(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo courtesy of Tex Town Tigers)
 Softball-team of Tex Town Tigers travels to Italy
Nederlands
 ENSCHEDE (Neth.) -
The softball-team of Tex Town Tigers travels to Italy on Thursday (March 17).
There, the team will participate in a tournament as part of its preparations for the upcoming new season in the Golden League.
On Thursday-morning, the team gets together early at its home site in Enschede and from there travels to nearby Dusseldorf in Germany for the flight to Milan in Italy.
On Thursday-afternoon, the team, which travels with 14 players and a staff of four, will conduct a practice session and play an exhibition game against Saronno.
Tex Town Tigers staged its first outdoor practice session of the year last Saturday.
Tex Town Tigers, which reached the Play-Offs last season in its comeback at the highest level, will then participate in the 22nd edition of the Coppa delle Prealpi, which begins on Saturday.
In that event, the Italians teams of Rhibo La Loggia, Saronno, Caronno Rheavendors, Legnano, Thermotechnick Bollate, Labadini Collecchio and Bulls Rescaldina will participate.
It a strong field of participants, as all teams play in the Italian Softball League, except for Saronno and Rescaldina, who play in the Serie A2 (second highest league).
Tex Town Tigers will play in Group A and meets Bollate, Legnano and La Loggia in the preliminary round.
On Saturday, at Bollate, the Enschede-squad opens against Legnano at 2:30, then meets Bollate at 4:30.
On Sunday, also at Bollate, Tex Town Tigers closes the preliminary round against La Loggia.
Depending on its ranking, the team then will play an one-game Play-Off at either Bollate or Caronno Pertusella.
...The big league-squad of Tex Town Tigers for 2016...
...Back row: Stanley Kock (Head Coach), Rob Hassink (Coach),...
...Romy van der Wielen, Shaneequa Kock, Annemiek Jansen, Nadine Marinus,...
...Monique Mooi, Cheyenne Scheffer, Amber Krijgsman,...
...Te Reo Powhiri Matautia & Lindsey Meadows (Pitching Coach)...
...Front row: Myrthe Smid, Isa Los, Aafje van Baal, Anna-Bč Bartels,...
...Laura Wissink, Danielle ten Donkelaar & Marije ten Thij...
(© Photo courtesy of Tex Town Tigers) |
Last weekend, the first series of games, involving only Italian teams, already was played.
On Saturday (March 12) in Group A, Bollate won 3-0 vs. La Loggia, which then registered a shutout itself, winning 4-0 vs. Legnano.
On Sunday (March 13), Bollate registered a convincing 8-2 win vs. Legnano.
In Group B, on Saturday, Saronno won 5-4 in the tie-break against Caronno Pertusella, then also won vs. Rescaldina, 3-1.
On Sunday, Saronno won 4-3 vs. Rescaldina, again in a game that was decided in the tie-break.
In the upcoming weekend, Tex Town Tigers will join Group A, while Collecchio becomes the fourth team in Group B.
The tournament is a joint organization by Softball Malnate, Caronno Softball and Bollate Softball and will be played at various fields in the Milan-area.
It marks the third time that a team from the Netherlands participates in the tournament.
In 2000, Sparks finished in fifth place and in 2011, Robur '58 finished in third place.
(March 16)
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