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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar) Olympia Haarlem opens European Cup Winners Cup with two wins Nederlands SARONNO / LEGNANO / BOVISIO-MASCIAGO (Italy) - Olympia Haarlem opened the European Cup Winners Cup-tournament on Monday (August 16) with two victories. The 29th edition of the tournament is organized in Italy, where games will be played at three locations. Olympia Haarlem shutout Zürich Challengers from Switzerland 11-0 in 3½ inning on Monday-afternoon. In the evening, the Haarlem-team outscored Chicaboo's Stabroek from Belgium with an 8-2 score. With these two games, Olympia Haarlem already completed its Preliminary Round in Group B. On Tuesday, Olympia Haarlem will play one game and then meets Crazy Chicklets from Austria in what is the team's first game in the Second Round. Crazy Chicklets finished in second place in Group A. The tournament initially was scheduled for last year, but then was cancelled and postponed to this year due to ongoing measures against the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). (August 16) Other scores Day 1: Group A: Crazy Chicklets vs. Les Pharaons 3-2; Saronno vs. Crazy Chicklets 19-3 (2½ inn.). Group C: Gepardy Zory vs. Trnava Panthers 6-7 (9 inn.); Viladecans vs. Neunkirchen Nightmares 4-0; Trnava Panthers vs. Viladecans 0-16 (3 inn.); Neunkirchen Nightmares vs. Gepardy Zory 1-5. Group D: Eagles Praha vs. Carrousel 3-0; Fireballs vs. Medvednica 1-14 (4 inn.); Medvednica vs. Eagles Praga 4-11 (5 inn.); Carrousel vs. Fireballs 8-1 (5 inn.).

Olympia Haarlem vs. Zürich Challengers In this game, teammates Lindsey Meadows and Danielle ten Donkelaar faced each other playing for a team they don't play for in the regular season. That is the result of the pick-up rule which allows teams to add players from other teams to improve their roster during the European Cup-tournaments. Meadows and Ten Donkelaar play in the Dutch big league for Tex Town Tigers. During the Cup Winners Cup, Meadows is on the roster of Olympia Haarlem and Ten Donkelaar plays for Zürich Challengers. Besides Meadows, Olympia also added Dinet Oosting and Lizzie Clarijs from Tex Town Tigers to its team. Olympia opened the score against the Swiss team in the first inning off of Danielle ten Donkelaar, who was the starting pitcher for Challengers. Lead-off hitter Brenda Beers reached on an error and scored on a 2-out single by Dinet Oosting. In the second inning, Olympia added its second run. With one out, Lizzie Clarijs doubled, advanced on a passed ball and scored on a grounder by Alyson Spinas-Valainis. In the third inning, Olympia Haarlem decided the game with a 9-run rally off of new pitcher Leandra Simitovic. Cindy van der Zanden started the rally with a lead-off homerun. Jessie van Aalst then singled and with one out, an unique series of seven consecutive extra-basehits followed. Mariëlle Vleugels (RBI), Anna Prins (RBI), Lizzie Clarijs, pinch-hitter Lindsey Meadows (2-run), Lisa Hop (RBI) and Brenda Beers (RBI) hit six doubles in a row. Hereafter, in her second at bat in this inning, Cindy van der Zanden delivered a runscoring triple and went on to score the ninth run on a sacrifice fly by Jessie van Aalst. Alyson Spinas started for Olympia Haarlem and began with two strikeouts. She then gave up a single to Carmen Lutz-Demetz, who was then forced out on a grounder by Danielle ten Donkelaar. The team from Zürich didn't reach base anymore in the remainder of the game. The righthander retired the side in the second and fourth inning, adding four more strikeouts. Lindsey Meadows then retired the side in the fourth. That at bat ended with a grounder from her teammate Danielle ten Donkelaar. And that also ended the game.

Olympia Haarlem - Zürich Challengers 11-0 (3½ inn.) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E Zürich Challengers 0 0 0 0 - 0 1 2 Olympia Haarlem 1 1 9 X - 11 12 0 pitchers Zürich Challengers inn. SO BB H R ER Danielle ten Donkelaar, L (0-1) 2 2 - 3 2 1 Leandra Simitovic 1 - - 9 9 9 pitchers Olympia Haarlem inn. SO BB H R ER Lisa Hop - (*) - - - - - Alyson Spinas-Valainis, W (1-0) 3 6 - 1 - - Lindsey Meadows 1 1 - - - - (*) - Hop was announced as starting pitcher, but was replaced by Spinas when top 1st inning began Homerun: Olympia: Cindy van der Zanden (1)(3rd,solo,0 outs,off Simitovic). Box Score Play-by-Play Umpires: HP-Jan Svatos (Czech Rep.), 1B-Diego Vitale (Italy), 3B-Mauro Fiorini (Italy). Official Scorer-Fabrizio Diletti (Italy). Play-by-Play Scorer-Fausto Nardi (Italy). Technical Commissioner-Lis Castro (Denmark). Starting Time-10:00 PM. Time Played-1:16 hrs. Site-Campo di Softball, Centro Sportivo Peppino Colombo, Legnano (Italy) (complex Legnano Softball). Game Notes: European Cup Winners Cup 2021. Weather conditions at game time: Sunny, 25° C (77° F); wind direction north; wind speed 14 kmh (8,7 mph); wind force 2 Bft; humidity 39%.

