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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar) European Cup Winners Cup: Olympia Haarlem advances to Final Round after two wins Nederlands SARONNO / LEGNANO / BOVISIO-MASCIAGO (Italy) - Olympia Haarlem added two victories on Wednesday (August 18), the third day of the European Cup Winners Cup-tournament. Olympia recorded a 13-0 shutout-win in four innings against Carrousel (Russia) in its first game. In the evening, the team added another mercy-rule victory by winning 10-2 in five innings against Viladecans (Spain). With the wins, the team closed the Second Round to finish in first place of Group F and advance to the Championship Pool (Group X). The two best teams in this group will play in the Final on Saturday. On Monday, Olympia Haarlem won its first two games in the First Round. The team shutout Zürich Challengers from Switzerland 11-0 in 3½ inning, then outscored Chicaboo's Stabroek from Belgium with an 8-2 score. On Tuesday, the Haarlem-team recorded a convincing 8-0 shutout-win in 4½ inning against Crazy Chicklets (Austria) in its first game in the Second Round. The three best teams of Group E and F continue the tournament in Group X (Championship Pool) on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, Olympia Haarlem meets Eagles Praha (Czech Republic) and Saronno (Italy). The team then closes Group X on Friday against Chicaboo's Stabroek (Belgium). (August 18) Other scores Day 3: Group E: Chicaboo's Stabroek vs. Trnava Panthers 4-3; Saronno vs. Eagles Praha 4-2; Trnava Panthers vs. Saronno 1-17 (5 inn.); Eagles Praha vs. Chicaboo's Stabroek 8-1 (4½ inn.). Group F: Viladecans vs. Crazy Chicklets 6-1; Crazy Chicklets vs. Carrousel 0-12 (4 inn.). Group G (9th through 14th place): Les Pharaons vs. Zürich Challengers 3-2; Gepardy Zory vs. Medvednica 6-8; Neunkirchen Nightmares vs. Fireballs 9-7.

Olympia Haarlem vs. Carrousel Olympia Haarlem struck early with a 7-run rally in the top of the first inning and went on to record a mercy-rule victory. For the third time in this tournament, the Olympia-pitching gave up only one basehit. The first seven batters of Olympia reached base safely in the first inning. Brenda Beers led off with a single off of Mayya Shalvadze. She started instead of Vera Kukharenko, who was originally announced as pitcher in the starting line-up. But as is done sometimes before the start of a softball-game during the umpiring meeting, a defensive change is made and teams switch from ten to nine players in which the tenth player on the list is the so-called flex player. Later, the team then can return to ten players to keep the original batting order intact and 're-enter' the tenth player. In this case, the tenth player was not involved, as that was the starting short stop (and flex player). The swith that was made was that designated player Mayya Shalvadze became the starting pitcher and pitcher Vera Kukharenko became the 'offensive player only' (OPO). Olympia got runners on second and third base following a single by Cindy van der Zanden, then the bases got loaded when Jessie van Aalst walked. All three scored when Lizzie Clarijs followed with a baseclearing, 3-run triple. When next batter Mariëlle Vleugels walked, a pitching change followed. Original announced starting pitcher Vera Kukharenko took over, but she saw Vleugels steal second base, then got the bases loaded when Lindsey Meadows walked. Two more runs were added on a following single by Quilen Dirksz. As an outfield-error followed, Olympia got runners on second and third base. After a foul-out, Meadows was eliminated at the plate on a grounder by Lisa Hop. But hereafter, in her second at bat in the inning, Brenda Beers delivered a 2-run double that lifted the lead to 7-0. The Haarlem-team added three more runs on three extra-basehits in the top of the second. Jessie van Aalst led off with a walk and scored on the second triple in the game by Lizzie Clarijs, who then scored herself on a double by Mariëlle Vleugels. Hereafter, Marina Barysheva became the third pitcher for Carrousel. After a groundout, she gave up an RBI-double to Quilen Dirksz. The inning ended with a double play. Machteld Rector flied out to rightfield, then Dirksz was eliminated trying to advance to third base. In the top of the third inning, Lisa Hop led off for Olympia with an infield-hit, then scored when Anna Prins homered. Prins had just entered the game as new catcher. Olympia added another run in the fourth when Yindi Beekveldt led off with a homerun. Like Anna Prins, Beekveldt also had just entered the game asn new leftfielder. Alyson Spinas-Valainis was the starting pitcher for Olympia Haarlem. The righthander retired the side in the first and second inning, striking out three batters. In the bottom of the third inning, Lisa Hop took over the pitching for Olympia and also retired the side (two strikeouts). In the bottom of the fourth, the Perfect Game ended when Darla Semenova led off for Carrousel with a single. But she was left behind, as the next three batters were also retired, which ended the game.

