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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Fred Versluis & Marco Stoovelaar)
 Sparks Haarlem shuts out DSS twice
Nederlands
 HAARLEM (Neth.) -
Sparks Haarlem recorded two shutouts against DSS on Saturday (May 4).
In the opener, Sparks Haarlem won only 1-0, scoring the lone run in the seventh inning.
In the next game, the team won 8-0 in a 4½ inning, mercy-rule game.
It was a chilly day with an average temperature of 7,8 degrees Celsius (46 F) when the first games started with a windchill of 4,2 C (39,6 F).
Besides that, there were some strong winds.
Today was National Memorial Day in the Netherlands.
On May 4, there are several Memorials throughout the country.
At 8 PM, the National Memorial takes place at the National Monument at the Dam Square in Amsterdam.
When May 4 is a day in the weekend, games start earlier.
Mostly at 12 PM, as was the case today.
Not only to finish the double-header in time, but also to enable those who want to attend Memorials to do so.
(May 4)
Schedule, Standings & Scores
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Game 1
In the first game, both the runs and the basehits were sparse in a pitching-duel between veteran Kirsten Scheele (Sparks Haarlem) and Venezuelan María Gómez Mendoza.
Scheele threw a one-hiiter, Gómez gave up only three basehits, but also the lone run in the game.
DSS recorded its lone basehit in the game in the top of the first inning.
With two outs, Jenny Kinburn singled through the left side of the infield, but was caught stealing moments later.
In the second inning, another DSS-runner was caught stealing, which completed a double play.
Dominique Burger led off with a walk, then was caught stealing when next batter Denice van Dijk struckout.
Kirsten Scheele dominated, as she allowed only one more batter to reach base in the remainder of the game, but she also was caught stealing.
That means that no DSS-runner was able to get into scoring position.
After the righthander had retired eight consecutive hitters in a row, Scheele walked Denice van Dijk with one out in the fifth inning.
With two outs, the inning ended when Van Dijk was the third runner to be caught stealing.
Scheele then retired the side again in the next two innings.
...Kendra van Vliet...
...walk-off single...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Sparks immediately got into scoring position in the bottom of the first inning, but was unable to score.
Anne Blaauwgeers led off with a walk, then stole second base with one out and move to third base on a grounder by McKayla Taylor.
Next batter Maxime van Dalen also walked, but a flyout ended the at bat.
In the second inning, a Sparks-runner also was caught stealing.
With two outs, Taisa Kirindongo walked, but was caught stealing moments later.
Anne Blaauwgeers got into scoring position again in the third.
With one out, she walked and with two outs, she stole second base, but was left behind.
The home-team got another scoring opportunity in the bottom of the sixth.
With one out, McKayla Taylor was hit by a pitch.
She advanced on a grounder by Maxime van Dalen, then moved to third base on an infield-hit by Dominique Sprengers, but a pop-fly closed the inning.
And so, it appeared that the game might go into extra innings, as there was still a scoreless tie when the seventh inning began.
But after DSS was retired in order in the top-half, Sparks Haarlem struck in its seventh at bat.
Maaike Blaauwgeers led off with a walk, then moved to third base on a double by Taisa Kirindongo.
With runners on second and third base and first base open, it was not opted to create a force play by walking next batter Kendra van Vliet intentionally and that decision backfired.
While she already appeared in a handful of games in the previous two seasons, Van Vliet still has the rookie-status.
After having fouled off two pitches and on an 1-2 count, she lined fifth delivery to her throught he middle of the infield for a walk-off single that produced the lone run in the game.
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...Left: The bats of Sparks Haarlem are heated up in the dug-out on a chilly afternoon in Haarlem...
...Right: Kirsten Scheele went the distance for Sparks Haarlem and threw an one-hitter... |
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...Left: Anne Blaauwgeers steals 2nd base and slides past short stop Jenny Kinburn in the 1st inning...
...Right: Dominique Burger is tagged out by short stop Feline Poot and caught stealing in a double play in the 2nd inning...
...Watching the play is 2B McKayla Taylor... |
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...Anne Blaauwgeers steals another base in the 3rd inning and avoids the tag of short stop Jenny Kinburn... |
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...Left: Taisa Kirindongo is caught stealing and tagged out by short stop Jenny Kinburn in the 2nd inning...
...Right: Kendra van Vliet hits the game-winning walk-off single in the 7th inning...
(© All Photos: Fred Versluis) |
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| R | H | E |
| DSS | 000 | 000 | 0 | - | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Sparks Haarlem | 000 | 000 | 1 | - | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| (no outs when winning run was scored in the seventh inning) |
| pitcher DSS | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| María Gómez Mendoza, L (2-6) | 6 (*) | 5 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| (*) - Gómez pitched to three batters in the seventh inning |
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| pitcher Sparks | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Kirsten Scheele, W (3-0) | 7 | 9 | 2 | 1 | - | - |
Umpires: HP-Bob Gieskens, 1B-Arjan Rector.
