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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen) European Premiere Cup: Roef! suffers two extra-inning losses on Day 3 Nederlands BUTTRIO / CASTIONS DI STRADA (Italy) - Roef! suffered two costly losses on Wednesday (August 18), Day 3 of the European Premiere Cup-tournament. Against Forli (Italy) and Joudrs Praha (Czech Republic), the Dutch reigning champion lost both games in extra-innings. In both games, Roef! failed to hold onto a lead. In the first game against Forli, Roef! led 3-1 halfway the sixth inning, then trailed, but re-took the lead in the seventh. Forli came alongside and won 6-5 in eight innings. In the game against Joudrs, Roef! led 6-1 halfway the second inning, but the Czechs then rallied for six runs. Roef! came alongside and took the lead again in the fourth, but Joudrs also scored again. In the eighth inning, Roef! took the lead for the third time. However, Joudrs came back again and then won 10-9 in nine innings. As these two teams are also contenders for the Final, these losses will be decisive for the final ranking after the Round Robin, which ends on Friday. The nine participating teams all play against each other in this tournament, then the two teams in first and second place will advance to the Final on Saturday. The teams in third and fourth place will play in the Bronze Medal-game. Roef! has four more games scheduled in the Preliminary Round and still is in the race for the top-four, as there are several (theoretical) scenarios left over. However, today's losses probably have diminished the chances for the team to end up in first or second place. Roef! opened the event on Monday with a 7-0 shutout-win against RusStar (Russia). On Monday-evening, the game against Bollate from Italy was halted with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning due to heavy lightning. There was no score at that moment. The game will be completed on Friday-afternoon in Castions di Strada. On Tuesday, Roef! recorded a big 11-2 victory in 4½ inning against Les Comanches from France. On Thursday, Roef! plays its next two games, meeting Apollo Bratislava (Slovakia) and Barracudas Zürich (Switzerland). (August 18) Other scores Day 3: SK Joudrs Praha vs. Forli 4-13 (5 inn.); Les Comanches vs. Apollo Bratislava 4-5; Barracudas Zürich vs. RusStar 4-0; Apollo Bratislava vs. Rivas 4-3 (11 inn.); RusStar vs. Les Comanches 6-5; Bollate vs. Barracudas Zürich 7-0 (6 inn.).

Roef! vs.Forli Roef! briefly trailed, then took the lead in the second inning. Leading 3-1, the team was six outs away from a victory, but then Forli turned the game around. The Italian squad rallied for three runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 4-3 lead. That lead didn't last long, as Roef! answered with two runs in the top of the seventh, only to see Forli come alongside moments later to force extra innings. Tht team then sealed the come-from-behind win in the eighth inning. ...Juni Francisca as Head Coach... ...of the Netherlands Softball... ...Team during the 2015 European... ...Championship... (© Photo: Henk Seppen) Forli is led this season by former Netherlands Sofball Team-Head Coach and former Dutch big league-coach Juny Francisca. One of his pitchers this season is former Netherlands Team-pitcher Leonella Elizabeth, who this season als played in the Dutch big league for Quick Amersfoort. The team also has three National Team-players on its roster, Ilaria Cacciamani, Laura Vigna and Beatrice Ricci, who last month all participated with the National Team of Italy in the Olympic Games in Japan. For this tournament, the team also added Netherlands National Team-players Suka Van Gurp and Laura Wissink, who both play in the Dutch big league. Van Gurp for Sparks Haarlem and Wissink for Quick Amersfoort. Also added were American/Mexicans Suzy Brookshire and Sierra Hyland, who played for the National Team of Mexico in the Olympic Games. Both were born in the USA, but are of Mexican descent. Arriving shortly before the tournament was American Samantha Sheeley, who has played professionally in the National Pro Fatspitch and also is active as a coach in college-softball. She made her debut in the Forli-team a few days before the start of the tournament in a win against Bologna. Samantha Sheeley initially was listed as starting pitcher in the starting line-up of Forli for the game against Roef!, but that changed before the start of the game. Instead, Sierra Hyland, who was listed in the batting order as designated player, became the starting pitcher. With that, Sheeley, who was listed tenth in the line-up, became the flex player. Hyland threw the entire game and became the winning pitcher. Sierra Hyland struckout the first two batters she faced in the top of the first inning, but then hit Sterre den Duijn with a pitch and walked Elizabeth Snow. She closed with another strikeout. Forli then opened the score in its first at bat off of Sydney Watkins, who was added to the Roef!