National Championships: European Champions Olympia Haarlem win the 2022 Dutch Softball Hoofdklasse
Olympia Haarlem won the 2022 Dutch Softball national championship defeating the Tex Town Tigers in the final series last weekend. Olympia Haarlem is also the 2022 European champion after winning the 2022 Women's Softball European Premier Cup.
Olympia Haarlem was crowded Dutch national champion after topping the Tex Town Tigers in a best-of-five series fought until the last inning and decided the seventh inning of game five.
The two teams arrived at the Holland Series with impressive stats: of the 36 games played in the regular season, Olympia Haarlem won 29 games and Tex Town Tigers won 28.
Olympia Haarlem took the lead winning first game one, 1-5, and then game two, 2-9, in the first weekend of the Holland Series.
In the second weekend, Text Town Tigers stayed alive winning game three by one run in the eighth inning, 5-6, and taking game four, 2-4, to take the series to the decisive fifth game.
Game five was played in Haarlem on Sunday, October 16. The Tex Town Tigers - visitors for the game - took the lead in the third inning scoring once: with two outs, Vonk singled and then scored on a double down the left-field line by Jansen. Olympia Haarlem responded right away and went on the board with two runs scored by Beers and Van Aalst taking it to 1-2.
Van Aalst then scored again in the fifth inning thanks to a hit by Van Dijk, increasing the lead of Olympia Haarlem to 1-3.
On the last opportunity for the Tex Town Tigers, Vonk singled and scored on a hit by Oosting, taking the result to 2-3. This was also the final result of the match; a fly closed the Tex Town Tigers' attack and the game, giving the title to Olympia Haarlem.
Olympia Haarlem is the back-to-back Dutch Champion, after winning in 2021. The team also won the Women's Softball Premier Cup in August to make the 2022 one a memorable season.
