Netherlands Softball Ladies beaten by Home Team Bats
by Pim van Nes
It all started with a defensive error in the fifth inning only at the still blank score 0-0 between the Netherlands and the Chinese People’s Republic. Starting Dutch pitcher Kristi de Vries had been working hard during four innings, keeping the Chinese ladies scoreless before a 6.300 crowd in the Fengtai Stadium in Beijing. She conceded Chinese hits in the second and third innings and walks in the first, third and fourth innings, but she also struck out two in the third and one in the fourth inning.
Crucial was the one-out error by third base Daisy de Peinder throwing over first base in the fifth inning. With second base loaded, two singles meant the opening of the score for China 0-1. A second out and an intentional walk by De Vries turned out to no avail, as the third single in the inning drove in two Chinese runs: 0-3. De Vries was then replaced by reliever Rebecca Soumeru, who could not prevent two inherited runners from scoring 0-5.
The Netherlands responded well by scoring twice in the bottom of the fifth inning: a homerun by left fielder Marloes Fellinger and an RBI single by shortstop Sandra Gouverneur with Marian Smit as pinch runner after Jolanda Kroesen’s single scoring from second base.
However, the Chinese ladies extended the lead again in the top of the sixth with the second single in the inning at two outs: 2-6. In the seventh inning second reliever Judith van Kampen was faced with two homeruns: the first after two singles conceded and the second with no runners on: 2-10. Gouverneur’s second single in the game did not pay out anymore in the bottom of the seventh.
Winning pitcher for China was starter Yu Huili, who struck out two, walked none and conceded just one hit during 5 2/3 innings. Losing for the Netherlands was Kristi de Vries with three strikeouts, four walks and six hits in 4 2/3 innings. The Chinese homeruns in the seventh inning came from Zhang Lifang and Zhou Yi.
Plate umpire and third base umpire were Debbie Grove and Traci Stoelting from USA, first base umpire was Greg Pipher from Canada and second base umpire was Javier Denarroya from Argentina.
CHN 000 051 4 10 13 1 NED 000 020 0 2 5 3
Pim van Nes
Baseball writer for
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www.sporttribune.nl
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