(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Dutch National Slowpitch Team)
  Netherlands Slowpitch Team plays first international game against Belgium coming Sunday
Nederlands
  ALMERE / HUIZEN (Neth.) -
The Netherlands National Men's Slowpitch Softball Team will play two official international games coming Sunday, March 25 when history will be written.
The Orange squad, led by Head Coach Danny Bout, then will play a double-header against Belgium at the site of De Zuidvogels in Huizen.
Entrance is free.
For both teams, the games are part of their preparations for the inaugural European Men's Slowpitch Championship, which will take place June 12-16 in Choceň (Czech Republic).
Also this year, the Netherlands team will play again in the European Slowpitch Softball League.
It will be a historic day for the Netherlands Team, as it will play its first-ever international games.
Some years ago, the Netherlands Mixed Slowpitch Team played four games against reigning European Champion Great Britain with games being played in Haarlem, Rosmalen and Zeist.
...The Netherlands Men's Slowpitch Team in 2017...
(© Photo: Dutch National Slowpitch Team) |
Last year, the Netherlands Men's Slowpitch Team finished in third place at the annual Windmill Classic in Almere (Netherlands).
The team then also played several tournaments in the European Slowpitch Softball League.
These tournaments were held in Linz (Austria), Choceň (Czech Republic) and Almere (Netherlands).
Overall, the Netherlands finished in fourth place in the ESSL.
Hereafther, the Orange squad also participated in the ESSL Super Cup in Regensburg (Germany).
There, the team was eliminated in the second round and finished in fourth place in the final ranking.
Since 1998, every two years, there is an European Slowpitch Championship for Mixed Teams.
After 2010, the next event followed in 2011, then every two years again since then.
The first ten editions were won by Great Britain.
Last year, Germany surprised by defeating the British squad 20-9 in the Final to win its first European title.
Since 2007, eight European Mixed Slowpitch Super Cup-tournaments have been organized for club-teams, which were also mostly dominated by British teams.
In September, the Netherlands Mixed Team will participate in the Slowpitch World Series in Cranford, near London (Great Britain).
The team will be led this year by new Head Coach Mojo Temminck.
(March 22)
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