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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Robert Meijboom) Olympia Haarlem nips Amsterdam Pirates twice in double-header Nederlands HAARLEM (Neth.) - Olympia Haarlem and Amsterdam Pirates played two attractive and suspenseful games on Saturday (April 24) to conclude their exhibition season. Both games were won by Olympia Haarlem, but the vice-champion won only by one run in both meetings. In the opener, Olympia Haarlem led 9-5 when the seventh inning began, but won only 9-8. In the second game, Olympia trailed 9-6 when the bottom of the seventh began, but managed to score four runs to win 10-9. With one week to go before the start of the new season, the coaching-situation at Amsterdam Pirates is still unclear. In the past weeks, Jaap Braakman, Jeff Delfina, Sandra Gouverneur, Babette Kouwenhoven and Pitching Coach Mirjam Soumokil conducted the practice sessions. Today, Delfina led the Pirates-team. A week ago, when Pirates played a double-header against Tex Town Tigers, the team was led by Erik Boland and Ted ter Heegde, who were the coaches last year, while Braakman observed the game. Boland then shared the Head Coach-duties with Gouverneur last year. Coming Saturday (May 1), the regular season opens in the highest Dutch league. On that day, both teams will face each other again, but this time in Amsterdam. The first game begins at 2 PM. (April 24)

Game 1 In the first game, Olympia Haarlem rallied for six runs in the first inning and appeared to be en route to a big victory. However, the team scored only three more runs in the remainder of the game, while Amsterdam Pirates kept on scoring from the third inning on. In the end, Olympia led by only one run. ...Jessie van Aalst... ...4-for-4, double, triple... ...1 run scored, 3 RBI's... (© Photo: Robert Meijboom) In the bottom of the first inning, the first seven batters of Olympia reached base off of starter Mandy van der Maas. Brenda Beers and Machteld Rector led off with a walk and both scored on a following triple by Jessie van Aalst. Hereafter, Mariëlle Vleugels and Cindy van der Zanden added back-to-back RBI-doubles. The latter moved to third base on a passed ball, then Rachel van Veen walked and a double-steal resulted in the next run. Van Veen scored the sixth run in the at bat on a wild pitch. Amsterdam Pirates scored its first run in the top of the third off of starter Mariëlle Vleugels, who was supported with an unassisted double play in the second at bat. In the third, the righthander gave up a lead-off triple to Iris Hooijer, who then scored on a grounder by Ailleen Boland. Pirates added two runs in the fourth, Rhowan Stuart led off with a walk and scored on a triple by Jeske Meewisse, who then scored the next run when Resa ter Heegde reached on an error. The latter stole second base, then Iris Hooijer walked with two outs, but Vleugels closed with a strikeout. Olympia Haarlem scored its next run in the bottom of the fourth. Quilen Dirksz led off with a single, advanced on an one-out single by Machteld Rector and scored on a single by Jessie van Aalst. A double play ended the at bat. In the top of the fifth, Pirates scored two more runs off of new pitcher Isis Kistemaker to narrow the deficit to 7-5. Lead-off hitter Ailleen Boland reached on an error and moved into scoring position via a sacrifice bunt by Stacy Groot. She scored on a triple by Rhowan Stuart, who then scored herself on a fielder's choice-grounder by Jeske Meewisse. Olympia Haarlem took some more distance by scoring once in the fifth and sixth inning off of new pitcher Demi Brinks to raise its led to 9-5. In the fifth, Rachel van Veen tripled with one out and scored on a single by Lisa Hop. In the sixth, Brenda Beers reached on a bunt-single with one out and went on to score on a 2-out double by Jessie van Aalst, who was 4-for-4 with a double and triple, scored once and batted in three runs in this game. Trailing 9-5, Pirates staged a suspenseful seventh inning, as the team scored three runs with two outs. Jeske Meewisse then walked, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Resa ter Heegde. Hereafter, Sietske Drijvers also walked. Two runs were then added when Kelly Koeman drove the ball into rightfield for a double. However, while Ter Heegde and Drijvers both scored, Koeman tried to stretch her hit into a triple and was eliminated at third base. And that ended the game.

Olympia Haarlem - Amsterdam Pirates 9-8 (6½ inn.) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E Amsterdam Pirates 0 0 1 2 2 0 3 - 8 8 2 Olympia Haarlem 6 0 0 1 1 1 X - 9 12 3 pitchers Amsterdam Pirates inn. SO BB H R ER Mandy van der Maas, L (0-2) 4 1 5 8 7 7 Demi Brinks 2 - 1 4 2 2 pitchers Olympia Haarlem inn. SO BB H R ER Mariëlle Vleugels, W (1-0) 4 7 2 5 3 3 Isis Kistemaker, SV (1) 3 1 3 3 5 4 Standings Scores Schedule Team Rosters Umpires: HP-Geert-Steven Gruppelaar, 1B-Patrick Reus. Scorer-Colinda de Vries (Olympia Haarlem). Starting Time-1:00 PM. Time Played-0:00 hrs. Site-Nol Houtkamp Sportpark, Haarlem. Game Notes: Exhibition game; Game 1 double-header. Weather conditions at game time: Partly cloudy, 11° C (51,8° F); wind direction north-northeast; wind speed 24 kmh (14,9 mph); wind force 3 Bft; humidity 56%.