Carrousel - Olympia Haarlem 0-13 (4 inn.) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E Olympia Haarlem 7 3 2 1 - 13 13 0 Carrousel 0 0 0 0 - 0 1 1 pitchers Olympia Haarlem inn. SO BB H R ER Alyson Spinas-Valainis 2 3 - - - - Lisa Hop, W (1-0) 2 2 - 1 - - pitchers Carrousel inn. SO BB H R ER Vera Kukharenko - (*) - - - - - Mayya Shalvadze, L (0-1) - (**) - 2 3 5 5 Vera Kukharenko 1 (***) - 2 4 5 5 Marina Barysheva 3 - 2 6 3 3 (*) - Kukharenko was announced as starting pitcher, but was replaced by Shalvadze when top 1st inning began (**) - Shalvadze pitched to five batters in the first inning (***) - Kukharenko pitched to three batters in the second inning Homeruns: Olympia: Anna Prins (1)(3rd,2-run,0 outs,off Barysheva), Yindi Beekveldt (1)(4th,solo,0 outs,off Barysheva). Box Score Play-by-Play Umpires: HP-Jan Svatos (Czech Rep.), 1B-Tomasz Plutarski (Poland), 3B-François Mays (France). Official Scorer-Patrizia Dardanelli (Italy). Play-by-Play Scorer-Mario Fedele (Italy). Technical Commissioner-Lis Castro (Denmark). Starting Time-12:30 PM. Time Played-1:30 hrs. Site-Campo Comunale Baseball Softball, Saronno (Italy) (complex Saronno Softball). Game Notes: European Cup Winners Cup 2021. Weather conditions at game time: Sunny, 24° C (75,2° F); wind direction southeast; wind speed 8 kmh (4,9 mph); wind force 2 Bft; humidity 38%.

Olympia Haarlem vs. Viladecans In its second game today, Olympia Haarlem again had a productive first at bat. This time, the team scored four runs. A 6-run rally followed in the third inning and with that, Olympia went on to record its second mercy-rule win of the day and its fourth in the tournament. Although Olympia had two big rallies, it was Viladecans that first got on base in the top of the first inning off of starter Lisa Hop. The righthander gave up a lead-off single to Raquel Moncho, but she was caught stealing with one out. With two outs, Sorangel Ledezma walked, but stranded on first base. Olympia then struck with four runs in the bottom of the first inning off of starter Ivette Espín. She walked lead-off hitter Brenda Beers, then hit next batter Lisa Hop with a pitch. Both scored when Jessie van Aalst followed with a double. With one out, Mariëlle Vleugels homered to make it a 4-0 score. Espín then recovered and closed by striking out Cindy van der Zanden and Lindsey Meadows. Viladecans got its first runner in scoring position in the second inning. Uxua Modrego led off with a walk and moved on a wild pitch. Lisa Hop struckout the next batter. After Modrego had reached third base on a passed ball, Hop followed with another strikeout. Moments later, Modrego came into a rundown after a pick-off by catcher Brenda Beers and was caught stealing. Hop closed with another strikeout. After Olympia left a runner on second base in the top of the third, Lisa Hop struckout the side in the top of the third inning. In the bottom of the third inning, Olympia Haarlem rallied for six runs off of new pitcher Verónica De La Paz. With one out, Lizzie Clarijs walked and moved on a wild pitch. Mariëlle Vleugels was then walked intentionally, Cindy van der Zanden delivered a runscoring double and Lindsey Meadows followed with a 2-run single. After Macheld Rector was inserted as pinch-runner for Meadows, the bases got loaded when Quilen Dirksz singled and Yindi Beekveldt walked. All three went on to score. Rector on a grounder by Brenda Beers, the other two on a double by Lisa Hop. Hereafter, Alicia Rodríguez took over the pitching for Viladecans. She got an inning-ending grounder, but Olympia had reached a mercy-rule run-difference. Viladecans got two runs back in the top of the fourth inning. Pinch-hitter Laura Redondo and Sorangel Ledezma both walked and with two outs, both scored on a double by Anna Sobrino. Mariëlle Vleugels then pitched the fifth inning for Olympia Haarlem and retired the side, striking out two batters.

Olympia Haarlem - Viladecans 10-2 (4½ inn.) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E Viladecans 0 0 0 2 0 - 2 2 1 Olympia Haarlem 4 0 6 0 X - 10 6 0 pitchers Viladecans inn. SO BB H R ER Ivette Espín, L (0-1) 2 3 2 2 4 4 Verónica De La Paz 0.2 - 3 4 6 6 Alicia Rodríguez 1.1 1 1 - - - pitchers Olympia Haarlem inn. SO BB H R ER Lisa Hop, W (2-0) 4 7 4 2 2 2 Mariëlle Vleugels 1 2 - - - - Homerun: Olympia: Mariëlle Vleugels (2)(1st,2-run,1 out,off Espín). Box Score Play-by-Play Umpires: HP-Stefan Thilemans (Belgium), 1B-Vojtěch Machovský (Czech Rep.), 3B-Angelo Nearco (Italy). Official Scorer-Rinaldo Ermenegildo Dossena (Italy). Play-by-Play Scorer-Paolo Lugarini (Italy). Technical Commissioner-None. Starting Time-5:30 PM. Time Played-1:45 hrs. Site-Centro Sportivo Peppino Colombo, Legnano (Italy) (complex Legnano Softball). Game Notes: European Cup Winners Cup 2021. Weather conditions at game time: Sunny, 28° C (82,4° F); wind direction southeast; wind speed 8 kmh (4,9 mph); wind force 2 Bft; humidity 39%.

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