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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen, Rein Merkx, Fred Versluis, Ohio State Univ. & Marco Stoovelaar)
 Roef! strengthen team for Golden League-debut
Nederlands
 MOERGESTEL (Neth.) -
Roef! will make its debut in the highest softball-league next year.
In the transfer-period, the team from Moergestel added eight new players to its roster, including five with big league-experience.
The transfer-period ended at 5 PM on Thursday (December 1).
Amongst the newcomers are Manon van Alebeek, Isa Los and Manoa Weijgertse, who this year captured the title at the European Championship Under-22 in the Czech Republic.
Also playing in that team was current Roef!-player Wies Ligtvoet.
Six players will not return in the team of Roef!, as they all retired.
Five of them came from Belgium, the sixth one from New Zealand.
While Roef! will make its debut in the Golden League next year, almost all players have played at the highest level before, either for other teams or the Talent Team Holland.
They include Charlotte Haen, Ilse van Kerkoerle, Gini Ketelaars, Eva van Knegsel, Wies Ligtvoet, Marjolein Merkx, Sophie Mollee, Maureen van Poorten and Britt Remmers.
The succesfull coaching-staff that led the team to promotion this year remains intact.
Belgian Jeroen Swers will return as Head Coach, while Australian Karen Marr again will be the Pitching Coach.
She also is the Pitching Coach of the Netherlands National Softball Team.
Also assisting Swers are Nathan van der Heijden and Marcel Swarttouw.
This year, Roef! finished in second place of the regular season in the Silver League with an 18-4 record.
Hereafter, the team ended in a tie for first place with UVV in the Promotion Pool.
An one-game tieabreaker between the two teams followed and was won by UVV.
With that, UVV qualified for the Promotion/Relegation Final, while Roef! first had to play in the Promotion/Relegation Play-Off.
In that one-game series, Roef! faced De Glaskoning Twins, which had returned to the big league this season after having promoted a year ago.
Both teams come from the Province of Noord-Brabant and it was Roef! that won the game.
With that, Twins relegated, while Roef! had to face UVV again in the Final.
This time, Roef! won to promote to the Golden League.
Complete overview of all transfers in the Dutch big league
(December 1)
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...Manon van Alebeek...
(© Ph: Fred Versluis) | 
...Kim Donkers...
(© Ph: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Eight players came to Roef! to play for the team in its inaugural big league-season.
They are pitcher Mikayla Endicott, catcher Sophie Verdaasdonk, infielders Manon van Alebeek, Kim Donkers, Kim Hosten, Manoa Weijgertse and Cindy van der Zanden and outfielder Isa Los.
All played in the highest league before, except for Endicott, Verdaasdonk and Hosten.
Manon van Alebeek, who plays at first base, but also can be used as a lefthanded pitcher, this year played for De Glaskoning Twins.
There, she batted .250 (16-for-64) with two doubles and one triple.
She scored three runs and batted in nine.
As a pitcher, Van Alebeek appeared in two games (one start) and was 0-1, throwing 3 2/3 inning.
Van Alebeek also played for the Talent Team Holland.
In that squad, she played in nine games and batted .304, scored two runs and batted in three.
Kim Donkers, who plays at first base and in the outfield, last played in the big league in 2014 when she was with Gryhons, with whom she played in the Silver League this year.
Initially, she retired after the 2013 season when she also played in the big league for Gryphons.
However, she returned in the next season and kept on playing since.
Earlier, Donkers also played in the highest league for Euro Stars and Birds.
...Manoa Weijgertse...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) | 
...Cindy van der Zanden...
(© Photo: Fred Versluis) |
This season, infielder/outfielder Cindy van der Zanden was the fifth best hitter of Oolders Omaco Sparks Haarlem with a .398 batting average (35-for-88) with six doubles and three triples.
She scored 13 runs and batted in 24.
Her 24 RBI's were second best in the squad, while her 35 basehits were third best.
With her transfer to Twins, Cindy van der Zanden returns to a team based in the Province of Noord-Brabant.
Before she played for Sparks Haarlem in 2015-2016, the infielder played for Gryphons.
Van Alebeek, Donkers and Van der Zanden all played together for the same team earlier.
In 2011, 2012 and 2013, they were teammates at Gryphons.
They will be re-united with Marjolein Merkx and Sophie Mollee, who both also played for Gryphons in the same period.
Infielder Manoa Weijgertse appeared in only eight games this year for Oolders Omaco Sparks Haarlem between her two college-seasons in the USA.
She batted .346 (9-for-26) with one double and one triple, scored eight runs and batted in five.
Powerhitter Isa Los was the second best hitter of Tex Town Tigers this season with a .406 batting average (39-for-96) with four doubles, three triples and one homerun.
The outfielder scored 18 runs and batted in 16, while sharing the team-lead with ten walks.
With her 39 basehits, she shared second place, while her 16 RBI's were third best.
...Isa Los...
(© Ph: Marco Stoovelaar) | 
...Mikayla Endicott...
(© Photo: Ohio State Univ.) |
Mikayla Endicott pitched for Gryphons in the Silver League this year after having played for Stars di Staranzano in the Italian Softball League the year before.
The righthanded pitcher played for the University of Oregon in 2009-2011.
In her three seasons there, she was primarily used as reliever and appeared in 57 games (nine starts).
In 122 innings, Endicott struckout 136 batters and 9-7.
In the 2011 season, she was a teammate of rigthanded pitcher Samantha Skillingstad, who later that year played in the Dutch big league for Centrals.
In 2012, she pitched for Ohio State University and was 18-14 with three saves and a 2.56 ERA in 40 games (28 starts) with 189 strikeouts in 197 innings.
In the 2015-2016 season, Mikayla Endicott she was an Assistant Coach at Florida Atlantic University.
There, she assisted legendary softball-coach Joan Joyce, who leads the team for 21 years now.
17-year old Kim Hosten played in the Roef!-Juniors, while 15-year old Sophie Verdaasdonk played in the Twins Talent Group this year.
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Six players retired at the end of the season.
Five of these players came from Belgium, being righthanded pitcher Griet De Schrijvere, catcher Nathalie Hosten, catcher/1B Shauni Thys, infielder Ennia Ballardini and infielder Nina De Permentier.
The sixth player is righthanded pitcher Jasmin Kaiaruna, who is from New Zealand.
All played for Roef! in the past few seasons, while Kaiaruna joined the team for last year's season.
Of this group, Shauni Thys was the lone player with some big league-experience, as she played for Twins in the past.
...Ennia Ballardini... | 
...Griet De Schrijvere... | 
...Nathalie Hosten... | 
...Jasmin Kaiaruna... | 
...Shauni Thys... |
| (© Photos: Rein Merkx) | (© Marco Stoovelaar) |
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Copyright © 1997-2016 Marco Stoovelaar / Grand Slam * Stats & News.
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