Schiedam knokt zich terug van 1-6 achterstand naar zege op Ridderkerk Rowdies

SV & HV Schiedam did not just survive its first league game of the year, it wrestled it back from the edge. After two innings against Ridderkerk Rowdies, Schiedam trailed 0-4. After five, the home side was still stuck at 1-6. Then the sixth inning changed the whole afternoon, as Schiedam stormed into a 7-6 lead and finished off a 10-8 comeback win.

That matters because this was the kind of start that can tell you a lot about a team before the season has even settled in. Schiedam looked rattled early, but not broken. Ridderkerk, the club from Oosterparkweg 7 with roughly 200 honk- en softballers and roots back to 27 November 1979, made the most of the mistakes. A long homerun brought in two runs, and the visitors punished every opening they were given.

Schiedam finally got on the board in the third inning. Mack Meijers and Rick Bol reached base, and Lars Bol drove in the first run with a hit. Even then, Ridderkerk kept pulling away and stretched the gap to five runs by the end of the fifth. The response came from the mound as much as it did at the plate. Mack de Held worked six innings, gave up three earned runs and struck out six, keeping Schiedam close enough for the offense to catch up.

The comeback itself was the part that flipped the mood. In the sixth, Schiedam strung together a series of well-timed hits and mixed in a smart bunt to break Ridderkerk’s grip on the game. The inning ended with Schiedam ahead 7-6, and from there the home side kept adding insurance before Ridderkerk made one last push in the ninth. It was enough to create tension, not enough to undo the damage.

The result lands right in the middle of the new Dutch season, which the KNBSB says began on Thursday 9 April. In the closed classes, teams play 36 games in 12 triples over 14 speelweekenden, so every early result already shapes the feel of the race. Schiedam now heads to HSV Houten Dragons on Sunday 19 April at 14:00, and that is no soft landing either. Houten opened its season on 5 April with a 15-0 win over Wassenaar, so Schiedam’s first road test will quickly show whether this fightback was a one-off or the first real sign that this side can hang around all spring.