Regular season winner TEX TOWN TIGERS fulfilled their role as favorites at the opening weekend of the Holland Series and won the first two games of the best-of-five series, before losing the third one on Sunday to SPARKS HAARLEM. Games four and five are set for the upcoming weekend.
(1-0) Tex Town Tigers – Sparks Haarlem 6-5
SPA 101 003 0 5 5 3 TEX 211 001 1 6 16 0
The TIGERS out-hit HAARLEM in game one of the Holland Series 16-5 on Friday night, but needed a seventh-inning run to win 6-5. Pinch hitter Christina Mueller-Hoecker drove in the decisive run with a walk off RBI single in the bottom of the last frame in regulation. One inning before SPARKS had turned the score into their favor through a three-run homerun by Noemi Boekel. But they hadn’t the lead for long, as TEX TOWN tied the game in the bottom of the same period when Nadine Marinus was hit by pitch with the bases loaded to make it 5-5.
HAARLEM’s leadoff hitter Kim Kluijskens went three for three with three runs scored. Lindsey Meadows hit a solo homerun for the TIGERS and drove in two runs. Britt Vonk had three hits.
Meadows also picked up the win on the mound, going seven innings, while allowing five hits, five runs (4 ER) and a walk. She struck out nine. Rebecca Soumeru got the start for the guest squad and gave up four runs on seven hits in the first 2 1/3 innings, before being replaced by fellow national team pitcher Judith Van Kampen. She stayed on the mound for the remaining 4 1/3 innings and took the loss.
(0-2) Sparks Haarlem – Tex Town Tigers 2-6
TEX 300 000 3 6 13 2 SPA 001 001 0 2 6 0
The site of the series shifted to Haarlem on Saturday, but the TIGERS prevailed there also. They scored three runs each in the first and the last inning of the game en route to a 6-2 victory and a 2-0 lead in the Holland Series. Areke Spel put the first two runs on the board for the team from Enschede with a two-run single in the first and scored on a RBI single by Katrina Stockford moments later. After SPARKS cut the deficit to a run via sac flies by Saskia Kosterink and Nathalie Timmermans in the third and sixth, TEX TOWN added three more runs in the top of the seventh through RBI singles by Lindsey Meadows, Nadine Marinus and once again Spel, who went two for three with three RBI. Virginie Anneveld scored twice.
Meadows (W 2-0) once again also pitched the complete game and received win number two of the championship series. She allowed six hits, two runs (1 ER) and three base on balls in the seven innings. Judith Van Kampen (L 0-2) started this time for HAARLEM and conceded six runs on 13 hits in seven innings.
(2-1) Tex Town Tigers – Sparks Haarlem 5-9
SPA 200 041 2 9 10 3 TEX 310 000 1 5 8 2
On Sunday, back in Enschede, HAARLEM overcame a 2-4 deficit and delayed the championship celebrations with a 9-5 road victory to force a game four next Saturday. The TIGERS might already thought about the trophy, when they turned an early 0-2 into a 4-2 lead after two innings and held on to the advantage till the top of the fifth. There SPARKS rallied for four runs to regain the lead and decided the outcome of the third match.
They now hope for a similar comeback like in the semi-finals, when they overcame a 0-2 deficit in the best-of-five series against 2007 champion TERRASVOGELS to advance into the finals.
Saskia Kosterink went two for four with a double, a homerun and four RBIs for HAARLEM. Jolanda Kroesen had two hits, scored twice and drove in run. Lindsey Meadows got three hits and two RBIs for TEX TOWN.
Judith Van Kampen (W 1-2) picked up her first win of the series, giving up eight hits and five runs (3 ER) in seven innings. Meadows (L 2-1) lost for the first time, allowing ten hits, nine runs (8 ER) and a bb in seven innings, while striking out twelve.
Results:
Tex Town Tigers – Sparks Haarlem 6-5
Sparks Haarlem – Tex Town Tigers 2-6
Tex Town Tigers – Sparks Haarlem 5-9
(Tigers lead series 2-1)
Schedule:
Saturday, October 18:
14:00 Sparks Haarlem – Tex Town Tigers
Sunday, October 19:
14:00 Tex Town Tigers – Sparks Haarlem*
*if necessary
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