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(Story & Photos by Marco Stoovelaar) Terrasvogels wins third game; Olympia Haarlem splits Nederlands BOLLATE (Italy) / PRAGUE (Czech Rep.) - On Tuesday (August 20), Day 2 of the European Cup-tournaments, FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem played two games and Terrasvogels one. In Bollate, at the European Premiere Cup, Olympia Haarlem first faced Cupholder Bussolengo (Italy), which has several foreign players on its roster. Olympia took an early 4-0 lead, but failed to hold it. The team re-took the lead (6-4), but in the end lost 9-6. In the evening, Olympia shutout Hoboken Pioneers (Belgium), 11-0 in five innings. In Prague, Terrasvogels recorded its third victory in the European Cup Winners Cup-tournament. Terrasvogels needed an extra inning against New Zealand ISA, but won 4-2. With today's win, Terrasvogels is close to securing a spot in the Final Round of the tournament. Day 2 in Bollate almost ended with a surprise. In the final game of the day, Les Comanches (France) led 1-0 against host Bollate (Italy) halfway the sixth inning. The French team had scored the only run in the first inning on a 2-out single by Carrie Pitcher. But in the bottom of the sixth inning, Bollate avoided a surprise loss by scoring two runs. The tying run was scored with one out when Dutch guest-player and pinch-hitter Maxime van Dalen reached on an error. With two outs, a wild pitch accounted for the second run. (August 20)

FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem vs. Bussolengo In its first game today, Olympia Haarlem was leading 4-0 halfway the third inning. But what looked like a comfortable lead at the moment was erased moments later, as Bussolengo came alongside in its third at bat. Olympia re-took the lead in the fourth, but again, the was unable to hold onto it. The Italian opponent, which hit three homeruns, scored three runs in the fifth and added two insurance runs in the sixth to win 9-6. Olympia Haarlem faced three American pitchers in this game. It got good contact off of the first two, but was limited to only one basehit and held scoreless by the third. Bussolengo, which won the previous two Premiere Cup-tournaments, has seven foreign players on its roster. Besides the three American pitchers, the team had two British players and one each from Greece and the Netherlands. The team is led by former Netherlands Softbal Team-Head Coach Craig Montvidas. ...Dinet Oosting... ...2-run homerun... (© Ph: Marco Stoovelaar) Olympia opened the score with one run in the top of the first inning off of starter Jessica Dreswick, who has pitched for Boston College. The righthander gave up a lead-off single to Eva Voortman, who moved on a sacrifice bunt by Dinet Oosting and a single by Jessie van Aalst. Voortman scored when a sacrfice bunt by Virginie Anneveld ended in a fielder's choice, but no outs. With still only one out, Olympia now had runners on first and second base, who moved on a sacrifice bunt by Brenda Beers, but then were left behind. Olympia Haarlem took more distance by scoring (unearned) three runs in the top of the third inning off of new pitcher Gretchen Aucoin, who last year played professionally in the National Pro Fastpitch for Cleveland Cornets. She gave up a lead-off double to Dinet Oosting, who then scored when an error was made on a grounder by Jessie van Aalst. With one out, Brenda Beers walked and with two outs, Cindy van der Zanden delivered a 2-run double that lifted the lead to 4-0. But the lead was erased moments later. In the first two innings, Olympia-starter Eva Voortman had walked two batters, one in each at bat, but they both stranded on first base. The lefthander struckout three batters. But in the bottom of the third inning, Bussolengo scored four runs on two homeruns to come alongside. Greek player Alexis Bazos led off with an infield-hit, then National Team-player Marta Gasparotto homered. Voortman then walked Britt Vonk, her teammate in the Netherlands National Team and a pitching change followed. Mariëlle Vleugels took over and got a flyout, but then gave up a 2-run homerun to powerhitter Nerissa Myers, which was her third in two days. She homered twice on Monday against Wesseling Vermins (Germany), batting in five runs. Myers also showed her power during the recent Europe/Africa Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Vleuten (Netherlands) when she played for Great Britain. After the homerun by Myers, another pitching change followed, as Alyson Spinas-Valainis was inserted. She gave up a double to Gretchen Aucoin, but then retired the next two batters. Olympia Haarlem immediately re-took the lead in the top of the fourth inning. Shareday Christina led off with a sigle, stole second base and moved to third on a wild pitch. With one out, Dinet Oosting hit the ball over the fence in leftfield for a homerun to put the Haarlem-team ahead, 6-4. In the fifth, Olympia left a runner behind on third base. Kylee Hanson (Florida State University) took over the pitching for Bussolengo, but she gave up a lead-off comeback infield-hit to Amber Krijgsman. She moved on a sacrifice bunt and a passed ball, but was left behind on third base. In the bottom of the fifth, Bussolengo turned the game around. Alyson Spinas had retired the side in the fourth, but now gave up three consective basehits. Britt Vonk led off with a bunt-single and moved on a single by Laura Vigna. She then scored on a single by Nerissa Myers, which was followed by a throwing error from the outfield. That also enabled Vigna to score the tying run, while Myers ended up on third base. That led to another pitching change, as Eva Voortman returned to the circle for Olympia Haarlem. She began with a strikeout, but then gave up runscoring single to British National Team-player Lauren Evans that put Bussolengo ahead, 7-6. Next batter Elisa Princic was hit by a pitch, then a sacrifice bunt led to runners on second and third base. Voortman closed with a strikeout, but Bussolengo was now leading for the first time and hold onto it. Bussolengo added two runs in the sixth inning. With one out, Britt Vonk walked, then National Team-player Laura Vigna hit the third homerun in the game for Bussolengo to make it a 9-6 score. In its final two at bats, Olympia Haarlem was retired in order by Kylee Hanson, who struckout four batters, three of them in the seventh inning.

