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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen & Marco Stoovelaar)
    Olympia Haarlem in final Cup Winners Cup
Nederlands
 OSTRAVA (Czech Rep.) -
On Friday (August 19), FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem has qualified for the all-deciding final of the European Cup Winners Cup, which will be played on Saturday in Ostrava.
After closing the second round with a big 10-1 win against Brasschaat Braves (Belgium) in five innings, Olympia Haarlem faced Legnano (Italy) in the semi-final (or second Play-Off game).
Olympia Haarlem played a strong game and won 3-0 to reach the final and hand the Italians its first loss of the tournament.
In the first Play-Off game, Brasschaat Braves won 5-1 against Therwil Flyers (Switzerland) to reach the backdoor-game on Saturday-morning.
In that game, the Belgians will face Legnano to decide which one of them will become the second finalist.
Other scores today:
Pool C (Championship Round)
Mannheim Tornados (Germany) vs. Therwil Flyers (Switzerland) 1-5; Legnano (Italy) vs. Tempo Praha (Czech Rep.) 4-0.
Pool D (Places 7th-10th)
BCF de Paris (France) vs. Amager Vikings (Denmark) 5-4 (8 inn.); Arrows Ostrava (Czech Rep.) vs. Atlético de San Sebastián (Spain) 5-6.
Play-Offs
Therwil Flyers (Austria) vs. Brasschaat Braves (Belgium) 1-5.
Highlights of these games
(August 19)
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Brasschaat Braves vs. FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem
Olympia Haarlem closed the second round with a big 10-1 win against Brasschaat Braves to decide the final ranking of the top-4.
With the win, Olympia finished in second place, while Tempo Praha ended in third place and Brasschaat finished in fourth.
Legnano already had secured first place on Thursday.
With that, Olympia qualified for the second Play-Off game in which it faced Legnano in the evening.
Olympia Haarlem collected 10 basehits off of four pitchers, including three by Kate Gentile, who again was behind the plate.
Gentile, who this season is one of the coaches of Olympia, was 3-for-3, including a double, scored once and batted in one.
Eva Voortman was 2-for-4, scored twice, batted in one run and was the winning pitcher.
Initially, it was Brasschaat that had the better start.
In the first inning, the Belgian squad got the bases loaded off of Eva Voortman.
With two outs, Eva van Knegsel reached on an error.
Hereafter, Voortman hit both Charlote Haen and Isa Los with a pitch.
But the three were left behind when a pop-fly ended the at bat.
...Kate Gentile...
...3-for-3, double, one run, one RBI...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
In the second inning, Brasschaat opened the score.
Griet De Schrijvere led off with a single and moved on a sacrifice bunt.
With two outs, Wies Ligtvoet singled and when an outfield-error followed, De Schrijvere scored the first run.
However, in this inning, Brasschaat scored its lone run and batted its lone two basehits in this game.
Olympia Haarlem was retired in order in the first and second inning by Dutch pitcher Marjolein Merkx, but then struck with a 6-run rally in the top of the third inning.
It was Kate Gentile, who started the rally with a lead-off single.
She was replaced as pinch-runner by Laura Burggraaf, who this season also is one of the coaches of the Haarlem-team.
With one out, an error followed on a force play-grounder by Maranca Ham, then Eva Voortman followed with a runscoring single to tie the score.
That led to a pitching change, as Griet De Schrijvere took over for Merkx.
Hereafter, no outs were made on a fielder's choice-grounder by Brenda Beers, which loaded the bases.
Dinet Oosting and Mariëlle Vleugels then delivered back-to-back 2-run singles that put Olympia ahead, 5-1.
Moments later, Vleugels scored the sixth run on a single by Kate Gentile, who re-entered as pinch-hitter.
Olympia recorded five hits in this inning, while the Belgian defense committed two errors, but nevertheless, four of the six runs were earned.
Olympia added two more runs in the fourth inning, thanks to a 2-run double by Brenda Beers.
Maranca Ham and Eva Voortman led off with singles, advanced on a passed ball, then scored on the double by Beers.
In the top of the fifth, Olympia Haarlem lifted the lead to 10-1 by again scoring twice.