Olympia Haarlem vs. Chicaboo's Stabroek In its second game, Olympia Haarlem outscored Chicaboo's Stabroek, which has many familiar players on its roster. The five players that were on the third through seventh spot in the batting order were added to the Belgian team for this tournament, as all five normally play in the regular season in the Dutch big league this season. They were Nicky Uytendaal, Eva Versloot, Lorraine Kieft, Lizzy Uytendaal and Lisa Meyering. The addition of Versloot is somewhat remarkable, as she plays for Roef!, which currently participates in the European Premiere Cup-tournament. So, instead of playing for her regular team, she plays for the Belgian squad. The two Uytendaal's play for Quick Amersfoort, Kieft plays for Sparks Haarlem and Meyering plays for Onze Gezellen. Olympia Haarlem opened the score with three runs in the top of the first inning off of starter Tine De Jongh. Brenda Beers led off with a walk and Cindy van der Zanden singled, then the first scored on a double by Jessie van Aalst. Van der Zanden then scored on a sacrifice fly by Lizzie Clarijs and Van Aalst went on to score on a single by Mariëlle Vleugels. Chicaboo's got one run back in its first at bat off of starter Lindsey Meadows. With one out, Nicole Zapotoczny reached on an error, advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Nicky Uytendaal and scored on a single by Eva Versloot. Olympia Haarlem took more distance in the top of the second inning via a 4-run rally. Machteld Rector led off with a single and Lisa Hop followed with a bunt-single. After the two had advanced on a grounder by Brenda Beers, Rector scored on a grounder by Cindy van der Zanden. Hereafter, Jessie van Aalst and Lizzie Clarijs connected for back-to-back triples to lift the lead to 7-1. Olympia was then held scoreless in the next four innings. In the third and fourth at bat, new pitcher Lynn Van Den Brande got only one baserunner. In the fifth inning, Lisa Meyering took over the pitching. Earlier in the day, she struckout nine batters in 4 2/3 inning and was the winning pitcher in an 18-3 win against Zürich Challengers. The righthander encountered no problems in the fifth and sixth inning, then gave up Olympia's eighth run in the top of the seventh. With two outs, Mariëlle Vleugels doubled and scored on a single by Michelle van der Meer. Chicaboo's left a runner behind on second base in the second inning and another one on first base in the third. With a 7-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, Mariëlle Vleugels took over the pitching for Olympia. She gave up a lead-off single to Lorraine Kieft, who then was eliminated on a following hit by Lizzy Uytendaal, who stranded on first base. After Chicaboo's was retired in order in the fifth, the Belgian team scored its second run in the sixth. Nicky Uytendaal led off with a walk, moved on a sacrifice bunt by Eva Versloot and scored on a double by Lorraine Kieft. But that was to be it.

Chicaboo's Stabroek - Olympia Haarlem 2-8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E Olympia Haarlem 3 4 0 0 0 0 1 - 8 11 1 Chicaboo's Stabroek 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 2 5 1 pitchers Olympia Haarlem inn. SO BB H R ER Lindsey Meadows 3 2 2 2 1 - Mariëlle Vleugels, W (1-0) 4 3 1 3 1 1 pitchers Chicaboo's Stabroek inn. SO BB H R ER Tine De Jongh, L (0-1) 2 - 1 7 7 6 Lynn Van Den Brande 2 - - 1 - - Lisa Meyering 3 3 1 3 1 1 Box Score Play-by-Play Umpires: HP-Angelo Nearco (Italy), 1B-Michael Renggli (Switzerland), 3B-François Mays (France). Official Scorer-Cinzia Cozzi (Italy). Play-by-Play Scorer-Mario Fedele (Italy). Technical Commissioner-Gabriel Waage (Czech Rep.). Starting Time-3:35 PM. Time Played-1:43 hrs. Site-Campo Comunale Baseball Softball, Saronno (Italy) (complex Saronno Softball). Game Notes: European Cup Winners Cup 2021. Weather conditions at game time: Partly cloudy, 29° C (84,2° F); wind direction north; wind speed 13 kmh (8,1 mph); wind force 2 Bft; humidity 40%.

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