Official Scorer-Ben Goorts.
Play-by-Play Scorer-Marco Stoovelaar.
Public Address Announcer-Ben Goorts.
Scoreboard Operator-Tjitske Schiltman.
Starting Time-11:57 AM.
Time Played-1:26 hrs.
Site-Noordersportpark, Haarlem.
Game Notes:
 Arjan Rector makes his debut as Umpire in the Golden League.
Weather conditions at game time: Partly cloudy, 8,5° C (47,3° F); wind direction north-northwest;
wind speed 37 kmh (23 mph); wind force 5 Bft; humidity 58%. |
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Game 2
The second game remained scoreless in the first two innings, but Sparks Haarlem came close to opening the score in the bottom of the first inning.
In the top of the first inning, DSS got the first baserunner off of starter Rebecca Soumeru.
With one out, Annemiek de Rover struckout, but reached on a wild pitch.
Moments later, she was forced out.
In the next three innings, Rebecca Soumeru retired the side.
In its first at bat off of María Gómez Mendoza, Sparks Haarlem got in scoring position.
Anne Blaauwgeers led off with a bunt-single, then reached third base when a throwing error followed.
But she stranded there, as the next three batters were eliminated.
Sparks Haarlem then struck in the third inning, scoring five runs on four basehits.
All five runs were unearned, as two costly errors contributed.
Kendra van Vliet led off with a single, then Anne Blaauwgeers walked.
With one out, the bases got loaded when McKayla Taylor singled.
Next, a grounder by Maxime van Dalen towards second base appeared to result in a force out at the plate.
However, a throwing error followed, resulting in two runs and runners on second and third base.
A hit by next batter Dominique Sprengers was then missed in the outfield.
That enabled both runners to score, while Sprengers ended up on third base.
She then scored on a single by Feline Poot.
With the score now at 5-0, Anna-Bè Bartels took over the pitching, but gave up an infield-hit to Maaike Blaauwgeers.
With two outs, the two runners moved on a wild pitch, but Bartels then closed with a strikeout.
Sparks Haarlem added three runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Anne Blaauwgeers led off with an infield-hit, stole second base, advanced on a grounder and scored on a triple by McKayla Taylor.
Maxime van Dalen followed with a runscoring single and scored herself on a 2-out triple by Feline Poot to make it an 8-0 score.
In the top of the fifth, Quincy Catsburg took over the pitching for Sparks Haarlem and gave up the lone DSS-basehit.
Denice van Dijk led off with a single and with one out, she reached second base when an error was made on a force play-grounder by Anna-Bè Bartels.
With runners on first and second base, Catsburg closed with two strikeouts.
That also ended the game via the mercy-rule.
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| ...Rebecca Soumeru and Quincy Catsburg pitched for Sparks Haarlem... |
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...Left: Kendra van Vliet and Anne Blaauwgeers advance to 3rd and 2nd base in the 3rd inning...
...In the background, rightfielder Esmee Ames fields the single hit by McKayla Taylor...
...Right: Maxime van Dalen hit a runscoring grounder in the 3rd inning...
(© All Photos: Fred Versluis) |
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| Sparks Haarlem - DSS 8-0 (4½ inn.) |
| R | H | E |
| DSS | 000 | 00 | | - | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Sparks Haarlem | 005 | 3X | | - | 8 | 9 | 1 |
| pitchers DSS | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| María Gómez Mendoza, L (2-7) | 2.1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | - |
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| Anna-Bè Bartels | 1.2 | 2 | - | 5 | 3 | 3 |
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| pitchers Sparks Haarlem | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Rebecca Soumeru, W (3-0) | 4 | 6 | - | - | - | - |
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| Quincy Catsburg | 1 | 2 | - | 1 | - | - |
Umpires: HP-Arjan Rector, 1B-Bob Gieskens.
Official Scorer-Ben Goorts.
Play-by-Play Scorer-Marco Stoovelaar.
Public Address Announcer-Ben Goorts.
Scoreboard Operator-Tjitske Schiltman.
Starting Time-1:53 PM.
Time Played-1:05 hrs.
Site-Noordersportpark, Haarlem.
Game Notes:
Weather conditions at game time: Partly cloudy, 8,5° C (47,3° F); wind direction north;
wind speed 39 kmh (24,2 mph); wind force 4 Bft; humidity 61%. |
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Copyright © 1997-2019 Marco Stoovelaar / Grand Slam * Stats & News.
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