-roster for this tournament as pick-up player. With one out, the American righthander gave up back-to-back doubles to Suka Van Gurp and Suzy Brookshire, which led to the opening-run. Roef! answered with two runs in the top of the second inning. After Isa Los had led off with a single, the team got runners on first and second base when and error was made on a sacrifice bunt by Nadine Marinus. Moments later, Los scored the tying run and Marinus moved to third base on a single by Eva van Knegsel, who initially had retired after the 2019 season. She already returned during last season and also played in several games for Roef! again this season. With one out, the bases got loaded via an infield-hit by Wies Ligtvoet, which kept Marinus at third base. Kim Donkers then delivered another single to put Roef! ahead 2-1. Donkers is also a player who had announced her retirement some years ago when she played for Gryphons, but nevertheless returned into action the following year. Sierra Hyland followed with a strikeout, then got a grounder, meaning Roef! left three runners behind. After Roef! had turned an inning-ending double play in the bottom of the second inning, both teams were retired in order in the third at bat. Roef! then added another run in the top of the fourth. With one out, Onaisha Franka walked and scored on a triple by Wies Ligtvoet, who then was left behind. In the bottom of the fourth, Suzy Brookshire led off for Forli with a single, but she was forced out on a grounder by Beatrice Ricci. Sydney Watkins then struckout both Laura Wissink and Sierra Hyland. After Roef! left a runner behind on second base in the top of the fifth, the team made a rare unassisted double play in the bottom of the fifth. Ilaria Cacciamani led off with a single, then Forli got another runner when no out was made on a sacrifice bunt by Carlotta Onofri. The two advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Miriana Cerioni and Onofri then was replaced by pinch-runner Elda Ghilardi. Hereafter, Laura Vigna popped the ball up in the air just behind the second base-area. Centerfielder Isa Los came running in and caught the ball near the infield/outfield-border, while the runners were returning to their bases. However, just as Los approached second base after having caught the ball, Ghilardi briefly left her base. She was then tagged out by Los, which with that completed an unassisted double play! Which of course is very, very rare for a centerfielder. And it ended the scoring opportunity for Forli. However, Roef! was less lucky in the bottom of the sixth when Forli rallied for three runs to erase the 3-1 deficit. With one out, Suzy Brookshire singled and scored on a triple by Beatrice Ricci. Laura Wissink then struckout. Now with two outs, it was decided to walk next batter Sierra Hyland intentionally to pitch around this hitter and to set up a force play. But Ilaria Cacciamani then followed with a 2-run double to put the Italian team ahead, 4-3. The game was far from over, as Roef! re-took the lead in the top of the seventh. With two outs, Elizabeth Snow drilled the ball over the leftfield-fence for a homerun, which tied the score. Hereafter, Sophie Verdaasdonk was hit by a pitch. She stole second base, then scored the go-ahead run on a single by Isa Los. Roef! was now three outs away from the win. However, Forli came alongside, but also left three runners behind. When Miriana Cerioni led off with a single, a pitching change followed. Marjolein Merkx was inserted and took over from Sydney Watkins. She was greeted with a single by Laura Vigna, then gave up a runscoring single to Suka Van Gurp, which tied the score. Vigna and Van Gurp advanced when Suzy Brookshire flied out. With one out, a force play was created by walking Beatrice Ricci intentionally. The force out didn't come, but a flyout and groundout ended the at bat and so, the game went into extra innings. In the top of the eighth, Roef! got two runners in scoring position. With Nadine Marinus on second base as tie-break runner and one out, pinch-hitter Charlotte Drijvers was hit by a pitch. She was then replaced by pinch-runner Onaisha Franka, who re-entered. Marinus and Franka moved to second and third base on a wild pitch, which also was a strikeout for Wies Ligtvoet. The two runners were then left behind. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Sierra Hyland was the tie-break runner for Forli. Ilaria Cacciamani then hit the ball into centerfield for a single. Hyland raced towards the plate, while centerfielder Isa Los made a nice throw towards catcher Elizabeth Snow, who appeared the receive the ball in time, but ended up just short. With that, Hyland scored and Forli won 6-5.

