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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen & Rein Merkx)
 Champion Olympia Haarlem splits with Roef! on Opening Day
Nederlands
 HAARLEM (Neth.) -
Reigning champion FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem opened the 2019 season in the Golden League at home with a double-header split against Roef! on a very cold Saturday-afternoon (April 13).
Olympia Haarlem won the opener with a 6-3 score after trailing 2-1 halfway the fifth inning.
Roef! then won the next game, 7-3.
It was a very cold day today.
The average temperature was 6,5 degrees C (43,7 F), but the windchill was only 3,4 C (38,1 F).
Steven Manson made his debut as Head Coach of Olympia Haarlem, which was led by Stanley Doney in the previous four seasons.
Both Manson and Doney are from New Zealand.
Manson last year was the Head Coach of Silver League-team Euro Stars.
Since 2010, Olympia Haarlem is led by a foreign coach.
Before Doney, American Caroline Powell coached the team for five seasos.
Last year, Olympia Haarlem and Roef! also faced each other on Opening Day and then also split their double-header, which then was played in Moergestel.
That was almost exactly a year ago, as those games were played on April 14.
Roef! then won the opener with an 1-0 score and Olympia won the next game, 5-3.
Since the clubname changed to Olympia Haarlem in 2008 after a merger, the team had either split or lost twice on Opening Day in its first five seasons.
The team played in First Division in 2009 after it relegated in the previous season.
In 2013, the team was swept on Opening Day by Terrasvogels, but in the next four seasons (2014-2017), Olympia Haarlem opened the season with two victories.
(April 13)
Schedule, Standings & Scores
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Game 1
In the opening game, Olympia Haarlem collected 11 basehits, including four by lead-off hitter Eva Voortman, who scored three runs.
Dinet Oosting had three hits, including a homerun, and batted in three runs.
Last season, Olympia Haarlem opened the season without Voortman, who then played in Japan.
Today, the team had to do without regular 3B Virginie Anneveld and pitcher Ilona Andringa, who are both injured.
On the other hand, outfielder Jessie van Aalst was with the team after having started her season with Parma in the Italian Softball League a week ago.
Outfielder Brenda Beers also plays for Parma this season, but she was not in Haarlem today.
It was Roef! that opened the score in the top of the first inning off of Mariëlle Vleugels, who went the distance for Olympia Haarlem.
She hit lead-off hitter Wies Ligtvoet with a pitch.
After having stolen second base, Ligtvoet moved to third base on a single by Kim Donkers, which was the first basehit of the 2019 Golden League-season.
The first runs were scored simultaneously in the game between DSS and Terrasvogels in Haarlem and in the Twins Oosterhout match-up vs. Tex Town Tigers in Oosterhout.
In this last game, the first homerun of the 2019 also was hit.
Moments later, Ligtvoet scored on a single by Cindy van der Zanden, but two runners were left behind.
Olympia Haarlem came alongside immediately in its first at bat off of starter Rachael Knapp.
Eva Voortman and Dinet Oosting led off with singles, then executed a double-steal with one out.
The tying run was then scored on a sacrifice fly by Jessie van Aalst.
Roef! re-took the lead in the second inning when Eva van Knegsel and Charlotte Drijvers opened with back-to-back doubles.
Olympia got into scoring position in the third and fourth inning, but was unable to score.
In the third, Eva Voortman singled with one out, advanced on an error and a flyout, but stranded on third base.
And in the fourth, Mariëlle Vleugels doubled with one out and was left on second base.
In the fifth inning, both teams were productive.
Both left three runners behind, but Olympia scored twice to take 3-2 lead.
...Dinet Oosting hit a 3-run homerun for Olympia Haarlem...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the top of the fifth, Sophie Verdaasdonk and Wies Ligtvoet (bunt) opened for Roef! with singles.
Verdaasdonk was then forced out on a bunt by Kim Donkers.
With two outs, the bases got loaded when an error was made on a force play-grounder by Elizabeth Snow, but a grounder then ended the inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, Olympia scored twice.
First, Roef!-starter Rachael Knapp struckout the first two batters, but she then gave up a triple to Eva Voortman, who scored the tying run when Dinet Oosting followed with a single.
A pop-fly by Rosanne de Vries then ended in an error.
That brought Oosting to third base and she scored the go-ahead run on a following single by Jessie van Aalst.
Hereafter, the bases got loaded when Mariëlle Vleugels walked, but a foul-out ended the inning.
Olympia took more distance in the sixth inning and again scored with two outs.
This time, three unearned runs were scored.
Emma Wójcik led off with a single, moved on a grounder and with two outs, Eva Voortman reached on an infield-hit.
Wójcik advanced to third base, but overran it and got into a rundown.
That ended in an error, which enabled Wójcik to score.
Moments later, Dinet Oosting hit a 2-run homerun to make it a 6-2 score.
It also brought in new pitcher Marjolein Merkx, who got an inning-ending grounder.
In the top of the seventh, Roef! was able to get one run back.
