(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
  Netherlands Softball Team wins first exhibition game against Italy
Nederlands
 RONCHI DEI LEGIONARI (Italy) -
The Netherlands Women's Softball Team played its first of four exhibition games on Tuesday-evening (June 22) to prepare for the European Championship, which opens coming Sunday in Italy.
On Tuesday, the Orange Team won 7-3 against Italy.
In the coming days, the team of Head Coach Ferenc Jongejan also will play exhibition games against France and the Czech Republic.
On Sunday, the European Championship opens in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region in the northeast of Italy.
The game will be played at five locations in this area just north of Venice.
Castions di Strada, Ronchi dei Legionari, Porpetto, Cervignano and Castions delle Mura all will host games during the event.
The Netherlands will play in Group B and opens against Austria, to be followed by Germany and Lithuania.
Under sunny weather conditions, the Netherlands struck early in its first exhibition game against Italy, which was played in Ronchi dei Legionari.
The Orange Team rallied for four runs in the top of the first inning.
Britt Vonk led off with a walk, then scored the first run when Brenda Beers followed with a triple and later scored herself on a wild pitch.
With one out, Jessie van Aalst also walked, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Maxime van Dalen.
After moving into scoring position on a single by Cindy van der Zanden, Van Dalen scored the fourth run on a 2-out single by Lizzie Clarijs.
In the second inning, Wies Ligtvoet singled with two outs, stole second base, but was left behind.
Lindsey Meadows, who makes her comeback in the National Team, started for the Netherlands and encountered no problems in the first two innings.
With two outs in the third, the righthander gave up two runs when Andrea Howard homered for Italy.
With a 4-2 lead, the Netherlands took more distance by scoring a run in each of the next three innings.
In the fourth, Britt Vonk homered with two outs.
In the next at bat, with one out, Jessie van Aalst doubled and scored on a single by Mariëlle Vleugels.
And in the sixth, Suka Van Gurp singled with two outs and scored the seventh Orange-run on a single by Britt Vonk.
In the bottom of the fourth, Marjolein Merkx took over the pitching from Lindsey Meadows and threw two innings.
Kirsten Scheele then threw the final two innings.
The righthander who also returned to the National Team, gave up third and final Italian run in the sixth inning.
Emily Carosone then led off with a double and scored on an one-out double by Andrea Filler.
Playing in today's game were:
Jessie van Aalst (rightfield), Brenda Beers (centerfield), Lizzie Clarijs (3rd base), Maxime van Dalen (1st base), Annemiek Jansen (leftfield), Wies Ligtvoet (leftfield), Dinet Oosting (catcher), Suka Van Gurp (2nd base), Mariëlle Vleugels (1st base), Britt Vonk (short stop), Laura Wissink (pinch-hitter/designated player), Cindy van der Zanden (designated player) and pitchers Lindsey Meadows, Marjolein Merkx and Kirsten Scheele.
(June 22)
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Exhibition game.