Forli - Roef! 6-5 (8 inn.) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 R H E Roef! 0 2 0 1 0 0 2 0 - 5 7 0 Forli 1 0 0 0 0 3 1 1 - 6 12 1 (no outs when the winning run was scored in the eighth inning) pitchers Roef! inn. SO BB H R ER Sydney Watkins 6 (*) 7 1 9 5 5 Marjolein Merkx, BS (1), L (1-1) 1 (**) - 1 3 1 - (*) - Watkins pitched to one batter in the seventh inning (**) - Merkx pitched to one batter in the eighth inning pitchers Forli inn. SO BB H R ER Samantha Sheeley - (*) - - - - - Sierra Hyland, W (1-0) 8 8 3 7 5 4 (*) - Sheeley was announced as starting pitcher, but was replaced by Hyland when top 1st inning began Homerun: Roef: Elizabeth Snow (1)(7th,solo,2 outs,off Hyland). Box Score Play-by-Play Umpires: HP-Galip Sönmez (Germany), 1B-Franck Lautier (France), 3B-Ibon Arévalo Lafuente (Spain). Official Scorer-Alessandro Meli (Italy). Play-by-Play Scorer-Francesca Valenti (Italy). Technical Commissioner-Wout Isbouts (Netherlands). Starting Time-3:00 PM. Time Played-2:24 hrs. Site-Campo di Baseball/Softball, Buttrio (Italy) (complex White Sox Buttrio). Game Notes: European Premiere Cup 2021. Weather conditions at game time: Sunny, 27° C (80,6° F); wind direction southeast; wind speed 10 kmh (6,2 mph); wind force 2 Bft; humidity 35%.

Roef! vs. SK Joudrs Praha Roef! led 6-1 halfway the second inning, but the early lead appeared far from comfortable. The Czech opponent rallied for six runs in the second inning to take the lead, but Roef! was able to come alongside. The team then took the lead two more times, but failed to hold onto it. With that, Roef! was left empty-handed for the second time today, suffering another come-from-behind extra-inning loss. Roef! started well and rallied for three runs with two outs in the top of the first inning off of American righthander Taylor Edwards. Wies Ligtvoet led off with a walk and scored the first run on a 2-out double by Elizabeth Snow. Hereafter, Sophie Verdaasdonk delivered a runscoring single, then scored herself on a double by Isa Los. Joudrs got one run back in its first at bat off of starter Marjolein Merkx. The run was also scored with two outs. Veronika Klimplová then singled, stole second base and scored on a single by Jana Furková. Roef! took more distance via another 3-run rally in the top of the second inning. Lead-off hitter Charlotte Drijvers was hit by a pitch and advanced on a wild pitch, but then was unable to advance on an one-out infield-hit towards thirds base by Wies Ligtvoet. Both then scored on a triple by Kim Donkers, who scored herself when that was followed by an error. And so, Roef! had an apparent comfortable 6-1 lead halfway the second inning. But that changed quickly in the second at bat of Joudrs, which staged a 6-run rally. The Czech team got the bases loaded quickly, as Michaela Poláková led off with a single and Klara Hudikova and Amalie Chaloupkova both walked. A run was then scored when Kristyna Horackova was hit by a pitch. With one out and the bases still loaded, two runs were added when a throwing error was made on what appeared to be a routine force play-grounder by Aneta Molentova, which also led to runners on second and third base. The bases got loaded again when Veronika Klimplová was hit by a pitch. That led to a pitching change, as Kim Horsten took over from Marjolein Merkx. She gave up a sacrifice fly to Jana Furková, which narrowed the deficit to 6-5. Tereza Sládková then followed with a 2-run double that put Joudrs ahead, 7-6. Roef! immediately came alongside in the top of the third inning off of new pitcher Anna Zoulová. She was greeted with a lead-off triple by Isa Los. With one out, Los scored the tying run on a fielder's choice sacrifice bunt/squeeze by Charlotte Drijvers. A sacrifice bunt by Lisa de Vries and a wild pitch brought Drijvers to third base, but she was then left behind. After Joudrs was retired in