Game 2 In the second game, it was Amsterdam Pirates that had a big rally in the first inning, scoring five runs off of starter Asmara de Greef. With one out, five consecutive batters reached base. Ailleen Boland singled and Stacy Groot doubled, then Jeske Meewisse followed with a runscoring single. An error on a sacrifice bunt by Isabelle Markies led to the second run, then a wild pitch enabled Meewisse to score. Hereafter, Sietske Drijvers singled and with two outs, Merel Kramer delivered a 2-run single to give Pirates an early 5-0 lead. ...Anna Prins... ...walk-off single... (© Photo: Robert Meijboom) Olympia then scored one run in each of its first three at bats off of starter Sanne van der Putten to make it a 5-3 score. In the first inning, Jessie van Aalst (fielder's choice) was on first base with two outs. She then was awarded second base on an illegal pitch and scored on a triple by Cindy van der Zanden. She stranded on third base, as a line drive by Yindi Beekveldt was caught by 1B Anouk Boontjes. In the second inning, an unearned run was added. Rachel van Veen led off with a walk, advanced on a bunt-single by Michelle van der Meer and an illegal pitch, then scored when Mayke Maas reached on an error. In the third, Cindy van der Zanden doubled with two outs and scored on a single by Yindi Beekveldt. Pirates took more distance by scoring twice in the top of the fourth. Sietske Drijvers led off with a double and Anouk Boontjes walked. After the two had advanced on a wild pitch, a run was scored on a single by Merel Kramer. With runners on first and third base, a hit by Iris Hooijer was missed in the outfield. Boontjes scored, but Kramer had to wait whether or not the ball was caught and was forced out at second base. With that, Hooijer reached first base on a fielder's choice and later was caught stealing. In the bottom of the fifth, trailing 7-3, Olympia scored three runs off of new pitcher Mandy van der Maas. With one out, Machteld Rector (fielder's choice) was on first base, stole second, then advanced on a wild pitch. Hereafter, Jessie van Aalst walked and in a double-steal situation, Rector scored. Van Aalst then scored on a double by Cindy van der Zanden, who scored herself on a 2-out single by pinch-hitter Mariëlle Vleugels. Van der Maas closed with a strikeout, but Olympia now trailed only 7-6. In the top of the sixth, Pirates appeared to add two insurance runs. Isabelle Markies and Sietske Drijvers began with singles, which led to a pitching change and Isis Kistemaker took over. With one out, Merel Kramer hit an RBI-double and Iris Hooijer followed with a runscoring single to make it a 9-6 score. Pirates came close to another run in the seventh. With one out, Jeske Meewisse singled and moved to third base on two wild pitches. Kistemaker then struckout the next batter and the inning ended when short stop Machteld Rector caught a line drive from Sietske Drijvers, who was 3-for-4. In the bottom of the seventh, Pirates was three outs away from the win and could even give up two runs. But Olympia staged a productive at bat. Lead-off hitter Brenda Beers reached third base when her hit into the outfield was missed. She then scored on a following single by Machteld Rector. When next batter Jessie van Aalst walked, Demi Brinks was inserted as new pitcher. She saw the runners advance on a wild pitch, then got the bases loaded when Cindy van der Zanden walked. Van der Zanden was 3-for-3 (two doubles, triples) and scored twice. Another wild pitch followed, which enabled Rector to score and make it a 9-8 score. Lisa Hop followed with a double that brought in Van Aalst and tied the score. With runners on second and third base, Mariëlle Vleugels was walked intentionally, which loaded the bases. Still with no outs, Brinks struckout the next batter, then Van der Zanden was forced out at the plate on a grounder by Mayke Maas. But the bases were still loaded and then Anna Prins connected for a walk-off single that brought in Hop and give Olympia a come-from-behind, 10-9 victory.

Olympia Haarlem - Amsterdam Pirates 10-9 (7 inn.) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E Amsterdam Pirates 5 0 0 2 0 2 0 - 9 14 2 Olympia Haarlem 1 1 1 0 3 0 4 - 10 11 1 (two outs when winning run was scored in the bottom of the seventh) pitchers Amsterdam Pirates inn. SO BB H R ER Sanne van der Putten 4 1 2 5 3 2 Mandy van der Maas 2 (*) 3 2 4 6 5 Demi Brinks, BS (1), L (0-1) 0.2 1 2 2 1 1 (*) - Van der Maas pitched to three batters in the seventh inning pitchers Olympia Haarlem inn. SO BB H R ER Asmara de Greef 5 (*) 1 1 11 9 8 Isis Kistemaker, W (1-0) 2 1 1 3 - - (*) - De Greef pitched to two batters in the sixth inning Standings Scores Schedule Team Rosters Umpires: HP-Patrick Reus, 1B-Geert-Steven Gruppelaar. Scorer-Colinda de Vries (Olympia Haarlem). Starting Time-0:00 PM. Time Played-0:00 hrs. Site-Nol Houtkamp Sportpark, Haarlem. Game Notes: Exhibition game; Game 2 double-header. Weather conditions at game time: Partly cloudy, 12° C (53,6° F); wind direction north-northeast; wind speed 23 kmh (14,3 mph); wind force 3 Bft; humidity 51%.

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