Pinch-hitter Sandy Lauwers led off with a single, then Kate Gentile doubled.
They respectively scored on a grounder by Tyla Morrison and a sacrifice fly by Maranca Ham.
Leading 8-1, Tyla Morrison took over the pitching for Olympia Haarlem in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The New Zealander retired the side in the fourth and fifth inning to complete the game.
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| Brasschaat Braves - FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem 1-10 (5 inn.) |
| R | H | E |
| FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem | 006 | 22 | | - | 10 | 10 | 2 |
| Brasschaat Braves (Belgium) | 010 | 00 | | - | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| pitchers Olympia Haarlem | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Eva Voortman, W (3-0) | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - |
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| Tyla Morrison | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - |
| pitchers Brasschaat | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Marjolein Merkx, L (2-2) | 2.1 | 3 | - | 2 | 3 | 2 |
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| Griet De Schrijvere | 0.2 | - | - | 3 | 3 | 2 |
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| Nina De Permentier | 1.2 | - | 1 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
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| Lisa Van Raemdock | 0.1 | - | - | - | - | - |
Umpires: HP-Michael Renggli (Switzerland), 1B-Javier Hernández Fuentes (Switzerland), 3B-Beate Utzig (Austria).
Official Scorers-Alexandra Slana (Czech Rep.), Radek Golan (Czech Rep.).
Technical Commissioner-Irene Michielan (Italy).
Starting Time-11:15 AM.
Time-1:35 hr.
Site-Field #2 Arrows Park, Ostrava (Czech Republic).
Game Notes:
Weather conditions at game time: Sunny, 22° C (71,6° F); wind direction southwest;
wind speed 12 kmh (7,8 mph); wind force 3 Bft; humidity 51%. |
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Legnano vs. FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem (Play-Offs)
In the evening, Olympia Haarlem shutout Legnano 3-0 and with that, the team not only reached the all-deciding final, but also handed the Italian squad its first loss of the tournament.
With the win, Olympia Haarlem avoided the backdoor-game and qualified directly for the final, which will be played on Saturday-afternoon, starting at 5 PM.
Legnano now faces Brasschaat Braves (Belgium) on Saturday-morning in the backdoor-game.
Brasschaat eliminated Therwil Flyers in the other Play-Off game by winning 5-1.
So, there is a big chance that Olympia Haarlem again will face Legnano on Saturday in the final.
Olympia Haarlem immediately struck with two runs in the top of the first inning off of experienced international pitcher Greta Cecchetti.
Eva Voortman led off with a bunt-single, then moved on a passed ball.
An error followed on a sacrifice bunt by Brenda Beers, which brought Voortman to third base.
Moments later, she scored the first run on a single by Dinet Oosting.
With one out, Beers and Oosting executed a double-steal, then Shareday Christina followed with a nice sacrifice-squeeze bunt that enabled Beers to score the second run.
Cecchetti retired the side in the second inning, striking out the last two batters.
The Italian National Team-righthander began the third inning with two more strikeouts, but then gave up a double to Dinet Oosting.
Next batter Mariëlle Vleugels was walked intentionally, then both runners were left behind.
After Olympia was retired again in the fourth, an insurance run was added in the fifth.
With one out, Eva Voortman singled and moved on a sac-bunt by Brenda Beers.
She then scored on a single by Dinet Oosting, who was 3-for-4 and batted in two runs.
In the sixth, Shareday Christina led off with a single and Rachel van Veen walked, but this time, the next three Olympia-batters were retired in order.
In the seventh, Monica Perry took over the pitching for Legnano and got three grounders.
Eva Voortman went the distance for Olympia Haarlem.
In this game, she struckout only two batters, but also gave up only two basehits and got a fine support from her defense.
Both Voortman and the Olympia-defense never ran into problems.
Legnano reached second base only once, but that was very briefly.
Voortman retired the side in the first inning, then gave up a lead-off single to Ilaria Pino in the second, but she stranded on first base.
The lefthander retired the side again in the next two innings.
After having retired eleven batters in a row, Voortman gave up a 2-out single to Greta Cecchetti in the fifth inning.
Cecchetti was replaced by pinch-runner Fadwa Ben Karim.
