Dutch Women Softball Team

2011

USA Tour

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Dutch Team travels to Tennessee

Nederlandse tekst

CLEARWATER/ORLANDO, Florida / KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (USA) - Today, the Dutch National Softball Team traveled to Knoxville (Tennessee), where the USA Tour will continue on Saturday with the first of two double-headers at the site of the University of Tennessee. The team returns to Florida on Monday-morning.

It was rise and shine early today, as the team, all players were feeling very well, got a wake-up call at 4:30 AM to have breadfast an hour later. Next, it was off to Orlando International Airport where the team arrived some two hours later. Besides the equipment, there was not much luggage for the flight to Knoxville. The Donnay-backpack served as the carry-on bagage and the Donnay sports bag served as suitcase. All remaining small personal bags were put in a hardcase suitcase of Business Manager Rich Hooff and that was the only other luggage for the journey to Tennessee, but it was a heavy one as it weight 98 pounds! The rest of the luggage (which was a lot) was stowed in the room of Physical Therapist Sanne Oude Egberink in the hotel in Clearwater.

At the airport, it was initially planned to check in the sports bags as luggage, but AirTran Airways charges 20 dollar for each piece of luggage. And so, it was decided to spread some of the additional personal items into the equipment bags, then take the sports bags with the backpack on board as cabin luggage. And that was no problem and also free of charge. Does someone understand this?

Then another problem arose, as Eva Voortman wasn't listed on the passenger list. Instead of arguing ('There is a problem, sir'), Business Manager Rich Hooff bought a ticket for Eva and solved the problem later. At 10:11 AM, the Boeing 717-200 of AirTran Airways took off on time from Orlando International Airport, then arrived one hour and 33 minutes later at McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville. AirTran Airways is a low-cost airline, which was founded in 1992 as ValuJet and nowadays operates more than 1000 daily flight mostly in the east and midwest of the USA. In September 2010, AirTran Airways was bought by Southwest Airlines.

At the airport in Knoxville, the team was awaited by the representatives of the University of Tennessee, who belong to the organization of the games that will be played coming weekend. Also also the airport, three mini-vans were picked up for transport of the team the coming days. The remainder of the day was used to rest. There was a rest-period after lunch, as well as after dinner.

The weather forecast for Knoxville called for rain for the weekend, but on the other hand, storm was prediced for Florida.

Back in Clearwater, Peter Schuler returned the mini-vans, as they of course aren't used this weekend and made some phone calls, as more games might be scheduled for the coming days.

On Saturday, the Dutch Team meets the University of Louisiana Monroe (starting 9:00 AM local, 3:00 PM Dutch time) and Furman University (5 PM local, 11 Dutch time).

On Sunday, the Dutch Team will play vs. Georgia Southern University (11 AM local, 5 PM Dutch time) and the University of Tennessee (3:00 PM local, 9:00 PM Dutch time).

live play-by-play
All four games can be followed via a live play-by-play on GameTracker. Sunday's game vs. Tennessee will be carried live through a video feed.

The links for GameTracker and the video can be found on the site of the Tennessee Classic Tournament as well as the page with the schedule of the softball-team of Tennessee.

Initially, only the game vs. Tennessee would be available, but the play-by-play for the four games was made possible by Brian Davis, the Sport Information Director of Tennessee, after contacted by Media Officer Marco Stoovelaar in order to enable softball-fans and family members back home to follow these games.

Gametracker Netherlands vs. University of Louisiana
Gametracker Netherlands vs. Furman University
Gametracker Netherlands vs. Georgia Southern University
Gametracker Netherlands vs. University of Tennessee
Video-feed Netherlands vs. University of Tennessee

Complete Schedule USA Tour

Where is the team at the moment?

Today, the Dutch Softball Team arrived in Knoxville, Tennessee. The city of Knoxville was founded in 1786 and is the third-largest in the State of Tennessee behind Memphis and Nashville. Knoxville is the second oldest city of the state following Nashville, which was founded in 1779. After Tennessee's admission into the Union in 1796, Knoxville was the state's first capital in which capacity it served until 1819. Currently, Nashville is the state's capital. The city was named in honor of Henry Knox (1750-1806), the first Secretary of War under George Washington, the first American President. In the 18th century, the Cherokee Indians were the dominant tribe in East Tennessee, but were frequently at war with the Creeks and Shawnee. During the American Revolution Euro-American settlement increased by the 1780s. In 1786, Revolutionary War officer James White and his friend James Connor built a fort on land White had purchased three years earlier. White's son-in-law Charles McClung then established a town, building a church, graveyard and school. This school, Blount College, was founded in 1794 and later became the starting point of the University of Tennessee. The area became the Territory South of the River Ohio and appointed governor William Blount negotiated a first agreement with the Cherokee. After the Cherokee refused to cede land near Tennessee River, Blount chose the fort as capital and named it Knoxville after Henry Knox (right), who at that moment was a Revolutionary War general and Blount's immediate superior. During the US Civil War, in 1861, Tennessee separated from the Union and joined the Confederacy. After the war, Knoxville recovered and became known for textile factories. Between 1880 and 1887, 97 factories were established, most of them in textiles, food products and iron products, resulting in the city being nicknamed 'Underwear Capital of the World'. Nowadays, Knoxville is a city with a population of more than one million inhabitants. The sports teams of the University of Tennessee are extremely popular in the Knoxville-area. The city also is the home of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.

The team had an early wake-up call for the busride to Orlando for the flight to Knoxville

Checking in at Orlando International Airport

The 'blue suite' of Business Manager Rich Hoof, which contained some important
personal belongings and weighed 98 pounds, but arrived safely and unharmed in Knoxville

A big basketball marks the entrance of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame,
which is located close to the hotel

After arriving in Knoxville, in the afternoon, the team went to Sherri Lee Parker Stadium,
the home field of the University of Tennessee softball-team

The Dutch Team immediately had a link with the stadium, which states
'This is Big Orange County'

The big scoreboard in leftfield; listed on the outfield-wall are the
All-American players of the Lady Vols, which includes Team USA pitcher Monica Abbott

The relaxing room in the Tennessee clubhouse

And the locker room

The team looks to one of the games on Friday-evening...

...along with Smokey, the mascot of Tennessee

Afterwards, it was time to have dinner

Business Manager Rich Hooff is looking forward to his bed,
while Coach Karen Marr is all smiles

(photos made by Nathalie Franssen and Sanne Oude Egberink)