(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Ōgaki Minamo & Henk Seppen)
  Eva Voortman signs professional contract in Japan
Nederlands
...Eva Voortman with Head Coach Kasumi Mizoe...
...after signing a contract to play professionally...
...for Ōgaki Minamo in Japan in 2018...
(© Photo courtesy of Ōgaki Minamo) |
 ŌGAKI CITY, Gifu Prefecture (Japan) -
Netherlands Softball Team-pitcher Eva Voortman has signed an one-year contract with Ōgaki Minamo on Monday (November 13) and will play professionally next year in Japan.
This year, her new team promoted to the First Division, which is the highest division of the Japan Women's Softball League, which is generally recognized as the best league worldwilde.
Eva Voortman is currently in Japan, where she played an exhibition game with her new team against a South Korean-squad last weekend.
On Monday, she was introduced during a well-attended press conference, which also was televised.
The 24-year old lefthanded pitcher, who also is a productive hitter and can play at first base and in the outfield, becomes only the second Dutch player to play softball in Japan, but the first to play at the highest level.
In 1997, Anouk Mels, also a lefthanded pitcher and also a player of the National Team, was the first when she played for Fukujusa.
In recent years, three other Netherlands Team-players played professionally in the American National Pro Fastpitch (NPF).
In 2015, infielder (3rd base) Virginie Anneveld and righthanded pitcher Dagmar Bloeming played for Pennsylvania Rebellion, which then was managed for former Netherlands Team Head Coach Craig Montvidas.
Last season and this year, infielder (short stop) Britt Vonk played for Scrap Yard Dawgs, with whom she won the NPF-title this year.
Eva Voortman started her softbal-career with Centrals in De Bilt.
There, at age 16, she made her debut in the Dutch big league during the 2009 season.
The pitcher played five seasons with Centrals at the highest level (2009-2013).
At the beginning of the last two seasons, she also played for the team of Chipola College in Florida (USA).
Since 2014, the powerhitter, speedy runner and solid pitcher plays for FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem with whom she won the Dutch Championship-title in September.
With Olympia Haarlem, Voortman won the European Cup Winners Cup last year and this season.
...Eva Voortman playing for the Orange...
...during the 2015 European Championship...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In her last five seasons, she batted .360 or higher each time.
She respectively batted .419 (2013), .411 (2014), .435 (2015), .368 (2016) and .447 (2017).
In these years, she won 40 games as pitcher.
This season, Eva Voortman was 6-2 with a 2.83 ERA, pitching for Olympia Haarlem.
She struckout 50 hitters in 47 innings and walked only 14.
She closed the season with a .447 (21-for-47) batting average, scoring 16 runs and batting nine, while stealing nine bases.
In 2015, Voortman was nominated for Most Valuable Player in the Dutch big league.
The same year, she led the league with 23 Stolen Bases.
Eva Voortman plays for the Netherlands National Softball Team since 2011 and appeared in 30 official international games since then.
With the Orange-squad, she played in her first big tournament in 2014 when she was selected for the World Softball Championship in Haarlem (Netherlands).
In 2015, she pitched for the team during the European Championship in Rosmalen (Netherlands), where the Orange ended up in second place.
Last year, Eva Voortman participated with the Netherlands in the World Cup of Softball in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (USA) and the World Championship in Surrey, British Columbia (Canada).
There, the Netherlands wrote history by finishing in fourth place, its hightest ranking ever.
This year, the pitcher was on the preliminary roster for the European Championship in Italy.
However, two months earlier, she sustained a minor foot-injury.
While she was recovered completely from the injury, she was not selected for the final roster for the European Championship.
Next year, Ōgaki Minamo will be one of twelve teams in the First Division.
The top-four will qualify for the Play-Offs (page-system) for the Championship-title.
Head Coach of the team is Kasumi Mizoe, who herself has been a player of the Japanese National Team.
She played against the Netherlands during the 2009 World Cup of Softball in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (USA) and then contributed with a runscoring single in a 4-1 victory for Japan.
Eva Voortman will join her new team early January, then start the new season in March.
Next year, the World Softball Championship will be played in Japan with Chiba being the playing site.
(November 13)
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