Bussolengo - FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem 9-6 R H E FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem 103 200 0 - 6 9 1 Bussolengo 004 032 X - 9 11 1 pitchers Olympia Haarlem inn. SO BB H R ER Eva Voortman 2 (*) 3 3 2 3 3 Mariëlle Vleugels 0.1 - - 1 1 1 Alyson Spinas-Valainis, L (1-1) 1.2 (**) 2 - 4 3 3 Eva Voortman 2 2 1 4 2 2 (*) - Voortman pitched to three batters in the third inning (**) - Spinas pitched to three batters in the fifth inning pitchers Bussolengo inn. SO BB H R ER Jessica Dreswick 2 1 - 3 1 1 Gretchen Aucoin 2 3 1 5 5 2 Kylee Hanson, W (2-0) 3 4 - 1 - - Homeruns: Olympia: Dinet Oosting (1)(4th,2-run,1 out,off Aucoin); Bussolengo: Marta Gasparotto (2)(3rd,2-run,0 out,off Voortman), Nerissa Myers (3)(3rd,2-run,1 out,off Vleugels), Laura Vigna (2)(6th,2-run,1 out,off Voortman). Umpires: HP-Michal Židek (Czech Rep.), 1B-Martin Moravčík (Slovakia), 3B-Benjamin Milgrom (France). Official Scorers-Mario Fedele (Italy), Gianfranco Bellavia (Italy), Roberto Saletti (Italy). Technical Commissioner-Wout Isbouts (Netherlands). Starting Time-1:00 PM. Time Played-2:36 hrs. Site-Field #1, Centro Sportivo, Bollate (Italy). Game Notes: European Premiere Cup 2019.

FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem vs. Hoboken Pioneers In its second game on Tuesday, Olympia Haarlem shutout Hoboken Pioneers 11-0 in five innings. The team collected ten basehits, including a homerun by Mariëlle Vleugels and a double by Virginie Anneveld, who was 2-for-2. Brenda Beers was 2-for-3. Olympia Haarlem faced Lindsey Meadows-Oosterveld, who this week plays for the Belgian squad and plays for Tex Town Tigers in the Dutch Golden League. In 2013-2014, Meadows played for Olympia Haarlem. Only two players from the 2013 team still play for Olympia Haarlem, being catcher Dinet Oosting and pitcher/outfielder Rosanne de Vries. In 2014, they were joined by pitcher Eva Voortman and infielder Shareday Christina. ...Mariëlle Vleugels... ...homerun... (© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) Lindsey Meadows missed most of last season as well as this year's competition due to a shoulder-injury. Last year, she pitched in her last game on April 28 against Sparks Haarlem. Luckily, last month, Meadows was declared fit to pitch again and she returned in the circle for Tex Town Tigers on July 13, pitching 3 1/3 inning in relief against Roef!. However, she was not ready at that moment to re-join the Netherlands National Softball Team for the Europe/Africa Olympic Qualifier in Vleuten (Netherlands) at the end of July. On August 3, Meadows started against Hoofddorp Pioniers and pitched 5 1/3 inning. In Bollate, while pitching for Hoboken, she gets the opportunity to strenghthen her arm and get the necessary rhyhthm, which she needs for the remainder of the season. On August 31, Tex Town Tigers will begin its series of games in the six-team Promotion/Relegation Series. Four of the teams will play in the Golden League next year. Meadows retired the side in the top of the first inning, but Olympia Haarlem then struck in the second at bat. Virginie Anneveld led off with a single, then Cindy van der Zanden walked and the bases got loaded when Shareday Christina reached on a bunt-single. The first run was then scored on a wild pitch and Mariëlle Vleugels followed with a 3-run homerun to make it a 4-0 score. Sarah Edwards then added a single and moved on a grounder by Stephanie Pearce. With one out, Brenda Beers singled with Edwards moving to third base and when an error followed, she was able to score. Beers ended up on third base and scored when next batter Dinet Oosting also singled. With Olympia now leading 6-0, a pitching change followed, as Sterre den Duijn took over. Like Meadows, she plays in the Dutch Golden League and is a guest this week in the Hoboken-team. Den Duijn, who plays for Twins Oosterhout, played in her first game for the Belgian team, as she arrived in Bollate on Monday after having returned from Irvine, California (USA). There, she participated in the Under-19 World Cup with the Under-19 Netherlands Team. Den Duijn saw Jessie van Aalst reach on an error, then gave up a 2-run double to Virginie Anneveld, who had two basehits in this inning. Olympia Haarlem added a run in the third inning. With one out, Sarah Edwards walked, stole second with two outs and socred on a single by Brenda Beers. In the fourth inning, Amber Krijgsman (lead-off) and Rachel van Veen (one out) both walked, but were left behind. The Haarlem-team scored two more runs in the top of the fifth off Den Duijn. Stephanie Pearce led off with a double and scored on an one-out triple by Chelsie Robison, who later scored on a wild pitch to increase the lead to 11-0. Ilona Andringa went the distance for Olympia Haarlem. She struckout eight batters and gave up only two basehits. Both hits were recorded in the third inning. Andee Lindgren and Kelsey Huijzers then led off with singles. Lindgren played several seasons in the highest Dutch league for Sparks Haarlem (2005) and Twins (2006-2011). She plays in Belgium since 2012. Huijzers plays in the Golden League this season for Hoofddorp Pioniers and also is an added player to the Hoboken-team. With runners on second and third base, Andringa struckout two of the next three batters. Lindgren and Huijzers were the lone baserunners for Hoboken, as Andringa retired the side again in the next two innings. She struckout the side in the fourth.

