Premier 12: Crazy game between Kingdom of the Netherlands and Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico 7 – 11 Kingdom o.t. Netherlands 
In the fourth round of the Premier 12, the Kingdom of the Netherlands took on Puerto Rico.
The Dutch started with Shawn Zarraga in the lineup. The catcher, playing in the Dodgers’ organization was hit on the hand in the previous game and was pulled. But luckily it wasn’t a serious injury.
In this game both teams showed two faces: A very good offensive one and a poor defensive one. The Dutch offense caught fire in the first half of the game but fell asleep later. In the first half of the game the Puerto Ricans couldn’t get a grip on Shairon Martis’ pitching. The defense (both fielding and pitching) of the Caribbean team was shaky at times. After a solid first half of the game, the Dutch defense collapsed and gave the Puerto Ricans a chance to get back in the game.
In the bottom of the first, helped by the defense of the Puerto Ricans, the Dutch took a 1-0 lead. After Randolph Oduber drew a walk, he advanced on a sac bunt by Christopher Garia, before Wladimir Balentien hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Alexis Pantoja, who couldn’t field the ball cleanly. Oduber scored from third base (which he had stolen) and Balentien was safe at first. Then Curt Smith hit a bouncing ball towards the pitcher, who could not field the ball, as couldn’t shortstop Jack Lopez. The next hitter, Kalian Sams drew a walk to load the bases. Pitcher Fernando Gonzalez had trouble in finding the strike zone and gave up a bases loaded walk to Shawn Zarraga to make it 2-0.
But with Hainley Statia popping up towards shortstop Jack Lopez, Puerto Rico got out of the inning without further damage and the Dutch could not take advantage of a big scoring opportunity.
Shairon Martis got two easy outs before he gave up a triple to Joiset Feliciano. The latter tried to score on a pitch that got away from Shawn Zarraga, but was tagged out at home plate.
Team Kingdom of the Netherlands started the second inning very productive as Carlton Daal led off with an infield single and Randolph Oduber drove the ball towards right field to clear the fences for a two run homerun.
This signaled the end for Fernando Gonzalez on the mound. He was replaced by Gabiel Hernandez. The extra basehits kept coming when Christopher Garia hit a sharp grounder towards first base and raced towards third base for the triple. With runners on the corners after Wladimir Balentien was walked intentionally, Curt Smith hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Alexis Pantoja, who couldn’t field the ball and allowed Garia to score the fifth run. Wladimir Balentien moved up to second on the play and scored on Shawn Zarraga’s groundball single towards left field. Curt Smith moved to third on the play. A fly ball hit by Hainley Statia dropped just in front of center fielder Jay Jordan Gonzalez, to drive in two more runs for the Dutch to extend their lead to 8-0.
The Dutch showed that they cannot only hit as they turned a nice around-the-horn double play to get out of the third inning.
In the fifth Randolph Oduber hit another homerun, this time to left field, to score the ninth run for the Kingdom of the Netherlands. But from that moment on, with relief pitcher Jose Soler on the mound, the run production stalled.
After pitching five innings, Shairon Martis was pulled in favour of Orlando Yntema. Martis went five strong innings in which he gave up one run on three hits (a homerun and a triple). He walked one and struck out five.
With the Dutch flexing their muscles, it didn’t mean that the Puerto Ricans were totally intimidated at the plate. In the top of the third, Puerto Rico got on the board thanks to a solo homerun hit by catcher Juan Medina. In the sixth inning , Orlando Yntema started with giving up a curious stand up double to Jack Lopez. Christopher Garia looked up as he thought that the ball would leave the park, but the wind pushed it back and it landed on the warning track. Lopez scored on a sharp line drive double to left field, hit by Alexis Pantoja. After striking out Richard Thon and giving up a four pitch walk to Aldo Mendez, Yntema was replaced by Jim Ploeger who got out of the inning without further damage by striking out Yasamberty Abelo.
Just like in the game vs the Cubans, the Puerto Ricans started to heat up late in the game. In the top of the seventh, Wendell Floranus was helped by the wind once again as Jose Rivera belted the ball deep into left field. Normally this would have been a three run homerun but the wind pushed it back and it landed on the warning track once again. Joiset Feliciano scored on the hit and Puerto Rico got runners in scoring positon with just one out. Another double in the seventh, this time a double down the left field line hit by Luis Rivera , given up by Bayron Cornelisse, drove in two more runs for the Puerto Ricans. All of a sudden it was a game again. A single given up to Medina by Loek van Mil in the top of the eighth, drove in two more runs to make it 9-7.
With runners on first and second and one out, Kalian Sams hit a single through the left side of the infield. Dwayne Kemp who came from second ignored the stop sign and turned towards home plate and was too late diving back towards third as he was tagged out on a 7-5-6 play, blowing an opportunity to load the bases. This action hurt the Dutch a bit extra as the next pitch, with Shawn Zarraga at bat, was a wild pitch that could have given the Dutch a much needed insurance run. But that insurance run still came when Shawn Zarraga lined to center field to drive in Curt Smith from third and speedy Kalian Sams from second to give the Dutch a 11-7 lead.
In the ninth inning Loek van Mil stayed in the game and retired the side for the victory that was hard fought in the end.
Where Shairon Martis cruised through five innings, the middle part of the bullpen seemed to be the Achilles heel today.
Once again, Randolph Oduber (shown below) was the best hitter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, going 3 for 4, with three RBI three runs scored and two homeruns. 
Shairon Martis earned the win after five solid innings.