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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Fred Versluis) Sparks Haarlem wins twice, No-Hits Tex Town Tigers Nederlands ENSCHEDE (Neth.) - Sparks Haarlem won twice in Enschede on Saturday (April 20) against Tex Town Tigers. The first game ended in a small 3-2 win, the second one was more comfortable, 10-0. In the opening game, Sparks Haarlem initially trailed, but took the lead in the third inning and added an insurance run in the fifth at bat. Veteran righthander Kirsten Scheele closed the game and earned her first save thirteen years! In the second game, she was the starting pitcher in a combined No-Hitter, which was completed by Quincy Catsburg. The No-Hitter was the first of the 2019 season in the Golden League. (April 20) Schedule, Standings & Scores

Game 1 Tex Town Tigers was retired in order in the first inning by veteran righthander Rebecca Soumeru, but then opened the score in the second inning. Lisa Marie Kovačevič-Köllner led off with a double, moved to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Nadine Marinus, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Lee Lankhorst. The lead was shortlived, as Sparks Haarlem reacted with two runs in the top of the third inning off Zoe Gillis, who threw a complete game for Tex Town Tigers. The team had left a runner behind on first base in the first inning. In the next at bat, Dominique Sprengers led off with a single and Maaike Blaauwgeers singled with two outs, but they were left behind. With one out in the third, Kimberly Jones singled. Hereafter, McKayla Taylor and Maxime van Dalen (ground-rule) delivered back-to-back runscoring doubles to put Sparks Haarlem ahead, 2-1. Van Dalen later stranded on third base. In the fourth inning, Sparks Haarlem got three baserunners, but two of them were eliminated on the bases. Taisa Kirindongo led off with a bunt-single, then Maaike Blaauwgeers reached on an error on her sacrifice bunt. With one out, a double-steal was attempted, but Kirindongo was caught stealing at third base, while Blaauwgeers advanced to second base. Anne Blaauwgeers then reached on a single into short leftfield, which kept her twin-sister at second base. Another double-steal was then atttempted, but this time, Anne Blaauwgeers was caught stealing in a rundown to end the inning. An insurance run was added in the fifth inning. With two outs, Maxime van Dalen doubled, then scored when Dominique Sprengers reached on an error. Next batter Feline Poot also reached on an error, but Sparks left the two runners behind. Sparks didn't get another runner in scoring position in the remainder of the game. After having scored in the second inning, TTT was retired in order in the third, then saw Sparks turn a double play in the fourth. With a 2-1 lead, Ginger de Weert took over the Sparks-pitching in the fifth inning. She gave up a lead-off single to Nadine Marinus, who moved to second base on a wild pitch with two outs, but then stranded. After being retired in order in the sixth, Tex Town Tigers got a big chance to turn the game its way in the bottom of the seventh. Laura Wissink and Lisa Marie Kovačevič-Köllner began with walks. With one out, the bases got loaded when Lee Lankhorst singled. The deficit was then narrowed to 3-2 when next batter Shaneequa Kock also singled. With the bases loaded and only one out, Kirsten Scheele was inserted to take over for Ginger de Weert. The veteran righthander struckout pinch-hitter (and rookie) Noemie Weyel, who batted for Myrthe Smid. The game ended when French player Eloïse Tribolet flied out to leftfielder Maaike Blaauwgeers. With that, Kirsten Scheele earned her first save in thirteen years! The righthander is mostly used as a starter and sometimes a reliever, but has not closed that many games in her long career. The last time she earned a save was on Tuesday, May 30, 2006 when she pitched the final three innings for Terrasvogels in a 4-1 win against DSC '74. Overall, this was only her sixth career save.

...The home season of Tex Town Tigers is opened with the throwing of two ceremonial first pitches by youth players... ...Left: Catchers Anne Blaauwgeers and Laura Wissink with the youth players who opened the season... ...Right: Rebecca Soumeru was the starting pitcher for Sparks Haarlem... ...Left: Kimberly Jones is greeted by 1B Coach Erik Vrugt after hitting a single in the 5th inning... ...Right: Maxime van Dalen hits a double (and later scores) in the 5th inning for Sparks Haarlem... ...Left: Ginger de Weert pitched in relief for Sparks Haarlem... ...Right: Kirsten Scheele closed and earned her first save since 2006... (© All Photos: Fred Versluis)

Tex Town Tigers - Sparks Haarlem 2-3 R H E Sparks Haarlem 002 010 0 - 3 10 0 Tex Town Tigers 010 000 1 - 2 4 3 pitchers Sparks inn. SO BB H R ER Rebecca Soumeru, W (2-0) 4 3 1 1 1 1 Ginger de Weert, H (1) 2.1 2 2 3 1 1 Kirsten Scheele, SV (1) 0.2 1 - - - - pitcher TTT inn. SO BB H R ER Zoe Gillis, L (2-1) 7 4 1 10 3 2 Box Score Play-by-Play Standings Scores Schedule Team Rosters Umpires: HP-Bob Gieskens, 1B-Louis Rohan. Official Scorer-Dieks Bannink. Play-by-Play Scorer-Ingrid Oosterveld (Tex Town Tigers). Public Address Announcer-Renate van Stigt. Scoreboard Operator-. Starting Time-3:00 PM. Time Played-1:51 hrs. Site-Sportpark 'De Kroedkotten', Enschede. Game Notes: Weather conditions at game time: Sunny, 23,5° C (74,3° F); wind direction east-northeast; wind speed 16 kmh (9,9 mph); wind force 3 Bft; humidity 26%.

