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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Fred Versluis & Marco Stoovelaar)
 Terrasvogels and Sparks Haarlem split Easter double-header
Nederlands
...The double-header was well-visited...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
 SANTPOORT-ZUID (Neth.) -
Terrasvogels and Sparks Haarlem split their well-visited double-header on a sunny Monday (April 22) to complete a busy Easter-weekend.
In the opening game today, Terrasvogels trailed 2-0, but won 3-2 on a baseclearing triple by Bobbi Scheurkogel in the sixth inning.
The game was a pitching-duel between Roos-Marijn Kramer and Katie Donovan.
Combined, the two righthanders struckout 18 batters.
In the second game, Sparks Haarlem recorded a convincing 11-3 win.
In this game, Sparks Haarlem collected 10 basehits, including three doubles.
Both teams suffered their first loss of the season today.
Because of this, they now got company in first place from FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem, which won twice today.
Last Saturday, Terrasvogels won twice against Twins Oosterhout, while Sparks Haarlem was victorious twice against Tex Town Tigers.
In today's double-header, veteran umpire Harm de Fonkert was one of the two umpires.
He last officiated in the highest league on September 10, 2015 when he filled in for the single game between Tex Town Tigers and the Talent Team Holland in Enschede.
In recent years, De Fonkert officiated games in the second highest league.
(April 22)
Schedule, Standings & Scores
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Game 1
The opening game was a pitching duel between Roos-Marijn Kramer (Terrasvogels) and debuting Katie Donovan (Sparks Haarlem).
Despite having four solid pitchers on its roster, Sparks Haarlem added the American righthander recently.
Is has been reported that the team will add another American pitcher later in the season.
Both pitchers went the distance in the attractive game which had a spectacular ending.
Kramer struckout eight batters and gave up only five basehits.
Donovan struckout ten batters and gave up only four hits in the first five innings.
She then gave up three more in the sixth, including a winning triple by Bobbi Scheurkogel.
In the top of the first inning, Sparks Haarlem got its first runner in scoring position.
Kimberly Jones walked with one out, stole second base with two outs, but Roos-Marijn Kramer closed with a strikeout.
The team then opened the score in the second at bat.
Dominique Sprengers led off with a single and advanced when an outfield-error followed.
She move to third base on a grounder by Feline Poot, then scored on a 2-out single by Maaike Blaauwgeers.
Sparks Haarlem doubled its lead in the top of the third inning.
Anne Blaauwgeers led off with an infield-hit and stole second base.
She moved to third base on a following single by Kimberly Jones, who herself was able to advance to second base on an outfield-error.
With one out, Blaauwgeers scored on a fielder's choice-grounder by Maxime van Dalen, who reached first base.
Two runners were left behind as a groundout and flyout followed.
...Bobbi Scheurkogel hit a game-winning, 3-run triple...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
In the sixth inning, Sparks Haarlem got a chance to do some more scoring, as its got the bases loaded when the Terrasvogels-defense made two errors.
Lead-off hitter Maxime van Dalen reached on an error, then Feline Poot walked with one out.
With two outs, the bases got loaded when Maaike Blaauwgeers also reached on an error.
But Roos-Marijn Kramer again ended the threat by closing with a strikeout, meaning three runners were left behind.
Terrasvogels then struck moments later.
In the first five innings, Terrasvogels got four baserunners, but none of them got into scoring position.
In these innings, Katie Donovan struckout eight batters.
Things changed in the bottom of the sixth, which had some crucial moments.
Katharina Szalay led off with an infield-hit and moved on a sacrifice bunt by Lizzie Clarijs.
With that, she of course now was in scoring position, but with powerhitter Karin Tuk being the next batter and first base open, Sparks Haarlem Head Coach Peter van Dalen made the decision to walk her intentionally.
This created a force play, but also took the bat out of the hands of Tuk.
Moments later, Szalay and Tuk both advanced on a wild pitch.
Two more important decisions followed.
Again, first base was now open, but this time, it was not opted to issue an intentional walk.
On the other hand, batter Jessica Waasdorp was given the sign for a bunt, despite an in-playing infield.
This could have result in an out at the plate (and thus two outs).
However, Waasdorp placed her bunt perfectly, as the ball was out of reach for 3B Dominique Sprengers.
The other runners were unable to advance, but Waasdorp reached on a bunt-single and the bases were now loaded.
Katie Donovan followed with a strikeout for the second out.
This led to another decision.
With two outs, it was now allowed to put in a temporary runner for catcher Karin Tuk, who was on second base.
Terrasvogels Head Coach Stefan Vessies placed Ella Krommendijk on second place and she now represented the tying run.
With the bases loaded and an 0-1 count, next batter Bobbi Scheurkogel connected well on the next pitch.
She drilled the ball into deep rightfield over rightfielder Quincy Catsburg, who is one of the pitchers of the team, but played in the outfield in this game.
All three runners scored and Scheurkogel ended up on third base with a baseclearing triple to put Terrasvogels ahead, 3-2.
The ball bounced back somewhat in rightfield, where it was recovered quickly, otherwise Scheurkogel might have hit an inside-the-park-grand-slam.
In the top of the seventh, Roos-Marijn Kramer retired the side to seal the win.
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...Left: Katie Donovan made her pitching-debut for Sparks Haarlem...
...Right: Anne Blaauwgeers makes contact for Sparks Haarlem...
