by Pim van Nes
Thursday 13 April is Opening Day for Dutch Hoofdklasse season 2017 and on Monday Netherlands federation KNBSB held a press conference for baseball and softball journalists. The podium was in Rob Hoffmann Vallei stadium, home of HCAW Bussum, the club which was founded in 1957 and will celebrate 60 years of baseball this year with several tournaments and festivities, including 2017 All Star Game. HCAW chairman Huib Schrijvers during this press conference announced two new artificial turf fields ready for this season.
Both softball and baseball was represented in KNBSB press conference by a board member each, a national team manager and national team players for each sport. The lunch gathering was opened officially by KNBSB managing director Bart Volkerijk, who welcomed the press referring to the great number of international tournaments this year.
Netherlands national selections will participate in European Championship softball in Bollate (Italy) from June 25 thru July 1, World Port Tournament baseball in Rotterdam (NL) from July 1 thru 9, European Championship softbal Under 16 in Ostrava (Czechia) from July 10 thru 15, European Championship baseball Under 12 in Utrecht (NL) from July 10 thru 16, European Championship baseball Under 15 in Vienna (Austria) from July 17 thru 23, World Championship softball Under 20 in Clearwater (USA) from July 24 thru 30, European Championship baseball Under 23 in Brno (Czechia) from August 7 thru 13 and World Championship baseball Under 18 in Thunderbay (Canada) from September 1thru 10.
KNBSB press officer Seb Visser, who debuted abroad inWorld Baseball Classic 2017 in Seoul (Korea), Tokyo (Japan) and Los Angeles (USA), interviewed national softball team manager Juni Francesca and general manager Gonny Farley-Reijnen about preparations for European Championship in Bollate (Italy) and national baseball team manager Steve Janssen about his selection for World Port Tournament in Rotterdam. At last two players from last year World Cup softbal number 4 team Rebecca Soumeru and Eva Voortman and three players from recent World Baseball Classic number 4 team Diegomar Markwell, Tom Stuifbergen and Kalian Sams answered questions. After the conference board members Petra Arends for softball and Frits Mulder for baseball were available for individual interviews.