(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
  Terrasvogels dethrones Sparks Haarlem; Olympia Haarlem in CWC-Final; DSS in Semi-Final
Nederlands
  HAARLEM (Neth.) / CASERTA (Italy) -
Terrasvogels won 2-1 against Oolders Omaco Sparks Haarlem in the first Semi-Final of the European Premiere Cup in Haarlem (Netherlands) on Friday-evening (August 25).
With the win, Terrasvogels dethroned Sparks Haarlem as Cupholder and advanced to the Bronze Medal-game (backdoor) on Saturday against Joudrs Praha (Czech Republic), which starts at 11 AM.
The winner of that game will qualify for the Final (which starts at 4 PM) and meets Bussolengo (Italy), which became the first finalist on Friday-evening by winning 4-1 against the Czech squad.
With the loss against Terrasvogels, Sparks Haarlem was eliminated.
In Caserta (Italy), FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem became the first finalist of the European Cup Winners Cup by winning 7-1 in the Semi-Final against Mediterraneo (Malta).
Earlier in the day, Olympia Haarlem closed the Play-Off Round with a 6-3 loss against Zraloci Ledenice (Czech Republic).
In its last game in this Pool, DSS shutout Hoboken Pioneers (Belgium) 7-0.
DSS met the Belgian team again in the evening in the first Semi-Final and won 8-1 to reach the Bronze Medal-game (backdoor) on Saturday.
In that game (starting at 1 PM), DSS meets Mediterraneo.
The winner becomes the second finalist and meets Olympia Haarlem in the Final at 6 PM.
On Friday-morning, Joudrs won 5-0 against Therwil Flyers (Switzerland) to decide the ranking for second to fourth place in the round robin of the Premiere Cup.
In the afternoon, Sparks Haarlem closed with a 6-0 win vs. Les Comanches (France), while Terrasvogels ended up just short against Mannheim Tornados (Germany), losing 4-3.
In the first Semi-Final (elimination game), Terrasvogels won 2-1 against Sparks Haarlem.
Terrasvogels scored its first run in the second inning when Rhowan Stuart reached on an error with two outs and scored on a double by Jessica Waasdorp.
The lead was doubled in the fourth in a double-steal situation.
Sparks Haarlem scored its lone run in the sixth on a wild pitch, but also left runners on second and third base.
There were some crucial moments in the game for Sparks Haarlem, including a pick-off at third base in the first inning and a runner being eliminated at the plate in both the fourth and fifth inning.
In Caserta, DSS rallied for four runs in the second inning in the Semi-Final against Hoboken.
Noa Brand and Melissa de Greef batted in three runs, while Areke Spel homered for DSS in the fifth at bat.
Olympia Haarlem scored three runs in the third and sixth inning against Mediterraneo, which earlier in the day suffered its first loss in the tournament, an 8-0 loss against Forlì (Italy).
Brenda Beers went 3-for-3 and scored twice for Olympia, while Jessie van Aalst and Stephanie Pearce both had two basehits.
(complete recaps will be added later)
(August 25)
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