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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Champion Olympia Haarlem splits with Roef! in season-opener
Nederlands
 MOERGESTEL (Neth.) -
Reigning Dutch champion FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem opened the 2018 season in the Golden League on Saturday (April 14) at the same site where it closed the previous season.
There, the team faced Roef! and split its opening double-header.
On Sunday, September 24, 2017, the team shutout Sparks Haarlem 2-0 to win the Holland Series and capture the Championship-title.
203 days later, the team was shutout itself, as it lost 1-0 against Roef!, which last year made its debut in the highest league and reached the Play-Offs.
For Olympia Haarlem, this was an unexpected start of the new season.
Especially since it played some productive games in the exhibition season.
The team won the international J.C.J. Mastenbroek Tournament in Enschede two weeks ago and the international Jan de Wit Tournament in Haarlem last week.
In the second game, Olympia Haarlem opened the score early and went on to win 5-3.
The last time Olympia Haarlem opened the season with a loss was in 2013.
Five years ago, the team lost both games of a double-header against Terrasvogels with scores of 5-3 and 5-4.
Roef! will play its next two games on Sunday when it plays a double-header against the Talent Team Holland.
(April 14)
Scores
Complete Schedule
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Game 1
While the score remained scoreless in the first five innings, the opener of the 2018 season was not really a pitching-duel between Marjolein Merkx (Roef!) and Mariëlle Vleugels (Olympia Haarlem).
Both teams reached the bases several times, but simply were unable to score.
Olympia Haarlem left ten runners behind, Roef! stranded nine.
Olympia outhit Roef! 5-4.
Besides that, six batters reached first base with a walk.
For Roef!, three batters walked, while two reached on an error.
The lone run in the game was eventually scored in the sixth inning on an error, which followed on a single that was hit by a player, who initially was not on the roster of Roef!
Olympia Haarlem appeared to open the score quickly in the top of the first inning, as it got the bases loaded with only one out off of Marjolein Merkx.
With one out, Bobbi Scheurkogel singled in her first-ever at bat in the Golden League.
The bases then got loaded when Dinet Oosting also singled and Mariëlle Vleugels walked.
That brought Virginie Anneveld in the batter's box, but the experienced powerhitter was called out on strikes.
The inning ended when Rachel van Veen grounded out, meaning three runners were left behidnd.
In the bottom of the first inning, it was Roef! that got into scoring position off of Mariëlle Vleugels.
With one out, Cindy van der Zanden singled and advanced on a wild pitch.
She moved to third base on a grounder by Elizabeth Snow, who made her debut in the Golden League.
Next batter Isa Los walked, but the runners stranded at the corners when Charlotte Drijvers grounded out.
After Olympia was retired in order in the top of the second inning, Roef! again got into scoring position in its second at bat.
With two outs, Naftely Pietersz recorded an infield-hit, then moved to second base when Sterre den Duijn reached on an error.
Den Duijn was added to the roster for today's double-header.
She is a player of Silver League-team De Glaskoning Twins, with whom Roef! has a working agreement.
Twins opens its new season next weekend.
With runners on first and second base, a grounder ended the inning.
Olympia Haarlem got two more runners into scoring position in the third and fourth inning.
With two outs in the third, Dinet Oosting walked and Mariëlle Vleugels singled, but were left behind.
In the fourth, Rachel van Veen led off with a walk and moved on a sacrifice bunt by Stephanie Pearce, but stranded on second base.
Roef! was retired in order in the third, then got two runners on base in the next at bat.
With two outs, Eva van Knegsel and Naftely Pietersz both walked, but a pop-fly ended the inning.
In the fifth inning, both teams saw a baserunner being eliminated.
For Olympia, Dinet Oosting walked with one out, but was caught stealing.
For Roef!, Kim Donkers led off with a single and Elizabeth Snow was hit by a pitch with one out.
Donkers was then forced out on a grounder by Isa Los and strikeout ended the at bat.
Olympia Haarlem stranded another runner in scoring position in the top of the sixth inning.
With one out, Virginie Anneveld and Rachel van Veen walked, but they were left behind.
In the bottom of the sixth, Roef! scored what would be the lone run in the game.
With one out, Eva van Knegsel reached on an error and moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Naftely Pietersz.
Van Knegsel then scored when an outfield-error followed on a single by Sterre den Duijn.
Olympia got one final scoring opportunity in the top of the seventh, but again failed to reach home plate.
With one out, Brenda Beers reached on a bunt-single and moved to second base on a 2-out single by Dinet Oosting.
The inning and the game ended with a grounder.
And with that, Olympia left its sixth runner behind in scoring position.
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| Roef! - FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem 1-0 |
| R | H | E |
| FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem | 000 | 000 | 0 | - | 0 | 5 | 3 |
| Roef! | 000 | 001 | X | - | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| pitcher Olympia Haarlem | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Mariëlle Vleugels, L (0-1) | 6 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | - |
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| pitcher Roef! | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Marjolein Merkx, W (1-0) | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 | - | - |
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Game 2
In the second game, Olympia Haarlem opened the score quickly and led 5-0 halfway the fourth inninng, but the team was outhit 6-5.