She advanced to second base on a comeback/fielder's choice-grounder by Federica Pasca, but then was eliminated moments later.
In the sixth and seventh inning, Voortman again got three consecutive outs to end the game.
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| Legnano - FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem 0-3 |
| R | H | E |
| FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem | 200 | 010 | 0 | - | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| Legnano (Italy) | 000 | 000 | 0 | - | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| pitcher Olympia Haarlem | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Eva Voortman, W (4-0) | 7 | 2 | - | 2 | - | - |
| pitchers Legnano | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Greta Turati | - (*) | - | - | - | - | - |
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| Greta Cecchetti, L (2-1) | 6 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 1 |
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| Monica Perry | 1 | - | - | - | - | - |
| (*) - Turati was announced as starting pitcher, but was replaced by Cecchetti when top 1st inning began |
Umpires: HP-Beate Utzig (Austria), 1B-Sara Dielen (Belgium), 3B-Michael Renggli (Switzerland).
Official Scorers-Jakub Hauser (Czech Rep.), Romana Kucková (Czech Rep.).
Technical Commissioner-Irene Michielan (Italy).
Starting Time-5:30 PM.
Time-1:44 hr.
Site-Field #1 Arrows Park, Ostrava (Czech Republic).
Game Notes:
Weather conditions at game time: Sunny, 23,5° C (74,3° F); wind direction southwest;
wind speed 12 kmh (7,8 mph); wind force 3 Bft; humidity 41%. |
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Highlights other games
Mannheim Tornados vs. Therwil Flyers
Therwil led 3-0 when it added two more runs in the seventh inning.
Mannheim was held scoreless for six innings by American pitcher Jamie Allred, but her shutout ended in the seventh inning.
Allred struckout nine batters and gave up only three hits.
She also contributed offensively by hitting three basehits, including a double.
Therwil now had to wait for the result of the game between Olympia and Brasschaat to see where they would finish in the top-4.
A win by Brasschaat would create a 3-way tie.
Legnano vs. Tempo Praha
Legnano shutout Praha 4-0 on ten basehits, including three by Clare Warwick, who tripled, batted in two runs and scored once.
Starting pitcher Silvia Durot struckout seven and gave up three hits in five innings, then Monica Perry added two scoreless and hitless innings.
In the second inning, Perry batted in the first run with a single.
Warwick added an RBI-triple in the second at bat.
...Isa Los...
...score-tying single...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
BCF de Paris vs. Amager Vikings.
Paris won 5-4 in eight innings.
The French team led 3-0 after two innings, but the Danish opponent then rallied for four runs in the third.
Paris came alongside immediately.
Four scoreless innings followed, then Paris decided the game in the eighth.
Tie-break runner Florence Sauvage then advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Giulia Bollini, but when a throwing error followed, she also was able to score.
Paris registered only three bashits, but the Danish team (which had six hits) committed five defensive errors.
Paris will meet Amager again on Saturday-morning to decide ninth and tenth place.
Therwil Flyers vs. Brasschaat Braves (Play-Offs)
Brasschaat trailed 1-0 after three innings, but then rallied for five runs in the fourth inning to win.
With that, the Belgian squad reached the backdoor-game on Saturday.
In the fourth, Brasschaat had six basehits, including a single by Isa Los that tied the score.
Hereafter, Brasschaat took the lead on a single by Charlotte Haen.
The team took more distance on a 2-run triple by Ilse van Kerkoerle, who later scored herself on an error.
Winning pitcher Mikayla Endicott struckout eleven batters.
Arrows Ostrava vs. Atlético de San Sebastián
Atlético trailed 5-0 after five innings, but then turned the game its way by scoring six runs in the top of the sixth inning.
The Atlético-defense committed five errors in the third through fifth inning, which resulted in four unearned runs for the Czech squad.
Atlético then struck in the sixth inning on six basehits.
A single by Joanna Pfefferkorn, 2-run double by Estibaliz Alvarez and basesloaded walk for Eider Rodríguez narrowed the deficit to 5-4.
With the bases loaded, Edurne Fernández (who was 3-for-4 with two doubles) delivered a 2-run double that gave Atlético the lead.
Both teams will face each other again on Saturday to decide seventh and eighth place.
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