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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar) Netherlands opens Under-18 World Cup with surprise loss Nederlands LIMA (Peru) - The Netherlands Under-18 Softball Team opened the inaugural WBSC Under-18 Women's Softball World Cup on Monday-evening (December 6) with a surprising 3-1 loss against host Peru. The tournament is hosted by the Peruvian National Softball Federation and the games will be played in the softball-stadium at the Villa María del Triunfo Sports Complex in Lima, the capital of Peru, which has a population of more than 10 million and is one of the largest cities in the Americas. Due to the COVID-19 protocols and measures, the capacity of the stadium will be limited to only 30 percent. The round-robin of the tournament runs through coming Saturday to be followed by the Medal Games on Sunday (December 12). An hour and a half before the start of the game, the tournament was officially opened with a brief dance-show. There also were several speeches by dignitaries, including Vanessa Endo De La Torre, the President of the Peruvian National Softball Federation, Giorgio Mautino, who represented Special Projects Legado, and Tommy Velásquez, the Chairman of the Softball Division of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). The tournament initially was scheduled for August 23-30 last year, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was re-scheduled to March 27-April 4 of this year. However, as Peru was hit hard by the pandemic, the WBSC decided in December last year to re-schedule the event again, this time to August 28-September 5. But earlier this year, the World Cup was postponed for a fourth time to the current dates. Due to the postponements, players that were eligible to particpate last year are also eligible to participate this year. Initially, sixteen teams were scheduled when the World Cup would have been staged last year. As some countries withdraw from participation, only eight teams are currently participating. It marks the first time that the World Cup is held in the Under-18 category. Previously, the event was held for Under-19 teams. The last time that the Under-19 World Cup was held was in 2019. Back then, in Irvine (California, USA), the USA captured its third consecutive title and seventh overall. In its opening-game, the Netherlands outhit Peru 6-4, took an early 1-0 lead, but was unable to take more distance and was kept scoreless by pitcher Maria Pizzaro, who threw a fine game and struckout seven batters. In the meantime, Peru came alongside, then took the lead on two errors. On the World Rankings-list of the WBSC, the Netherlands is in tenth place, while Peru is in 30th. In 2019, in the USA, the Netherlands finished in 13th place, while Peru didn't participate. In 2017, at the Under-19 World Cup in Clearwater (Florida, USA), the Netherlands was 14th, while Peru then finished in 19th place. In 2019, Peru defeated defending champion Brazil 3-1 in the Final of the Under-15 South American Championship, which also was held in Lima. Back then, Maria Pizarro was the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. On Tuesday, the Netherlands, led by Head Coach Saskia Kosterink, meets Chinese Taipei, which began today with a convincing shutout-win against Colombia. (December 6) Other scores Day 1: Colombia vs. Chinese Taipei 0-9 (5 inn.); Mexico vs. Puerto Rico 0-2; USA vs. Czech Republic 10-0 (4 inn.).

The Netherlands got on base immediately in the top of the first inning, as lead-off hitter Sanne van der Putten walked, but the next three batters were retired by righthanded Peruvian starter Maria Pizarro. With two out, Van der Putten had stolen second base, but she was left behind. In the bottom of the first inning, Peru also got its lead-off hitter on base and also accounted for the first basehit in the game. Kiana Kadena led off with a single off of Nienke Weis. With one out, she also stole second base, but then was eliminated moments later when she also tried to reach third base on a wild pitch. The Orange Team then opened the score in the top of the second inning when Sietske Drijvers led off with a triple and scored on an one-out bunt by Else-Fieke de Boer. While the batter was eliminated at first base, Drijvers took off from third base, then slid around catcher Adriana Yamakawa to score the first run. Peru also got into scoring position again in its second at bat. Itati Susano led off with a walk, advanced on a wild pitch, but stranded on second base. Trailing 1-0, Peru came back in the third inning. First, pitcher Maria Pizarro struckout the Dutch side in the top of the third inning! In the bottom of the third, Peru came alongside. For the third time, the home-team got its lead-off hitter on base, as Akemy Gonzales was hit by a pitch. Next batter Paola Camino walked and with one out, Peru got the bases loaded when Jimena Kunigami also walked. That led to a pitching change, as Esmee Ames was inserted. However, Peru would score only once, which was done via a sacrifice fly by Frances Tenya. The other two runners were left behind, as Ames closed with a strikeout. With one out in the top of the fourth, the Netherlands got its next baserunner when Julia Kwakernaak singled. With two outs, Laura Schouten drilled a line drive into centerfield, but there, the ball was caught, which ended the at bat. After Peru had been retired in order in the bottom of the fourth, the Orange-squad got a runner on third base in the top of the fifth. With one out, Tenley Boersma doubled and moved to third base on a sacrfice bunt by Michelle Schuur, but she was left behind, as a flyout ended this Dutch at bat. Peru then struck with two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Both runs were unearned, due to two errors. Akemy Gonzales led off with a bunt-single in front of home-plate. With one out, Kiana Kadena also placed down a bunt. Gonzales appeared to be forced out on second base, but an error was made. Moments later, Gonzales scored on a pinch-hit single by Mariafe Bouchon. That brought Kadena to third base, but when a throwing error followed, she also was able to score to make it a 3-1 score. After Bouchon had reached first base, Jimena Kunigami re-entered as pinch-runner and moved to second base on a grounder, but then was left behind. In the quick-paced game, the Netherlands got its lead-off hitter on base in the top of the sixth, as Renske Tellekamp led off with a single. But she was forced out on a grounder by Amy-Lynn Felix, who then was left behind on first base. Peru got another runner in scoring position in the bottom of the sixth when Adriana Yamakawa doubled with two outs, but she was left behind. The Netherlands got its last opportunity to erase the deficit in the top of the seventh, but failed to do so, despite getting two baserunners. With two outs, Tenley Boersma and Michelle Schuur both singled. But Maria Pizarro then closed the game with a strikeout to seal the surprise opening win for Peru and surprise opening loss for the Netherlands.

Peru - Netherlands 3-1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E Netherlands 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 6 2 Peru 0 0 1 0 2 0 X - 3 4 0 pitchers Netherlands inn. SO BB H R ER Nienke Weis 2.1 1 3 1 1 1 Esmee Ames, L (0-1) 3.2 6 - 3 2 - pitcher Peru inn. SO BB H R ER Maria Pizarro, W (1-0) 7 7 1 6 1 1 Box Score Play-by-Play Umpires: HP-Naomi Erdahl (USA), 1B-Gabriela Elizabeth Jimenez (Argentina), 2B-Orelvis Sileverio (Dominican Republic), 3B-Felipe Arteaga (Colombia). Clock Operator-Diana Welch (USA). Official Scorers-William Cogollo (Colombia), Denis Kohatsu (Peru), Juan Cubillo (Nicaragua). Technical Commissioners-Steven McCown (USA), Fabian Medina (Argentina). Starting Time-7:00 PM. Time Played-1:43 hrs. Site-Field #1, Complejo Deportivo Villa María del Triunfo, Lima (Peru). Game Notes: Under-18 World Cup Softball Women 2021. Weather conditions at game time: Cloudy, 19° C (66,2° F); wind direction south; wind speed 23 kmh (14,3 mph); wind force 2 Bft; humidity 80%.

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