Wies Ligtvoet then led off with a triple and scored on a following single by Kim Donkers.
But hereafter, two pop-ups and a grounder ended the game.
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| FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem - Roef! 6-3 |
| R | H | E |
| Roef! | 110 | 000 | 1 | - | 3 | 8 | 3 |
| FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem | 100 | 023 | X | - | 6 | 11 | 1 |
| pitchers Roef! | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Rachael Knapp, L (0-1) | 5.2 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 6 | 2 |
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| Marjolein Merkx | 0.1 | - | - | - | - | - |
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| pitcher Olympia | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Mariëlle Vleugels, W (1-0) | 7 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 3 |
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| Homerun: Olympia: Dinet Oosting (1)(6th,2-run,2 outs,off Knapp). |
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Game 2
In the second game, Olympia Haarlem initially took an early lead in the first inning, then led 3-2 after five innings.
Roef! then rallied for five unearned runs on two costly errors in the sixth inning and went on to win 7-3.
Olympia opened the score with two runs in the bottom of the first inning off of Marjolein Merkx, who went the distance Roef! and gave up only four basehits.
In the first inning, the righthander walked lead-off hitter Shareday Christina, then gave up a single to Jessie van Aalst.
They went on to score on a single by Dinet Oosting and a sacrifice fly by Rosanne de Vries.
Oosting stole second base and then advanced on a wild pitch.
With Oosting on third base, a walk followed for Eva Voortman, who batted fifth in this game after having been the lead-off hitter in the previous game.
Last year, she mostly batted first, also when she was pitching.
Moments later, Voortman stole second, but Merkx then closed with two strikeouts.
Roef! got its first runner in scoring position in the second inning off of Eva Voortman, who went the distance for the home-team.
Isa Los led off with a single, moved on a grounder, but this time, Voortman struckout the next two batters.
After Olympia had stranded a runner on second base in the bottom of the second inning, Roef! came alongside in the top of the third.
The team from Moergestel got the bases loaded quickly off of Voortman.
The lefthander walked lead-off hitter Céline Janssens, then gave up a single to Wies Ligtvoet and also walked Kim Donkers.
Cindy van der Zanden followed with a 2-run double.
With two outs, the bases got loaded again when Isa Los was hit by a pitch.
However, three runners were left behind when Voortman again closed with two strikeouts.
...Cindy van der Zanden...
...3-for-5, 2 doubles...
...1 run scored, 5 RBI's...
(© Photo: Rein Merkx) |
Olympia immediately re-took the lead in the bottom of the third.
Dinet Oosting led off with a walk, stole second base and scored on a following triple by Rosanne de Vries.
She then stranded on third base.
In the next two at bats, Olympia got a chance to add some more runs, but failed to do so.
In the fourth, lead-off hitter Emma Wójcik reached second base on an error, but was left behind.
And in the fifth, the team had runners on second and third base with one out, but they also stranded.
Roef! was struckout in order in the fourth, then left a runner behind on second base in the fifth.
Trailing 3-2, Roef! struck with five runs with two outs in the sixth to turn the game its way.
The rally began with a fine at bat from lead-off hitter Noa Armirotto.
With an 1-2 count, she fouled off seven pitches.
With a 2-2 count, she hit a lead-off double, then a walk followed for Amy Udink.
With one out, Armirotto was forced out at third base on a grounder by Céline Janssens.
With two outs, the bases got loaded when Wies Ligtvoet singled.
Moments later, the tying run was scored when Kim Donkers reached on an error.
Next, Cindy van der Zanden cleared the bases with a 3-run double, then scored herself when Elizabeth Snow also reached on an error.
Van der Zanden was 3-for-5 in this game including two doubles, scored a run and batted in five, meaning she accounted for six of the seven runs her teams scored.
In its final two at bats, Olympia Haarlem was retired in order by Marjolein Merkx.
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| FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem - Roef! 3-7 |
| R | H | E |
| Roef! | 002 | 005 | 0 | - | 7 | 9 | 1 |
| FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem | 201 | 000 | 0 | - | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| pitcher Roef! | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Marjolein Merkx, W (1-0) | 7 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
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| pitcher Olympia | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Eva Voortman, L (0-1) | 7 | 10 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 2 |
Umpires: HP-Bianca Dweelaard, 1B-Mariana Prins.
Official Scorer-Stefan Slinger.
Play-by-Play Scorer-Huub Rustman (Olympia Haarlem).
Public Address Announcer-Eric de Vries.
Scoreboard Operator-Peter Warmerdam.
Starting Time-4:42 PM.
Time Played-2:01 hrs.
Site-Nol Houtkamp Sportpark, Haarlem.
Game Notes:
 Opening Day Golden League 2019.
Amy Udink (Roef!) makes her debut in the Golden League.
Weather conditions at game time: Cloudy, 6,2° C (43,2° F); wind direction north-northeast;
wind speed 21 kmh (13 mph); wind force 4 Bft; humidity 46%. |
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Copyright © 1997-2019 Marco Stoovelaar / Grand Slam * Stats & News.
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