Roef! then narrowed the deficit to 5-3 from the fourth inning on, but was unable to also turn this game its way.
American righthander Alyson Spinas-Valainis made her debut for Olympia Haarlem.
She retired the side in the first inning, striking out two hitters.
But she had to throw some additional pitches to strikeout Elizabeth Snow to end the inning.
The American catcher fouled off eight pitches and Spinas needed 13 to eventually strike her out.
In the second inning, Spinas walked lead-off hitter Isa Los, who then stole second base and later stranded on third base.
Hereafter, Spinas retired the next three batters, including two more strikeouts.
In the third inning, she retired the side again, this time on three grounders.
In the meantime, Olympia Haarlem had opened the score off of Tamara Togni, who became the first player from Argentina to play in the highest Dutch league.
The righthander gave up the first run in the top of the first inning.
She then walked lead-off hitter Brenda Beers, who moved on a grounder and scored on a single by Dinet Oosting.
The latter stole second base, but then stranded on third base.
In the second inning, Alyson Spinas reached base herself.
She was listed seventh in the batting order and walked with one out, but was left behind.
Olympia Haarlem took more distance by scoring three runs in the top of the third inning on only two basehits.
Rookie Bobbi Scheurkogel led off with a bunt-single, then the bases got loaded when Dinet Oosting walked and Mariëlle Vleugels reached on an infield-hit.
Virginie Anneveld followed with a force play-grounder, but that ended in an error, which resulted in a run and kept the bases loaded.
Next hitter Rachel van Veen walked to bring in the second run.
That also led to a pitching change, as Togni was replaced by Margot van Eijl, who also was an added player today from the roster of De Glaskoning Twins, just as Sterre den Duijn.
Anneveld was then forced out on a grounder by Alyson Spinas, but that also brought in Vleugels and increased the lead to 4-0.
In the top of the fourth, Olympia Haarlem added another run.
With one out, Brenda Beers tripled and scored on a fielder's choice-grounder by Bobbi Scheurkogel.
In the bottom of the fourth, Roef! was more productive off of Alyson Spinas, who has played for SK Joudrs Praha in the highest Czech league the past few seasons.
With one out, Elizabeth Snow and Isa Los singled.
Snow was then replaced by pinch-runner Bo Horsten, who with this made her Golden League-debut.
The two runners advanced on a wild pitch, then Horsten scored on a passed ball.
That brought Los to third base and she then scored on a grounder by Charlotte Drijvers to make it a 5-2 score.
With two outs, Sophie Verdaasdonk added a single, but was left behind.
In the fifth inning, Roef! narrowed the deficit to 5-3 and got an opportunity to do some more scoring.
With two outs, pinch-hitter Maureen van Poorten singled and the bases got loaded when Cindy van der Zanden also singled and Elizabeth Snow was hit by a pitch.
Next hitter Isa Los walked to bring in Van Poorten.
The inning then ended when Van der Zanden was forced out at the plate on a comeback-grounder by Charlotte Drijvers.
And with that, three runners were left behind.
Olympia Haarlem didn't get into scoring position again in its final two at bats off of reliever Kim Horsten.
Roef! got one final scoring chance in the bottom of the seventh off of Mariëlle Vleugels, who had taken over from Spinas in the previous inning.
With one out, the righthander gave up a single to Kim Donkers and with two outs, she hit Elizabeth Snow with a pitch.
But the inning and the game ended with a foul-out and that earned Vleugels a save.
Elizabeth Snow was hit by a pitch twice in this game and also was hit once in the opener.
Last season, the highest total for a hit batter was five, which was done by Kingsley Avery (Sparks Haarlem) and Annemiek de Rover (DSS).
The latter set the season-record in 2015 when she was hit 15 times.
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| Roef! - FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem 3-5 |
| R | H | E |
| FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem | 103 | 100 | 0 | - | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| Roef! | 000 | 210 | 0 | - | 3 | 6 | 1 |
| pitchers Olympia Haarlem | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Alyson Spinas-Valainis, W (1-0) | 5 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
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| Mariëlle Vleugels, SV (1) | 2 | 2 | - | 1 | - | - |
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| pitchers Roef! | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Tamara Togni, L (0-1) | 2.1 | - | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
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| Margot van Eijl | 2.2 | - | - | 1 | 1 | 1 |
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| Kim Horsten | 2 | - | - | 1 | - | - |
Umpires: HP-Britt Nielandt, 1B-Gerrit-Jan van der Hoeven.
Official Scorer-Rob Schuurman.
Play-by-Play Scorer-Alex van den Berg.
Public Address Announcer-None.
Scoreboard Operator-.
Starting Time-4:20 PM.
Time Played-2:10 hrs.
Site-Sportpark 'Stokeind', Moergestel.
Game Notes:
 Opening Day Regular Season Golden League 2018.
Alyson Spinas-Valainis (Olympia Haarlem), Tamara Togni and Bo Horsten (both Roef!) make their debut in the Golden League.
Weather conditions at game time: Sunny, 16,4° C (61,5° F); wind direction northwest;
wind speed 5 kmh (3,11 mph); wind force 1 Bft; humidity 59%. |
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Copyright © 1997-2018 Marco Stoovelaar / Grand Slam * Stats & News.
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