Dutch Hoofdklasse Play Offs: Sunday August 23

On the final day of the second round of the Play Offs, the following games were scheduled:

Curacao Neptunus @ Vaessen Pioniers and L&D Amsterdam Pirates @ Corendon Kinheim.

Curacao Neptunus @ Vaessen Pioniers  7 – 3

Until the third inning neither team did score, but in the fhird Vaessen Pioniers opened the score. Glenn Bakker led off with a single up to the middle and after two outs he was driven home on a double to left field by Danny Rombley.
One inning later Pioniers would even extend their lead to 3-0 as Glenn Bakker doubled to left center field and Kevin Weijgertse scored all the way from first base and Quintin de Cuba scored from second base.

But Curacao Neptunus tied the game in one inning. In the top of the sixth, Dwayne Kemp led off with a single to left field. Benjamin Dille then hit towards third base and what should have been a force out at second ended in a throwing error by third baseman Kevin Weijgertse that put runners on first and second. Gianison Boekhoudt drove in Dwayne Kemp on a single to left field. Both Boekhoudt and Dille advanced a base on a passed ball before Christian Diaz grounded out 4-3 and drove in Benjamin DIlle for the second run for Neptunus. Stijn van der Meer eventually singled to right field to drive in Gianison Boekhoudt for the game tying run.
The next inning was even a bigger one for Neptunus as they scored four runs as Urving Kemp scored on a fielding error and Raily Legito hit a three run bomb to make it 7-4.
Kenny van den Branden earned the win. In six innings he gave up three runs on eight hits. He walked three and struck out four. Elton Koeiman lasted 6.1 innings but took the loss as he gave up seven runs (three earned) on ten hits.
Raily Legito collected only one hit in five at bats but that sole hit was a very important one with a big impact.
Glenn Bakker was not only the best hitter for Pioniers with three hits out of four at bats, but he also had a major impact as he drove in two runs and scored one himself.

L&D Amsterdam Pirates @ Corendon Kinheim  5 – 8

L&D Amsterdam Pirates cruised through the first three innings as the waked away to a 5-0 lead. In the bottom fo the third, Corendon Kinheim scored two runs, nothing to worry about, you would say. But in the next inning they tied it at five due to some sloppy play by the Pirates’ defense. Next to the questionable defense the umpires played a negative role. Normally I don’t write about the role of the umpires but today the home plate umpire had a moving strike zone. This drove Tom Stuifbergen of Kinheim nuts, so he started to complain. He had to know that you can’t win a discussion with an umpire as he was tossed after 1.1 innngs.
In the sixth inning Mervin Gario led off as he drove the ball towards third baseman Rachid Gerard, who made a throwing error that allowed Gario to reach first base safely. Then Bryan Engelhardt doubled to left field to put both runners in scoring position before Philip Ortez drove them both in on a single up through the middle. After Daan Hendrix had replaced Tom de Blok, Jeffrey Arends doubled to center field to drive in Ortez for the third run of the inning.
After that inning it looked like Pirates gave up as they didn’t get passed second base in the rest of the game.
Tom de Blok took the loss for L&D Amsterdam Pirates. He lasted 1.2 innings in which he gave up three runs (two earned) on two hits and fanned two. Pim Walsma pitched to two hitters in the sixth and the remaining three innings for the win. He gave up only two hits and walked one and struck out one.
Philip Ortez drove in four runs with two hits out of four at bats. He also scored a run himself.

Standings in the Play Offs: