(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Olympia Haarlem and Sparks Haarlem in Holland Series
Nederlands
 HAARLEM (Neth.) -
FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem won 6-2 against Roef! in the final game of the Play-Off Round on Thursday-evening (September 21).
This was a make-up game, as it was originally scheduled to be played last Saturday but then rained out.
With the win, both Olympia Haarlem and reigning champion Oolders Omaco Sparks Haarlem qualified for the best-of-three Holland Series.
With the loss, Roef! was eliminated.
When Roef! would have won, it would have created a 3-way tie between Roef!, Olympia Haarlem and Sparks Haarlem.
The final score of tonight's game would then have become of influence for the Team Quality Balance, which would have decided the final ranking, as the head-to-head results would have created a new 3-way tie.
Last Tuesday, Sparks Haarlem eliminated Terrasvogels.
Olympia Haarlem and Sparks Haarlem also met in the Final two years ago when the Holland Series was only a best-of-one.
Sparks Haarlem then won 3-1.
Tonight, American Ellen Roberts made her third start for Olympia Haarlem, which won all three games in the Play-Off Round.
She was the winning pitcher last Sunday twice.
Tonight, Eva Voortman took over with two outs in the fourth inning to become the winning pitcher.
Leading 1-0, Olympia rallied for five runs in the third inning to decide the game.
Four of the runs were scored with two outs.
In the at bat, there were only three hits, but also four walks and two runscoring wild pitches.
Coming Saturday, the teams will play the first game of the Holland Series.
Game 2 and if needed Game 3 will be played on Sunday.
All games will be played at the site of Roef! in Moergestel, which will host the Season's Finals Weekend.
That also includes the games for promotion/relegation in the Golden League, Silver League and First Division.
The competition-responsibles were saved tonight by the results of several make-up games that were played in the Silver League and First Division.
In the Silver League Promotion Pool, De Glaskoning Twins nipped Birds 7-6 after the latter had won the first game on Tuesday with a 17-16 score.
With that, Birds was eliminated.
At the same time, Euro Stars lost only 5-4 to league-leader Hoofddorp Pioniers after having won 9-2 on Tuesday, meaning Euro Stars also was eliminated.
With this, Twins finished in second place.
In case, Euro Stars also had won tonight, a tiebreaker-game would have to be played on Friday (!), as the number 2 team has to play on Saturday-morning in Moergestel!
Twins now will play against DSS on Saturday in the Golden League/Silver League Promotion/Relegation Play-Off.
The winner meets Silver League-champion Hoofddorp Pioniers on Sunday.
In Meppel, Quick Amersfoort won 11-4 against Caribe to finish in second place in the First Division.
With the win, Quick finished one point ahead of Hilversum Hurricanes.
In case the Quick vs. Caribe game would have finished in a tie, a tiebreaker-game would have to be played between Quick and Hilversum on Friday, as the number two also has to play on Saturday in Moergestel.
Quick now meets HCAW in the Silver League/First Division Promotion/Relegation Play-Off.
The winnner meets First Division-champion Gophers on Sunday in the best-of-one Final.
HCAW finished in fourth place in the Silver League Relegation Pool, as Ban-Topa Future Stars lost on Wednesday (and tonight) against UVV.
With that, Ban-Topa relegated.
In case, Ban-Topa would have won twice against UVV, it would have finished in a tie with HCAW, resulting in another tiebreaker-game on Friday.
(complete recap of the Olympia Haarlem vs. Roef! game will be added soon)
(September 21)
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