Hoboken Pioneers - FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem 0-11 (5 inn.) R H E FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem 081 02 - 11 10 0 Hoboken Pioneers 000 00 - 0 2 2 pitcher Olympia Haarlem inn. SO BB H R ER Ilona Andringa, W (1-0) 5 8 - 2 - - pitchers Hoboken inn. SO BB H R ER Lindsey Meadows-Oosterveld, L (0-1) 1.1 - 1 6 7 4 Sterre den Duijn 3.2 2 4 4 4 3 Homerun: Olympia: Mariëlle Vleugels (1)(2nd,3-run,0 out,off Meadows). Umpires: HP-Martin Moravčík (Slovakia), 1B-Franck Lautier (France), 3B-Sabrina Fabrizi (Italy). Official Scorers-Paolo Lugarini (Italy), Roberto Saletti (Italy), Mario Fedele (Italy). Technical Commissioner-Libby Moss (Great Britain). Starting Time-5:58 PM. Time Played-1:37 hrs. Site-Field #2, Centro Sportivo, Bollate (Italy). Game Notes: European Premiere Cup 2019.

Terrasvogels vs. New Zealand ISA Terrasvogels recorded its third win of the tournament by coming from behind against New Zealand ISA and win 4-2 in eight innings. Terrasvogels opened the score in the sixth, but faced a 2-1 deficit moments later. In the seventh, the Santpoort-team came alongside, then scored twice in the eighth. New Zealand International Softball Academy was founded in 2007 and organizes annually international tours for women and men softball-players to give them an opportunity to participate in high-level tournaments or play games against strong teams. Last year, a team from New Zealand was given the opportunity to participate in the European Cup-tournament. In that event, which was held in La Loggia (Italy), New Zealand ISA won the Final against Trnava Panthers (Slovakia), 5-1. With that, the team promoted to the Premiere Cup-tournament. New Zealand is not the first country from outside Europe that participates in a Cup-tournament. In 2017, Titans Softball Club from Botswana participated in the European Cup. Last year, the team from Botswana was to participate in the Cup Winners Cup-tournament in Capelle a/d IJssel (Netherlands), but was unable to do so. In the Men Softball Super Cup, the New Zealand Junior Team participated in 2015, while the Argentina Under-19 Team participated in 2017. ...Jacquelyn Sertic... ...winning pitcher... (© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) The game between Terrasvogels and New Zealand remained scoreless in the first five innings, thanks to fine pitching. Jacquelyn Sertic went the distance for Terrasvogels and had a great outing. The righthander held New Zealand hitless in the first four innings, then gave up an one-out single in the fifth to Sammi Parks, who was the starting pitcher for New Zealand. In the first, third and fifth inning, New Zealand got a runner on second base. Each time, Sertic followed with a strikeout. Terrasvogels got into scoring position twice in its first five innings off of Sammi Parks. In the first inning, the righthander gave up a lead-off single to Katharina Szalay and in the fourth, Solange Starrenburg hit a 2-out double. Both stranded on second base. The 32-year old California-born and raised Sammi Parks is an experienced pitcher, who plays in New Zealand for several years now. After being a pitcher and infielder for Belmont University (2005-2009), she first played for Vienne Mosquitos in Austria (2010), where she also was as Assistant Coach for the National Team. She then went to New Zealand to play in the 2010-2011 season to play for Ōtāhuhu, stayed in the country, now lives there and became eligible to play for the National Team. With Auckland and Canterbury, she won the New Zealand Championship-title. Parks also played for Wellington in 2015, which then was coached by Glen Roff, who had been the Head Coach of Terrasvogels some years earlier. In 2012, Parks herself has been the Pitching Coach of the softball-team