After the first two innings, it looked like the Kingdom of the Netherlands would clinch an easy victory vs Russia, but after those innings the offense stalled. Only in the seventh, the Dutch scored a couple of runs again. Even though the Dutch had some problems adapting to the speed of the Russian pitchers, Russia never came close to claim the victory as the Dutch beat them 9-1.
In the third inning, the Dutch team got an early lead when Delano Selassa drew a walk, stole second and scored on a ground rule double hit by Jelle Kroft. After the Dutch loaded the bases, a sac fly to center field hit by Rodney Daal, drove in Jelle Kroft. Back to back walks drove in Denzel Richardson to extend the lead to 3-0.
In the next inning the Dutch scored another run but from there the team had some trouble scoring runs. Two Dutch at bats were even 1-2-3 innings. But eventually, in the seventh inning, team Kingdom of the Netherlands managed to extend the lead to 6-0.
So even when the this wasn’t a walk over, the game was far from exciting. After the Dutch had scored their sixth run, Russia managed to do something back. With Kennimar Locadia replacing Nick Keur, Russia got on the board when Evgeniy Libin drew a walk and advanced to third on a single down the left field line hit by Ivan Shirokyi. Eventually, Libin scored when Iliya Vorobyev got on base on a fielding error by shortstop Max Draijer.
In the eighth inning, team Kingdom of the Netherlands scored three more runs, one on a double by Denzel Richardson, one on a bases loaded walk drawn by Rodney Daal and one on a single to center field hit by Kendrick Delima.
Winning pitcher Nick Keur cruised through five innings in which he gave up two hits, a walk and struck out four. Kennimar Locadia gave up the sole run to Russia on one hit and two walks. Locadia also struck out three. Colin van Laar pitched the final two frames in which he allowed three hits to the Russians and walked one.
Best hitter for the Dutch was former pro, Denzel Richardson, who went 3 for 4 with a double, a RBI and four runs scored.
Other hitting results:
Delano Selassa: 2 for 5 with a double and two runs scored
Jelle Kroft: 1 for 2 with a double, a RBI and a run scored
Jelle Blaauw: 1 for 2 with two runs scored
Max Draijer: 2 for 4 with a double and a RBI
Kendrick Delima: 1 for 3 with a RBI
Rowan van Hoek: 1 for 3 with two RBI
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