Game 2 After having earned her first save since 2006, Kirsten Scheele was the starting pitcher for Sparks Haarlem in the second game. This time, she pitched the first two innings of a 4-inning combined No-Hitter! Quincy Catsburg completed the game. Scheele retired all six batters she faced. In the third inning, Catsburg walked lead-off hitter Shaneequa Kock, then struckout the next two batters. The righthander then also walked Merel Oosterveld, but closed with another strikeout. She retired the side in the fourth and final inning of the game. Sparks Haarlem rallied for eight runs on six basehits in the top of the first inning and then also left three runners behind. The bases got loaded quickly. TTT-starter Lee Lankhorst walked lead-off hitter Anne Blaauwgeers, then an error was made on a force play-grounder by Kimberly Jones. A walk for McKayla Taylor loaded the bases. With one out, singles by Dominique Sprengers (one run) and Feline Poot (two runs) opened the score. Taisa Kirindongo followed with a 2-run triple and scored on a following single by Maaike Blaauwgeers. That led to an early pitching change, as Shaneequa Kock took over. She was greeted with an infield-hit by Ginger de Weert, who was in the starting line-up as designated player. In her second at bat in the inning, Anne Blaauwgeers hit an RBI-double. The bases got loaded when Kimberly Jones was hit by a pitch. The eighth run in the inning was scored on a sacrifice fly by McKaylah Taylor. Moments later, the bases were re-loaded when Maxime van Dalen also was hit by a pitch, but three runners were left behind when a grounder ended the long at bat. Ginger de Weert got her last Golden League-at bat on April 15, 2017, coincidentally also against Tex Town Tigers. Back then, she was a pinch-hitter and struckout in her lone at bat of the season. She recorded her last big league-basehit in 2015 when she played for Terrasvogels. In that season, she batted in eight games and was 8-for-22 (.364) with a double and a triple. De Weert hit her last basehit on September 12, 2015 against Alcmaria Victrix when she was 2-for-3 as designated player. In that game, Kimberly Jones also was her teammate, just as today. Official Scorer Dieks Bannink was assigned to both games. In 2015, he did the play-by-play, today, he was the official scorer. Sparks added two runs in the second inning off of Lee Lankhorst, who returned as pitcher. Feline Poot (who was 3-for-3) and Taisa Kirindongo led off with singles and went on to score on singles by Anne Blaauwgeers and Kimberly Jones. In the top of the fourth inning, with one out, Ginger de Weert hit a double, which also was her first extra basehit since September 12, 2015. De Weert stranded on second base, as two flyouts ended the at bat.

...Left: The players of Sparks Haarlem are ready for Game 2... ...Is pitcher Rebecca Soumeru wearing the new outfit for this season?... ...Right: Taisa Kirindongo hits a 2-run triple for Sparks Haarlem in the 1st inning... ...Left: Quincy Catsburg threw the final two innings for Sparks Haarlem... ...Right: Ginger de Weert hit a double for Sparks Haarlem in the 4th inning... (© All Photos: Fred Versluis)

Tex Town Tigers - Sparks Haarlem 0-10 (4 inn.) R H E Sparks Haarlem 820 0 - 10 12 0 Tex Town Tigers 000 0 - 0 0 1 pitchers Sparks inn. SO BB H R ER Kirsten Scheele, W (2-0) 2 1 - - - - Quincy Catsburg 2 3 2 - - - (Kirsten Scheele and Quincy Catsburg throw a combined No-Hitter) pitchers TTT inn. SO BB H R ER Lee Lankhorst, L (0-1) 0.1 1 2 4 7 6 Shaneequa Kock 0.2 - - 2 1 1 Lee Lankhorst 3 1 - 6 2 2 Box Score Play-by-Play Standings Scores Schedule Team Rosters Umpires: HP-Louis Rohan, 1B-Bob Gieskens. Official Scorer-Dieks Bannink. Play-by-Play Scorer-Ingrid Oosterveld (Tex Town Tigers). Public Address Announcer-Renate van Stigt. Scoreboard Operator-. Starting Time-5:25 PM. Time Played-1:03 hrs. Site-Sportpark 'De Kroedkotten', Enschede. Game Notes: Weather conditions at game time: Sunny, 22,9° C (73,2° F); wind direction east-northeast; wind speed 16 kmh (9,9 mph); wind force 3 Bft; humidity 29%.

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