The team of national coach Evert-Jan’t Hoen has lost her first game of the European championship 6-8 against the Czechs.
In Sunday's afternoon game dominated by the rain, Team Netherlands gradually lost control of the game. The Dutch were already 1-0 ahead in the first inning by an RBI of first baseman Curt Smith, who brought Calten Daal home. The Czech team was tied up in its fourth at bat by a homerun by Martin Cervenka. Hereafter, they again believed in their chances against the Netherlands: Martin Muzik, Petr Zyma, Jakub and Adam Haijtmar brought the score to 1-5. Starting pitcher on the Dutch side Tom de Blok had already been replaced by Juan Carlos Sulbaran.
Still, the Dutch Team did something back: Calten Daal hit a homerun and took John Polonius and Yurendell de Caster on his trip for the 4-5 score. However, the attack was answered quickly because Martin Schneider made it 4-6 through an RBI and a score from Adam Haijtmar. The connection run was also in the making when Kalian Sams came over the home plate on a wild pitch. With this, the work of starting pitcher of the Czechs, Marek Minarik, was done and he was replaced by Daniel Padysak. His colleague on the Dutch side was Mike Bolsenbroek, who in turn was relieved by Tom Stuifbergen. The sting was in the tail as often when in the ninth inning Matej Hejma and Martin Cervenka arranged for a further run through the Czech Republic. In a frantic attempt, the Dutch team tried to prevent a defeat, but pitcher Martin Schneider limited the damage to 6-8. With this, the Netherlands suffered a rare defeat against the Czech Republic.