(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
  Sparks Haarlem & Terrasvogels in Play-Offs; DSS wins Pool; Surprise loss Olympia Haarlem
Nederlands
  HAARLEM (Neth.) / CASERTA (Italy) -
Cupholder Oolders Omaco Sparks Haarlem and Terrasvogels have qualified for the Play-Offs (Semi-Finals) of the European Premiere Cup in Haarlem (Netherlands).
At the tournament for the European Cup Winners Cup in Caserta (Italy), DSS became the unbeaten winner of Pool B.
Cupholder FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem finished in second place in Pool A after suffering a loss to Mediterraneo from Malta, which surprises so far and became the unbeaten winner of this Pool, winning all five of its games.
On Wednesday (August 23), Sparks Haarlem recorded a big 19-0 shutout-win against Leksand (Sweden) in the afternoon in 2½ inning.
Leading 3-0, the team rallied for 16 runs in the second inning on ten basehits and eight walks.
Amongst the hits were runscoring triples by Virginie Anneveld and Cindy van der Zanden.
Leonella Elizabeth went the distance and threw a No-Hitter.
She missed a Perfect Game when an error was made with two outs in the last inning.
Chantal Versluis and Maxime van Dalen both batted in three runs.
In the evening, Sparks Haarlem and Terrasvogels played an attractive game.
The match-up was very well-visited, which brought back memories to the Haarlem Softball Week, which unfortunately is no organized anymore.
The international event was organized every two years until some 15 years ago.
Sparks Haarlem led twice, but Terrasvogels came alongside both times.
In the sixth inning, with the score at 2-2, Terrasvogels made a nice double play.
Jenny Kinburn then tried to score on a flyout, but was eliminated at the plate in a close play to end the inning.
A crucial play followed in the bottom of the sixth when Ella Krommendijk was waved home, but might not have a scoring chance.
She ended up short at the plate and was eliminated.
In the eighth inning, Sparks Haarlem rallied for seven runs, which were all unearned due to three costly errors.
Anne Blaauwgeers recorded three hits for Sparks Haarlem.
Earlier in the day, Terrasvogels shutout Brasschaat Braves (Belgium), 10-0 in four innings.
Terrasvogels rallied for six runs in the second inning, highlighted by a 3-run inside-the-park-homerun from Jessica Waasdorp.
In the third inning, Dervisa Mutic added a 2-run homerun.
Winning pitcher Dani Bonnet gave up only three hits.
DSS remained unbeaten in Caserta.
In the morning, the Haarlem-squad won 9-0 against Wesseling Vermins (Germany) in 4½ inning.
The team collected 12 hits, including a 2-run homerun by Maryssa Becker and a 2-run triple by Noa Brand.
Pitchers Amber Johnson and Svenja de Lincel gave up only three hits.
Later in the day, DSS won 14-0 against Horsholm (Denmark) on 20 basehits, including four by Melissa de Greef.
Denice van Dijk was 3-for-3 with a grand slam homerun and batted in seven runs.
Annemiek de Rover also collected three hits.
Svenja de Lincel went the distance and gave up only two hits.
Olympia Haarlem recorded a big 12-4 win in 4½ inning against Hoboken Pioneers (Belgium).
Olympia registered 12 basehits off of Dutch pitchers Anna-Bè Bartels and Kelsey Huijzers, including two by Jessie van Aalst and Brenda Beers.
Olympia scored six runs in the first inning to set the tone.
Mariëlle Vleugels gave up only four hits in five innings.
In the evening, Olympia Haarlem was shutout 2-0 by Mediterraneo (Malta), which scored both runs in the eighth inning.
Olympia Haarlem left 12 runners behind, including the bases loaded in the seventh inning.
In that at bat, Maranca Ham led off with a single, then her pinch-runner advanced on a sacrifice bunt and a grounder.
Some risks were then taken by the Maltese coaching by walking both Jessie van Aalst and Mariëlle Vleugels intentionally to load the bases and create a force play.
A flyout ended the inning.
In the tie-break, a single and a sacrifice fly then produced the two runs for the Maltese team, which includes some (pick-up) players of the Italian National Team.
(complete recaps will be added later)
(August 23)
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