Olympia Haarlem win The Cup indoor softball tournament in Netherlands

A walk-off single by the Netherlands National Team member Lisa Hop gave Olympia Haarlem a 1-0 win over ROEF! in the final of The Cup, a traditional women's softball indoor tournament held in Schiedam, a city located in the Rotterdam metropolitan area in the Netherlands. Neptune, who won the two previous editions of The Cup, finished in third place.

The final turned into a pitching duel between internationals Hop and Marjolein Merkx for ROEF!. The game was decided in the last at bat of the tournament. With a runner on third base, Hop connected a single to left field to plate Franka van Dijk with the championship-winning run.

It was the first tournament of the year in the Netherlands, and served as a preparation for the Softball Hoofdklasse 2024, which is slated to begin on 13 April. 

The Netherlands national team, No. 8 in the WBSC/KONAMI Women's Softball World Ranking, will have a busy summer in 2024, with the WBSC Women's Softball World Cup Finals in Castions di Strada, Italy, between 15 and 21 July; and the European Championship, which will be hosted in Utrecht from 1-7 September.