The Netherlands was outhit by Colombia, but reached base regularly and scored four unearned runs on errors en route to its first victory of the World Cup-tournament.
The Netherlands opened the score with two runs in the top of the first inning.
Initially, Colombian starter Sophia Bertorelli (who made her fifth start) struckout the first two batters she faced, but then, some productive at bats followed.
With two outs, Tenley Boersma singled, stole second base and scored the first run on a single by Sietske Drijvers, who herself advanced to second base on the throw to the plate.
She then scored the second run when Julia Kwakernaak doubled into deep centerfield.
A grounder ended the at bat, but the Orange Team had taken an early lead.
Esmee Ames made her third start and fifth pitching-appearance for the Netherlands.
She threw two 7-inning complete games against the Czech Republic (Wednesday) and Mexico (Friday).
The righthander also retired the first two batters she faced (one strikeout), then gave up a single to Ericka Gomez, but she stranded on first base.
Ames then retired the side in the second inning, striking out two batters.
The Netherlands also got on base again with two outs in the top of the second inning.
Else-Fieke de Boer led off this at bat with a hard line drive, but the ball was nicely caught by second baseman Natalia Alvarez Severiche.
With two outs, Michelle Schuur singled, but she also was left behind on first base.
The Orange Team added a run in the top of the third inning.
Reganied Franka led off with a walk, stole second base and with one out, she also stole third base.
With two outs and a 2-0 count on Julia Kwakernaak, it was decided to walk her intentionally.
However, hereafter, a normal walk followed for Renske Tellekamp which loaded the bases.
With Else-Fieke de Boer in the batter's box, an unnecessary pick-off attempt to third base from catcher Shayera McDaniel ended in a throwing error and enabled Franka to score.
Moments later, the inning ended, but the Netherlands had lifted the lead to 3-0.
Colombia narrowed the deficit to 3-1 in the bottom of the third inning by scoring an unearned run.
With two outs (including the fourth strikeout by Ames), Isabella Bertorelli and Amanda Polo Pardo both singled.
On Polo's basehit, Bertorelli advanced to third base, then scored when a throwing error followed.
But the inning then ended with a flyout.
The Orange Team scored another unearned run in the top of the fourth when the Colombian defense made two errors.
Amy-Lynn Felix led off with a walk, but was forced out (close play) at second base on a grounder by Michelle Schuur.
Next batter Sanne van der Putten then hit the ball into leftfield where it appeared to be caught, however, the ball was dropped.
Schuur, who was halfway first and second base following the play then had to speed up somewhat, but reached second base in time, just before the throw from leftfield arrived.
Hereafter, the bases got loaded when a grounder by Reganied Franka ended in a (bad-hop) error.
Schuur then scored the fourth Dutch run on a sacrifice fly by Tenley Boersma.
The other two runners also advanced, but they stranded on second and third base.
In the bottom of the fourth, Esmee Ames retired the side for the second time, striking out her fifth batter.
In the top of the fifth, the Netherlands got its lead-off hitter on base when Julia Kwakernaak walked.
She moved into scoring position with one out via a sacrifice bunt by Else-Fieke de Boer, but then was left behind.
In the bottom of the fifth, Colombia cut the deficit in half in what could have been a productive at bat, but only one run was scored thanks to good defensive plays by the Netherlands.
Lead-off hitter Cristibel Blanco Berrio was hit by a pitch and moved into scoring position on a successful sacrifice bunt by Angelica Peñata Kerguelen.
Hereafter, Colombia got the bases loaded after an infield-hit by Natalia Alvarez Severiche and a bunt-single by Isabella Bertorelli.
With one out, Blanco scored on a single by Amanda Polo Pardo, which also kept the bases loaded and led to a pitching change.
Lisa Brink took over and a grounder by Ericka Gomez then set up several situations.
First, on the grounder by Gomez, short stop Sanne van der Putten threw the ball to catcher Tenley Boersma, which led to the force out at the plate of pinch-runner Maria Jimenez Molina (who had replaced Alvarez).
Boersma then threw the ball to first baseman Else-Fieke de Boer for a double play-attempt, but batter Gomez reached the base safely.
However, on the throw to first base, runner Bertorelli tried to score.
De Boer quickly threw the ball back to Boersma, but Bertorelli slid by the catcher and appeared to avoid the tag.
But Mexican Home Plate Umpire Renzo Ruiz was on top of the play and called Bertorelli out, as she probably was tagged on her back or shoulder before she touched the plate.
A brief discussion with Colombian Head Coach Jamir Iriarte Gomez followed, but Ruiz explained his call which completed a double play and ended the at bat.
...The players of the Netherlands Team thank their fans...
...after closing the World Cup with their lone win...
(© Photo: WBSC Game Media) |
The Orange Team immediately toook some more distance by scoring twice in the top of the sixth inning when the Colombian defense again made some errors.
With two outs, Reganied Franka and Tenley Boersma both reached on an infield-hit.
When Franka advanced to third base on Boersma's hit, a throwing error followed.
On the error, Franka scored and Boersma advanced to third base.
Hereafter, Sietske Drijvers walked.
Moments later, Franka scored her second run in this inning.
After having scored her first run, she became the temporary runner for catcher Boersma at third base, then scored when a grounder by Julia Kwakernaak ended in another error.
On the error, Drijvers moved to third base and Kwakernaak to second, then the bases got loaded again when Renske Tellekamp walked.
But this time, the three runners were left behind, as a flyout ended the at bat.
Colombia got another runner with two outs in the bottom of the sixth when the Dutch offense also committed an error, but hereafter, Lisa Brink closed with a strikeout.
After the Orange Team was retired in order in the top of the seventh, Colombia got one final scoring opportunity in the bottom half of the at bat.
With one out Natalia Alvarez Severiche singled, as did Amanda Polo Pardo (she was 3-for-4) with two outs.
Colombia then got the bases loaded when Ericka Gomez walked.
But the three Colombian runners were left behind, as a flyout into centerfield ended the game.
And with that, the Netherlands closed the Under-18 World Cup with a nice 6-2 victory.
With her five strikeouts, pitcher Esmee Ames raised her total to 19 in 23 1/3 inning.
When the game ended, her 19 strikeouts were the third highest total in the tournament.
Czech pitcher Katerina Kindermannová struckout the most batters with 39 (in 26 innings), followed by Puerto Rican pitcher Keira Bucher with 21 (in 21 innings) and Ames.
The Orange-pitcher shared third place with Peruvian pitcher Maria Pizarro.
But in the evening-game, Pizarro added two strikeouts against Mexico.
With that, Ames had the fourth most strikeouts, which of course still is a nice accomplishment.
|
Netherlands closes World Cup win win against Colombia
LIMA (Peru) -
The Netherlands Under-18 Team has closed the WBSC Under-18 Women's Softball World Cup with a good feeling, as the team played a fine game against Colombia and won 6-2 on Saturday (December 11).
With that, the Orange Team of Head Coach Saskia Kosterink recorded its first (and lone) victory after having lost the previous six games.
The Netherlands opened the event on Monday with a surprise 3-1 loss against host Peru, then lost 11-5 on Tuesday against Chinese Taipei.
On Wednesday, the Netherlands was nipped 2-1 by the Czech Republic.
The Orange Team then was shutout 10-0 by the USA on Thursday in what was a Perfect Game.
On Day 5 of the tournament, the Netherlands played a double-header and lost 10-4 against Puerto Rico and 3-0 against Mexico.
Under-18 World Cup Softball Women 2021.