(© Both Photos: Fred Versluis) |
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| Terrasvogels - Sparks Haarlem 3-2 |
| R | H | E |
| Sparks Haarlem | 011 | 000 | 0 | - | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| Terrasvogels | 000 | 003 | X | - | 3 | 7 | 4 |
| pitcher Sparks | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Katie Donovan, L (0-1) | 6 | 10 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 3 |
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| pitcher Terrasvogels | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Roos-Marijn Kramer, W (5-0) | 7 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 1 |
Umpires: HP-Gerrit-Jan van der Hoeven, 1B-Harm de Fonkert.
Official Scorer-Marco Stoovelaar.
Play-by-Play Scorer-Karin Pieneman.
Public Address Announcer-None.
Scoreboard Operator-None.
Starting Time-12:58 PM.
Time Played-1:38 hrs.
Site-Sportpark 'De Elta', Santpoort-Zuid.
Game Notes:
 Katie Donovan (Sparks Haarlem) makes her debut in the Golden League.
Weather conditions at game time: Sunny, 22,4° C (72,3° F); wind direction east;
wind speed 21 kmh (13 mph); wind force 4 Bft; humidity 41%. |
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Game 2
In the second game, Sparks Haarlem scored twice in the first at bat.
The team then decided the game with a 4-run rally in the third inning.
Terrasvogels was able to narrow the deficit to 7-3 in the fourth, but thereafter, Sparks Haarlem took more distance to end the game in six innings via the mercy-rule.
It also was a game that saw several defensive changes by both teams throughout the game.
In the top of the first inning, Sparks Haarlem opened the score with two runs off of Margot van Eijl, who made her debut in a Terrasvogels-uniform.
She gave up a lead-off single to Anne Blaauwgeers, then hit Kimberly Jones with a pitch.
The two moved on a sacrifice bunt by McKayla Taylor and went on to score on a sacrifice fly by Maxime van Dalen and a double by Dominique Sprengers.
Sparks Haarlem then rallied for four runs off of three pitchers in the third inning.
Kimberly Jones again was hit by a pitch, then moved on a wild pitch and scored on a ground-rule double by Maxime van Dalen.
That led to the first pitching change, as Bobbi Scheurkogel took over.
She got the bases loaded when Dominique Sprengers singled and Feline Poot walked.
Two runs were then added when Taisa Kirindongo was hit by a pitch and Maaike Blaauwgeers singled.
Next, Poot was forced out at the plate on a grounder by Katie Donovan, who was the designated player in this game.
With the bases still loaded, the next run was scored when Anne Blaauwgeers walked.
Hereafter, another pitching change followed.
Lizzie Clarijs took over and closed the inning with a strikeout.
Sparks scored its seventh run in the fourth when McKayla Taylor led off with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Dominique Sprengers.
Kirsten Scheele retired the side in the first three innings, but then ran into problems in the bottom of the fourth when she gave up five basehits, resulting in three runs.
With Katharina Szalay (fielder's choice) on first base and one out, Lizzie Clarijs singled and Karin Tuk followed with a runscoring double.
Next batter Jessica Waasdorp hit an RBI-single and with two outs, Bobbi Scheurkogel added another runscoring single that narrowed the deficit to 7-3.
With two runners on base, Quincy Catsburg took over the pitching for Sparks and she got an inning-ending grounder.
Terrasvogels was held scoreless in the remainder of the game, while Sparks Haarlem scored four more runs.
All of these extra runs were unearned, as two errors contributed.
In the top of the fifth, two runs were scored on a single by Kimberly Jones.
And in the sixth, Katie Donovan batted in two runs with a single.
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...Left: Umpires Gerrit-Jan van der Hoeven and Harm de Fonkert are ready for Game 2...
...De Fonkert umpired in his first big league-game since 2015...
...Right: Anne Blaauwgeers scores the first run for Sparks Haarlem in the first inning... |
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...Left: Kirsten Scheele was the starting pitcher for Sparks Haarlem...
...Right: Kimberly Jones scored twice and batted in two runs for Sparks Haarlem... |
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...Left: Sparks Haarlem Short Stop McKayla Taylor follows the action...
...Right: End of the game...
(© All Photos: Fred Versluis) |
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| Terrasvogels - Sparks Haarlem 3-11 (6 inn.) |
| R | H | E |
| Sparks Haarlem | 204 | 122 | | - | 11 | 10 | 0 |
| Terrasvogels | 000 | 300 | | - | 3 | 6 | 2 |
| pitchers Sparks | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Kirsten Scheele | 3.2 | 4 | - | 5 | 3 | 3 |
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| Quincy Catsburg, W (1-0) | 2.1 | 1 | - | 1 | - | - |
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| pitchers Terrasvogels | inn. | SO | BB | H | R | ER |
| Margot van Eijl, L (0-1) | 2.1 | - | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
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| Bobbi Scheurkogel | 0.1 | - | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
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| Lizzie Clarijs | 3.1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 1 |
Umpires: HP-Harm de Fonkert, 1B-Gerrit-Jan van der Hoeven.
Official Scorer-Marco Stoovelaar.
Play-by-Play Scorer-Karin Pieneman.
Public Address Announcer-None.
Scoreboard Operator-None.
Starting Time-3:12 PM.
Time Played-1:43 hrs.
Site-Sportpark 'De Elta', Santpoort-Zuid.
Game Notes:
Merel Kramer (Sparks Haarlem) makes her debut in the Golden League.
Weather conditions at game time: Sunny, 24,6° C (76,3° F); wind direction east-southeast;
wind speed 27 kmh (16,8 mph); wind force 4 Bft; humidity 28%. |
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Copyright © 1997-2019 Marco Stoovelaar / Grand Slam * Stats & News.
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