order in the bottom of the third, Roef! re-took the lead in the top of the fourth. With one out, Nadine Marinus was hit by a pitch and moved into scoring position on a flyout. With two outs, she advanced to third base on a passed ball, then scored when the next delivery ended in a wild pitch. That lead was also shortlived. With one out in the bottom of the third, Aneta Molentova was on second and Veronika Klimplová on first base. After the two had performed a double-steal, Jana Furková singled. Molentova scored, but Klimplová, who also tried to score, was eliminated at the plate. That was followed by a pitching change, as Jessica Tolmie was inserted as reliever for Kim Horsten. She got an inning-ending grounder, but the score was 8-8. Three scoreless innings followed. In those three at bats, Roef! got no scoring opportunities, but Joudrs got a chance to take the lead in the bottom of the sixth when it got the bases loaded with not outs! But the Roef!-defense avoided giving up runs. After the first three batters had reached base, Sydney Watkins took over the pitching. She got a force play-grounder, which led to an out at the plate, then struckout the next two batters. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Watkins gave up a double, but also struckout three batters. With the score still at 8-8, the game went into extra innings. And this time, two innings were needed to come to a decision. In the top of the eighth inning, Roef! took the lead for the third time. Tie-break runner Sophie Verdaasdonk moved to third base via a sacrifice bunt by Isa Los, then scored on another successful sacrifice bunt/squeeze which ended in a fielder's choice, this time produced by Eva van Knegsel. Roef! left runners behind on first and second base. Joudrs also scored again in the bottom of the eighth, thanks to a 2-out single by Veronika Klimplová. In the top of the ninth, tie-break runner Wies Ligtvoet moved to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Kim Donkers, but then was left behind. Joudrs then decided the game moments later. Veronika Klimplová was the tie-break runner for the Czechs. She delivered a runscoring single in the previous at bat, but then was caught stealing. And as she was the final batter in the at bat, she became the tie-break runner in this inning. And she again was successful. When next batter Jana Furková flied out, Klimplová advanced to third base. Pitcher Sydney Watkins then got to an 1-1 count on the next batter. But on the second pitch (a swinging strike), Klimplová was able to steal the plate, which gave Joudrs the win! And ended the game after more than than 3½ hours.

SK Joudrs Praha - Roef! 10-9 (9 inn.) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Roef! 3 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 - 9 6 1 SK Joudrs Praha 1 6 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 - 10 11 1 (one out when winning run was scored in the ninth inning) pitchers Roef! inn. SO BB H R ER Marjolein Merkx 1.1 2 2 3 7 3 Kim Horsten 2.1 3 - 4 1 1 Jessica Tolmie 1.1 2 (*) - 2 - - Sydney Watkins, L (0-1) 3.1 6 - 2 2 - (*) - Tolmie pitched to three batters in the sixth inning pitchers Joudrs Praha inn. SO BB H R ER Taylor Edwards 2 3 2 5 6 5 Anna Zoulová, W (2-0) 7 3 1 1 3 1 Box Score Play-by-Play Umpires: HP-Martin Moravćík (Slovakia), 1B-Roberto Valentinis (Italy), 3B-Loretta Lamieri (Italy). Official Scorer-Marco Battistella (Italy). Play-by-Play Scorer-Roberto Saletti (Italy). Technical Commissioner-Zsuzsa Balog (Hungary). Starting Time-8:00 PM. Time Played-3:33 hrs. Site-Campo da Softball, Castions di Strada (Italy) (complex Softball Club Castionese). Game Notes: European Premiere Cup 2021. Weather conditions at game time: Clear, 21° C (69,8° F); wind direction northeast; wind speed 10 kmh (6,2 mph); wind force 2 Bft; humidity 42%.

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