(Story & Photos by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Four rookies in Netherlands Softball Team for World Championship
Nederlands
 NIEUWEGEIN (Neth.) -
Juni Francisca, Head Coach of the Netherlands Women Softball Team, has announced the names of the players who have been selected for the upcoming trip to Japan, where the World Championship will be played in August.
The team leaves for Japan on July 19 and then will participate in the Toyota Cup-tournament to prepare for the World Championship.
The players were informed during a practice session on Thursday.
The roster was officially announced on Friday (June 29).
On the roster are four players who will make their debut on a big international event, being pitchers Lisa Hop and Marjolein Merkx, catcher Laura Wissink and outfielder Wies Ligtvoet.
All four will also play in their first international games.
Four veteran players on the roster have played in more than 100 international games.
They are infielder Britt Vonk (127 games), outfielder Chantal Versluis (124), pitcher Rebecca Soumeru (117) and infielder Virginie Anneveld (113).
Vonk started this season in the Golden League playing for Terrasvogels, but returned to the USA last month to play in her third professional season for Scrap Yard Dawgs in the National Pro Fastpitch.
On the roster is another active professional player, being lefthanded pitcher Eva Voortman, who played for Ogaki Minamo in the Japanese Softball League in the first months of the year.
She recently returned home to the Netherlands and is now pitching again for FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem in the Golden League.
There is one other player on the roster with professional experience.
That is infielder Virginie Anneveld, who in 2015 also played in the NPF when she was with Pennsylvania Rebellion.
Unfortunately, veteran players Lindsey Meadows-Oosterveld (pitcher) and Karin Tuk (catcher) are currently injured and were left off the final roster for Japan.
Seven players on the roster play for reigning champion FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem, which is the current leader in the Golden League.
Before the start of the World Championship, the coaching-staff has one more decision to take.
At the moment, there are 18 players on the roster, who all will travel to Japan.
However, the roster has to be trimmed to 17 for the Championship.
The World Championship wil be beld August 2-12 in Chiba (near Tokyo) in Japan.
Two years ago, the Netherlands wrote history by finishing in fourth place at the World Championship in Canada.
That was the highest ranking ever for a Netherlands Team at the global event.
The goal this time is to at least equal this position.
During the World Championship, the games in the Preliminary and Consolation Rounds will be played at three different sites, NASPA Stadium (Narita City), Akitsu Stadium (Narashino City) and ZETT.A.Ball Park (Ichihara City).
The Play-Offs and Finals will be played at the 30,000 seat ZOZO Marine Stadium, which is the home of Chiba Lotte Marines, one of the teams in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
In total, 73 games will be played in ten days.
The team that wins the Championship will become the first team to officially qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Host Japan is automatically qualified.
In total, six countries will participate in the Olympic Softbal Tournament.
Sixteen countries will participate in Chiba, divided into two Pools of eight.
In the Preliminary Round, the Netherlands, which is ranked in eighth place on the WBSC Ranking List, will play in Pool A.
The Orange squad meets the USA (nr. 1), Chinese Taipei (5), Puerto Rico (6), Mexico (7), New Zealand (11), the Philippines (15) and South Africa (35).
Playing Pool B are Japan (2), Canada (3), Australia (4), Italy (9), China (12), Great Britain (14), Venezuela (17) and Botswana (33).
The event opens on August 2 with the game between host Japan and Italy, which follows the Opening Ceremony.
On the next day, the Championship goes into full swing with ten games.
The Netherlands then opens against Puerto Rico at NASPA Stadium.
Three Dutch game-officials also will be active during the World Championship in Japan.
They are Umpire Mariana Prins and Official Scorers Stefan Slinger and Marco Stoovelaar.
The roster looks as follows:
PItchers (6):
Ilona Andringa (FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem), Lisa Hop, Marjolein Merkx (both Roef!), Rebecca Soumeru, Ginger de Weert (both Sparks Haarlem) and Eva Voortman (FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem/Ogaki, Japan).
Catchers (2):
Dinet Oosting (FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem) and Laura Wissink (Tex Town Tigers).
Infielders (5):
Virginie Anneveld, Shareday Christina (both FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem), Maxime van Dalen (Sparks Haarlem), Suka Van Gurp (DSS) and Britt Vonk (Terrasvogels/Scrap Yard Dawgs, USA).
...The staff of the Netherlands Women's Softball Team...
...Emile Kool, Juni Francisca, Bart Hanegraaff, Marcel Schippers,...
...Karen Marr and Harumi Ueda...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Outfielders (4):
Jessie van Aalst, Brenda Beers (both FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem), Wies Ligtvoet (Roef!) and Chantal Versluis (Sparks Haarlem).
Utility Player (1):
Damishah Charles (Roef!).
Coaching Staff:
Juni Francisca (Head Coach), Saskia Kosterink (Bench Coach), Marcel Schippers (Assistant Coach), Karen Marr (Pitching Coach), Bart Hanegraaff (Hitting Coach/Strenghth & Conditioning Coach).
Supporting Staff:
Emile Kool (Physical Therapist), Harumi Ueda (Team Manager).
(June 29)
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