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Dutch Women Softball Team |
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biography |
Who is Who? |
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| # 20 - Merel Oosterveld - Outfield |
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|  | | Birthdate | January 16, 1987 |
| | Birthplace | Enschede (Netherlands) |
| | Residence | Enschede (Netherlands) |
| | Study | Facility Management |
| | Height | 1,70 m |
| | Weight | 65 kg |
| | Bats | Left |
| | Throws | Right |
| | Position | Outfield |
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| | National Team | December 2008 - current |
| | Games National Team | 16 |
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| | Club | Tex Town Tigers (Enschede, 1993-current)
(Dutch Major League: 2005-current) |
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| ...Tournaments Participated In... |  
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with Tex Town Tigers
European Cup
2009 (Legnano, Italy), 2010 (Haarlem, Netherlands), 2011 (Caserta, Italy)
International Mastenbroek Tournament
2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 (Enschede, Neth.)
International Indoor Cup
2005, 2006, 2007 (Schiedam, Netherlands)
with WindMills Enschede Little League
2003 - Senior League World Series (Jeffersontown, Kentucky, USA)
with Holland All Stars
2008 - Holland Tour (Groningen/Oldenzaal, Netherlands)
with Dutch Junior Softball Team
2003 - International Indoor Cup (Schiedam, Netherlands)
Kingdom Games (Aruba)
2004 - European Championships Juniors (Le Thillay/Roissy, France)
2006 - International Indoor Cup (Schiedam, Netherlands)
Apeldoorn Softball Series (Apeldoorn, Netherlands)
European Championships Juniors (Collecchio, Italy)
with Dutch Junior Softball Team Under 23
2009 - International Indoor Cup (Schiedam, Netherlands)
with Dutch National Softball Team
2009 - Holland Tour (several sites, Netherlands)
2010 - International Indoor Cup (Team Orange) (Schiedam, Neth.)
Holland Tour (several sites, Netherlands)
Venezuela International Series (Puerto Ordaz/Barinas, Venezuela)
World Championship (Caracas, Venezuela)
2011 - American Tour (Florida, Tennessee, USA)
Holland Tour (several sites, Netherlands)
Torneo 150 Anni Unitá d'Italia (Bollate, Italy)
Games vs. Argentina (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
European Championship (Ronchi dei Legionari/Staranzano, Italy)
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| ...Miscellaneous... |
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| When did you start with softball? | | | When I was six year old in 1993 |
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| Why did you start playing softball? | | | Because my parents and brothers all played baseball or softball |
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| What was your first club? | | | Tex Town Tigers in Enschede |
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| Accomplishments / Highlights | | | Batting in the winning run in the final of the European Championships
in 2004 and winning the Holland Series in 2008 |
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| Biggest blunder | | | Well... |
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| Which persons do you most admire? | | | |
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| Which persons would you like to meet? | | | LeBron James |
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| Three people you would love to have dinner with? | | | Remy, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant |
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| Dreamjob? | | | Running my own events-company with enough people who work for me,
so that I can continue play softball |
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| From who did you learn the most? | | | My parents |
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| Biggest turn-off? | | | The sound when someone goes over a page of a book with his fingers |
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| Talent you wish you had? | | | |
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| Pets | | | A cat |
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| Exotic pet you would like to have? | | | Some kind of nice fish with all kind of colors |
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| Hobbies or Interests | | | |
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| When you wouldn't have been involved in
softball, what other sport would you have done? | | | Basketball |
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| What does the Olympic Games means to you? | | | Highest level reachable |
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| Why does softball has to return to the Olympics? | | | Because softball is a sport where you have to be able to do
several different things. You have to throw, hit, catch, field
and run. Besides that it is also a sport in which you have to think
a lot with a lot of rules. This all makes it very interesting |
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| Describe your playing style | | | Agressive |
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| ...My Favorite / Best... |
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| Movie | | | The Green Mile, Hard Ball |
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| Actor | | | Mel Gibson, Denzel Washington, Vin Diesel |
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| Actress | | | |
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| TV Channel | | | Net5 |
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| TV Show | | | Friends |
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| TV Sports Show | | | |
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| TV Personality | | | |
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| Radio Channel | | | Slam FM |
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| Radio Show | | | |
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| Radio Personality | | | |
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| Music Genre | | | Hip-hop, R&B |
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| Singer (male) | | | Chris Brown, T.I. |
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| Singer (female) | | | Alicia Keys, Beyoncé |
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| Group / Band etc. | | | |
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| Song | | | |
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| Vacation Spot / Country | | | Curaçao |
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| Food | | | Cow cabbage |
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| Drink | | | Cola, Ranja |
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| Animal | | | NONE! And when I have to choose one, a fish |
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| Newspaper | | | Tubantia |
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| Book | | | |
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| Magazine | | | |
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| Internet Sites | | | |
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| Sport (besides softball) | | | Basketball |
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| Olympic Sport (besides softball) | | | Basketball |
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| (Professional) Sports Team | | | |
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| Athlete (male) | | | LeBron James |
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| Athlete (female) | | | Caitlin Lowe |
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| Softball Player | | | |
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| Career |
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2011 --- In March, Merel participates with the Dutch National Team in the American Tour to Florida and Tennessee ---
On March 5, Merel hits a 2-run homerun vs. the University of Louisiana-Monroe ---
A day later, she hits 2-for-3 and scores twice vs. University of Tennessee ---
On March 8, Merel is 2-for-4 with a triple, scores a run and has two RBI's vs. Central Michigan University ---
On March 10, she goes 2-for-3, scores twice and has one RBI vs. St. Joseph's University ---
On May 15, Merel is 3-for-3 with a run and two RBI's in the opening game of the Holland Tour vs. Holland All Stars at De Bilt, then is 3-for-3 again with three runs in the second game of the double-header ---
In June, Merel participates with the Dutch National Team in the Torneo 150 Anni Unitá d'Italia in Bollate (Italy) and therefore is a member of the team when it plays the 100th game in history against Italy on June 2 ---
In this game vs. Italy, Merel is 2-for-4 with a triple, scores twice and has two RBI's ---
On July 3, in the first game of a double-header (which was part of the Holland Tour) against the National Team of Argentina, Merel is 1-for-2, scores twice and has two RBI's ---
On July 13, Merel is one of the 17 players named to the roster of the Dutch National Softball Team for this years European Championship in Italy ---
On July 31, Merel is 2-for-4 with a double, scores a run and has one RBI vs. Ukraine in the opening game of the European Championship in Italy ---
The next day, she singles and scores vs. Belgium ---
On August 2, Merel singles, scores and has two RBI's against Denmark ---
Later in August, Merel wins the European Cup-tournament in Caserta (Italy) with Tex Town Tigers ---
In the regular season, Merel leads Tex Town Tigers with a .312 batting average and also leads in runs scored (19) and basehits (29) and has eight RBI's ---
In October, Merel is one of 21 players named to the preliminary roster of the Dutch National Softball Team for the 2012 season.
