AdoLakers is no more. The aftermath

Four weeks ago a special member meeting decided that AdoLakers should be dissolved. But because there was not 3/4 of the members in the clubhouse, a new meeting was needed. It was planned for today. Today the members decided that it was better to bury the club. Once again a famed club that played in the Dutch Hoofdklasse ceases to exist.

Shortly after the previous members’ meeting, the KNBSB (Dutch Baseball and Softball Federation) decided to pull back  AdoLakers from the Hoofdklasse and to fill the void with Mampaey the Hawks from Dordrecht. That club lost the play down series vs DSS from Haarlem and was demoted to the lower Overgangsklasse. But a competition with only seven teams is rather odd, so the club was asked to fill the void, which it eagerly accepted. But how about the team? Was it worthy to play another season in the Hoofdklasse? They acquired twelve players of AdoLakers, so they can field a team that they think is good enough to start the season in the Hoofdklasse. One of the players is pitcher Tim Roodenburg, who helped DSS from Haarlem to earn a spot in the Hoofdklasse. He joined AdoLakers for the upcoming season. Kevin van Veen returns to Mampaey the Hawks after he opted for AdoLakers after the demotion of the Hawks at the end of the 2014 season.

Several other players from the club from the Hague decided to try their luck elsewhere.

RHP Dennis Burgersdijk went to L&D Amsterdam. Burgersdijk started his baseball career with ADO (before the merger with Lakers) and was a journey man in the years before he returned to AdoLakers in 2014.

OF Christian Diaz joined current Dutch champion Curaçao Neptunus from Rotterdam. The outfielder from Aruba had a .338 batting average last season with AdoLakers. Also outfielder M.Girigori and pitcher W. van Heijningen are joining the ranks of Curaçao Neptunus.

I bet that people from outside the Netherlands only know the success stories of the Dutch national team. But this is also baseball in the Netherlands. Sad but true.