den Heuvel being the tie-break runner, she retired the side to end the game.
Margot Mels was the winning pitcher, earning her first big league-victory since 2008!
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| Terrasvogels - Oolders Omaco Sparks Haarlem 4-8 (8 inn.)(Game 1) |
| R | H | E |
| Oolders Omaco Sparks Haarlem | 110 | 000 | 24 | - | 8 | 9 | 1 |
| Terrasvogels | 100 | 000 | 30 | - | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| pitchers Sparks Haarlem | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Nancy Lodder | 3.1 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Margot Mels, W (1-0) | 3.2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - |
| Kirsten Scheele | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - |
| pitcher Terrasvogels | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Malou van Dusschoten, L (5-5) | 8 | 7 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 2 |
Umpires: HP-Rob Veldkamp, 1B-Arjan de Wever.
Official Scorer-Leo van den Brun.
Play-by-Play Scorer-Jeanette van Drunen.
Public Address Announcer-Wouter Hoos.
Time-2:07 hr.
Game Notes:
Weather conditions at game time: Sunny, 16,2° C (61,2° F), western wind 24 kmh (14 mph), humidity 44%. |
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...Nancy Lodder started for Sparks Haarlem... | 
...Margot Mels was the winning pitcher... |
...Kimberly Jones makes contact for Terrasvogels... | 
...Malou van Dusschoten pitched for Terrasvogels... |
| (© All Photos: Marco Stoovelaar) |
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Game 2
In the second game, two veterans started at the corners for Sparks Haarlem, as Kim Kluijskens played at first base and Marloes Fellinger at third base.
Kirsten Scheele went the distance for the league-leader and won her tenth game of the season.
Sparks Haarlem rallied for four runs on five hits in the second inning off of starter Anna-Bè Bartels.
The bases got loaded when Marloes Fellinger, Anne Blaauwgeers and Cindy van der Zanden all singled to start the at bat.
A sacrifice fly by Kiki Draaijer then opened the score, followed by a runscoring single by Chantal Versluis.
After a force out accounted for the second out, Kim Kluijskens delivered a 2-run double to make it 4-0.
Three runs were added in the third inning.
Areke Spel led off with a single, then Anne Blaauwgeers reached on a bunt-single with one out.
A following single by Cindy van der Zanden then loaded the bases again.
This time, two runs were scored when Kiki Draaijer and Chantal Versluis both walked.
That led to a pitching change and Malou van Dusschoten took over.
After an infield-fly resulted in the second out, a runscoring walk for Kim Kluijskens followed.
But hereafter, Van Dusschoten ended the inning by striking out powerhitter Karin Tuk with the bases loaded.
Malou van Dusschoten had a strong outing.
She not only held Sparks Haarlem scoreless in the remainder of the game, she also didn't allow a batter to reach base.
Starting with the strikeout, she retired the final 13 batters in order.
After striking out Karin Tuk to end the third inning, Van Dusschoten struckout Areke Spel, Marloes Fellinger and Anne Blaauwgeers in the fourth at bat.
Malou van Dusschoten went the distance in the opener and pitched 4 2/3 inning in this game, as other starter Ginger de Weert is currently sidelined with an injury.
Trailing 7-0, Terrasvogels got two runs back in the bottom of the third inning.
Jessica Waasdorp led off with a single, then Kimberly Jones was hit by a pitch with one out.
With two outs, Jessie van Aalst doubled to bring in both runners.
In the next four innings, Terrasvogels did reach the bases several times, but stranded five runners, including three in scoring position.
In the fifth and sixth inning, Sparks Haarlem turned a double play.
And so, Sparks Haarlem registered its 50th consecutive victory in the regular season since Opening Day 2014!
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| Terrasvogels - Oolders Omaco Sparks Haarlem 2-7 (Game 2) |
| R | H | E |
| Oolders Omaco Sparks Haarlem | 043 | 000 | 0 | - | 7 | 9 | 0 |
| Terrasvogels | 002 | 000 | 0 | - | 2 | 9 | 1 |
| pitcher Sparks Haarlem | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Kirsten Scheele, W (10-0) | 7 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 2 |
| pitchers Terrasvogels | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Anna-Bè Bartels, L (0-2) | 2.1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 7 | 7 |
| Malou van Dusschoten | 4.2 | 6 | 1 | - | - | - |
Umpires: HP-Arjan de Wever, 1B-Rob Veldkamp.
Official Scorer-Leo van den Brun.
Play-by-Play Scorer-Jeanette van Drunen.
Public Address Announcer-Wouter Hoos.
Time-1:51 hr.
Game Notes:
Weather conditions at game time: Sunny, 16° C (60,8° F), western wind 31 kmh (19 mph), humidity 54%.
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|
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...Terrasvogels Head Coach Rob Walgien talks with...
...his players before the start of the game... | 
...Kirsten Scheele won her 10th game of the season...
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...Marloes Fellinger played at 3rd base for Sparks Haarlem... | 
...And Kim Kluijskens was at her familiar position at 1st base... |
...Anna-Bè Bartels started for Terrasvogels...
| 
...1B Anouk van den Heuvel just ends up short catching...
...this line drive; Marloes Fellinger is the runner... |
| (© All Photos: Marco Stoovelaar) |
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Copyright © 1997-2015 Marco Stoovelaar / Grand Slam * Stats & News.
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