2010 --- In January, Merel participates with the National squad (playing for Team Orange) in the International Indoor Cup in Schiedam (Netherlands) with her team winning first place ---
On January 18, Merel is one of 21 players named to the preliminary roster for this years World Championships ---
On May 16, Merel is 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI in Game Two vs. the Dutch Men Softball Team in the opening double-header of this years Holland Tour ---
On May 26, Merel is one of 16 players who is named to the final roster for the World Championship in Venezuela ---
In August, Merel participates in the European Cup Tournament in Haarlem (Netherlands) with Tex Town Tigers, which for the first time in history captures this Cup ---
In the regular season, Merel hits .327, scores 18 runs and has 11 RBI's, playing in 32 games for Tex Town Tigers ---
On October 31, Merel is one of 24 players to be named to the preliminary roster of the Dutch National Softball Team for the 2011 season.
2009 --- On May 3, Merel makes her debut in the Dutch National Team in the opening game of the Holland Tour vs. Euro Stars and is 1-for-3 with an RBI ---
On May 6, Merel has two RBI's on two sacrifice flies in the first game against the Dutch Juniors. In the second game,she is 2-for-3 with two RBI's ---
On May 27, Merel is one of the five players who is cut for the final roster for the Dutch National Team, but remains on the list as an alternate ---
As an alternate, Merel plays in the second game vs. Robur '58 on May 31 and triples and scores ---
On June 21, Merel makes her international debut, playing in the game vs. Great Britain ---
In August, Merel participates with Tex Town Tigers in the European Cup Tournament in Legnano (Italy), which is her first EC-event ---
In the regular season, Merel hits .319, scores 25 runs and has 12 runs batted in ---
Merel again reaches the Holland Series with Tex Town Tigers, which wins its second consecutive Dutch championship title.
2008 --- In her fourth big league-season, Merel again hits above .300 and collects 24 basehits ---
In the Holland Series, Merel's team Tex Town Tigers defeats Sparks Haarlem to become to first Dutch champion in history from the east of the country ---
On December 11, Merel is one of 28 players being named to the preliminary roster of the Dutch National Team for 2009 and is invited to start practice in January.
2007 --- Merel hits above .300 for the first time in her big league-career, finishing with a .362 average, 34 basehits (including her first homerun) and 13 runs scored.
2006 --- In her second season on the highest level, Merel has 24 basehits and scores 14 runs.
2005 --- Nine years after her mother Ingrid made her big league-debut, Merel plays in her first game in the Dutch Major Leeague, also for Tex Town Tigers. In 35 games, she collects her first 14 big league-basehits.
2004 --- In the final of the European Championships for Juniors in France, Merel bats in the winning run, resulting in an European title for the Dutch Junior-squad.
2003 --- After participating in the international Indoor Cup-tournament in January, Merel gains more international experience when she participates with a team from Enschede in the Senior League World Series, one of the events of the Little League-organization ---
Later in the year, she makes her debut in the Dutch National Junior Team and travels to Aruba to participate in the Kingdom Games, the bi-annual sports events for young athletes from the Netherlands, Aruba and Netherlands Antilles.
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| Family |
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| MEREL is the daughter of Bert and Ingrid Oosterveld and has two brothers, Tim and Mikkel, who both play baseball at Tex Town Tigers.
Merel's brother Tim is married to Dutch National Team-pitcher Lindsey Meadows.
Father Bert is a member of several committees for Tex Town Tigers and also is active as a softball-umpire.
Mother Ingrid played softball herself with Tex Town Tigers in the Dutch Major League in 1996 and was the Assistant Coach of Tex Town Tigers in 2008 and 2009 when it won the Dutch championship. On May 4, 1996, in the first game of a double-header against Robur '58, Ingrid hits the first big league-homerun in the history of Tex Town Tigers. |
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