Holland or Great Britain? That was the question before the final of the U23 European Championships at Ducksfield in Wiener Neustadt. Who gets the title? But first we had to wait. The sun was so unfavorable at the planned start time of 7 p.m. that it blinded the players and became a possible safety risk. It started an hour late at a jam-packed Ducksfield.
After the two defensives dominated in the first inning, the offense struck in the second round. The Dutch took advantage of a British mistake at first base to take a 2-0 lead. Jeandro Tromp and Jesse Velders ran across home plate. Team GB, who lost 1-0 to the Dutch in the group stage, responded promptly. Donovan Crook ‘homed’ runs from Michael Flaherty and Jacob Lambdin.
Great Britain spins the game
Pitcher Jayden Gonesh remained in trouble mode. The Brits had taken all three bases before Gonesh was replaced by Daniel Vos at the mound. After a mistake by his catcher, he had to swallow Crock’s third run. With two outs in a row, the defending champion at least prevented worse things from happening.
In the third inning pitcher Thomas Flaherty’s nerves fluttered. Two outs were followed by a hit and three walks, Juroney Kelkboom equalized 3:3. Pitcher Vos then dropped three more Britons on base, then was replaced by Mathijs Oosterbeek, who got the necessary outs – 3-3 after three innings.
Britain is falling apart
In the fourth round, the British defensive presented itself error-prone and the Dutch unleashed. Twice in a row the ball didn’t make it to first base as planned. Brandon Rincones punished this with 4:3. A catch error by the catcher made it 5:3 by Raydley Legito. The feeling of uncertainty among the British grew by the second. Marnix Ruben, Sem Kuijper scored points six and seven in the same play. Shortly thereafter, Ruendrick Piternella and Tromp went over home plate. Velders made it 10:3 before Rincones hit his second run in the fourth inning (11:3).
Maximum penalty for Great Britain
Legito and Ruben were walked over home plate – 13:3. Another catching error caused Kelkboom to make it 14:3. Then, instead of the redeeming flyout, there was the next error. Kuijper and Jair van Borkulo scored 15:3 and 16:3. After 13 runs, the Brits ended the top run of the fourth inning in the umpteenth attempt. The match was decided and the Brits broken.
The Dutch ended the fourth inning with their defense at breakneck speed. In the fifth, Ruben, Kelkboom, Kuijper, van Borkulo, Rincones, Max Kops and Tromp added seven more runs. The Dutch then brought him home, even if they had to allow two more runs to make it 23:5. Due to the superiority of the Netherlands, the European Championship final ended after five innings instead of the planned seven (mercy rule).
2023-08-12 21:17:36
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