The Dutch baseball players won the thirtieth edition of the Haarlem Baseball Week on Friday. The team of national coach Evert-Jan ‘t Hoen was 6-1 too strong for Curaçao in the final.
The Orange’s first five runs all came in the fifth inning. John Polonius, Delano Selassa, Roger Bernadina, Coco Balentien and Juremi Profar reached home plate.
In the sixth inning, Curaçao got another run, but in the tying at bat, Sicnarf Loopstok increased the Dutch lead again. The games in Haarlem were shortened to seven instead of the usual nine innings, as three games were played daily in the Pim Mulierstadion.
Earlier this week, it didn’t look like the Netherlands was going to win the Haarlem Baseball Week. The host country suffered no fewer than three defeats in the group stage, against Curaçao (6-8), Japan (0-5) and the United States (0-10).
The Orange squad did beat Italy (2-1) and Cuba (5-1), meaning the team only just qualified for the semi-finals. In it, defending champion Japan (2-1) was surprisingly defeated. In the battle for third place, the US was also too strong for Japan (5-1).
The Haarlem Baseball Week was organized again for the first time since 2018. The event takes place every other year and was canceled in 2020 due to the corona crisis.
