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Britt first Dutch player to play in American finals
 Nederlandse tekst
LEXINGTON, Kentucky (USA) -
Dutch National Team-player Britt Vonk will play in the NCAA Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City (Oklahoma) from June 2-8, as she reached the finals on Sunday, May 29 with the Golden Bears, the softballteam of the University of California at Berkeley.
Britt becomes the first Dutch player to appear in the prestigious championship tournament.
After winning 1-0 on Saturday vs. the University of Kentucky, the team lost 8-0 in the next game on Sunday, which led to a third and deciding game.
The Golden Bears then won 9-0 to win the Super Regional and qualify for the World Series.
On Saturday, the Golden Bears opened the Lexington Super Regional with an 1-0 win in 90 degree temperatures and 50 percent humidity.
The lone run was a homerun by Frani Echavarria in the fourth inning, her first of the season.
The Golden Bears registered six basehits, including two by Britt, who went 2-for-3.
In front of a record 1717 spectators at UK Softball Complex, the home site of the opponent Wildcats, Berkeley-pitcher Jolene Henderson threw an one-hitter to raise her record to 38-7.
Henderson is the country's best pitcher with the lowest ERA and also leads with 17 shutouts.
On Sunday, Game 2 between Berkeley and Kentucky ended in an 8-0, 5-inning win for the Wildcats, who collected 10 basehits.
The Golden Bears had only five hits.
In this game, Britt went 0-for-3, while pitcher Henderson suffered her eighth loss of the season.
With this, a third and deciding game was needed.
In the third game, Jolene Henderson came back strongly, threw a 3-hitter, struckout seven and won her 39th game of the season.
The Golden Bears struck early by scoring five runs in the first inning.
Britt (who went 1-for-4) scored the first run.
After she had singled with one out, the bases got loaded, then Britt scored when Brittany Cervantes walked.
In the sixth inning, trailing 6-0, Kentucky got the bases loaded with no outs, but then Britt fielded a hard grounder and forced the lead runner at home.
With the bases still loaded, Britt ended the at bat by catching a pop-fly.
In the seventh inning, Lindsey Ziegenhirt contributed with a 2-run homerun.
Berkeley won the game 9-0 and qualified for the World Series for the eleventh time, but the first time since 2005.
So far, Britt has played in all 55 games of Berkeley this season.
With a .412 batting average (68-for-165), she leads the team and is in the top-40 hitters nationwide.
Britt also leads Berkeley in Runs (45), Basehits (68), Walks (26) and On Base Percentage (.505), while being second in Stolen Bases (26).
In 2008, Britt made her debut in the Dutch National Team and participated in the Olympic Games 2008 (Beijing, China), European Championship 2009 (Valencia, Spain) and World Championship 2010 (Caracas, Venezuela) amongst other events.
So far, she had played in 43 official international games.
When Britt starts the College World Series on Thursday, she will play on familiar ground.
In 2009, Britt was a member of the Dutch Team when it participated in the World Cup of Softball in Oklahoma City, which took place on the same site as the College World Series.
(May 29)
Victoria Jones and Britt try to stay cool in the dug-out
Taylor Vincent and Britt celebrate the victory
Walking at right is successful Head Coach Diane Ninemire
The team celebrates after qualifying for the College World Series
(© Photos: University of California at Berkeley))
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