of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. In February 2018, she was added to the National Team of New Zealand for the Asia Pacific Cup in Sydney (Australia). She then replaced pitcher Nyree White, who had a hand injury and planned to play for Terrasvogels last year. Later in that season, Jacquelyn Sertic joined Terrasvogels and she returned this season. In the European Cup-tournament last year in La Loggia (Italy), Sammi Parks was the winning pitcher in the Final against Trnava Panthers (Slovakia), striking out ten batters. New Zealand then won 5-1 and Parks was 6-1 in the tournament. In the top of the sixth inning, Terrasvogels opened the score. Lead-off hitter Katharina Szalay reached third base when her drive into the outfield was missed. With two outs, she scored on a single by Lizzie Clarijs, who later was caught stealing. New Zealand answered with two runs with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. Beth Reid led off with a walk and stole second base with two outs. She then scored the tying run on a single by Melanie Gettings, who then scored herself on a double by Hope Weber. Terrasvogels immediately reacted with a run in the top of the seventh. With one out, pinch-hitter Desiree Adriaansz walked, then moved to second base on an infield-hit/error by Jessica Waasdorp. The latter was then replaced by pinch-runner Yindi Beekveldt, who made her first appearance. She arrived in Prague on Monday after having returned from Irvine, California (USA), where she participated in the Under-19 World Cup with the Netherlands Under-19 Team. Moments later, Adriaansz scored the tying run on a pinch-hit single by Nadine Marinus. After Beekveldt and Marinus had advanced on a grounder by Kelsy Pieneman, the bases got loaded when Katharina Szalay walked. But the three runners were left behind when Merel Oosterveld grounded out. Jacquelyn Sertic retired the side (two strikeouts) in the bottom of the seventh and so, the game went into extra innings. In the top of the eighth, Terrasvogels took the lead for the second time. Tie-break runner Merel Oosterveld stole third base, then Bobbi Scheurkogel walked. Hereafter, Lizzie Clarijs delivered a runscoring double down the leftfield-line that brought in Oosterveld. Scheurkogel was also waved home, but she was eliminated at the plate, while Clarijs moved to third base on the throw. A pitching change followed, as National Team-player Rita Hokianga was brought in. With two outs, the lefthander gave up an RBI-double to Karin Tuk that made it a 4-2 score. In the bottom of the eighth, Jacquelyn Sertic retired the side to secure the win. For New Zealand, this was its first loss of the tournament. On Monday, Rita Hokianga had thrown a 4-inning one-hitter in a 17-0 win against Alligators Sombor (Serbia). Earlier on Tuesday-morning, Hokianga also was the winning pitcher against Moscow (Russia). In that game, New Zealand led 9-4 after four innings, but Moscow came alongside. New Zealand then won 10-9 when Hokianga scored the winning run on an error in the bottom of the seventh that ended the game.

New Zealand ISA - Terrasvogels 2-4 (8 inn.) R H E Terrasvogels 000 001 12 - 4 7 0 New Zealand ISA 000 002 00 - 2 3 2 pitcher Terrasvogels inn. SO BB H R ER Jacquelyn Sertic, W (1-0) 8 9 3 3 2 2 pitchers New Zealand inn. SO BB H R ER Samantha Parks, L (0-1) 7.1 5 3 6 4 1 Rita Hokianga 0.2 - - 1 - - Umpires: HP-Jes Sandhu (Great Britain), 1B-Nicolas Roux (France), 3B-Howie Litz (Israel). Official Scorers-Petr Matouš (Czech Rep.), Matěj Neděla (Czech Rep.). Technical Commissioner-Gabriele Hardinger (Austria). Starting Time-1:40 PM. Time Played-2:07 hrs. Site-Field #1, Eagles Park, Prague (Czech Rep.). Game Notes: European Cup Winners Cup 2019.

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