Courtesy of: The Morning News
By: Rosalie Klein
The island of Aruba was very proud to host the Junior League Latin Championship 2013 games this past week at the Nadi Croes/Crismo Angela Ballpark in Santa Cruz. Aruba’s North LL team came into the Saturday night finals undefeated to face off against the equally undefeated team from the sister island of Curacao. Aruba’s young players had to contend with losing their top performing teammate, Gillian Wernet, who was suspended from the final game due to overly enthusiastically expressing his joy at winning the semi-final match against Venezuela. Observers report he had tossed his batter’s helmet in the air. Umpires and officials deemed this a danger to other players and so he was not allowed to compete in the final match.
Early in the game Aruba scored a run off of Curacao starting pitcher Bryan Biegal in the beginning of the second inning, with Aruba starting pitcher Dyal Buwhanaswar refusing to give up a single run.
The Curacao team has some fast runners, which enabled them to score a tying run against Aruba by continually stealing bases. The Aruba team quickly evened up the score 2-2, so relief pitcher from Curacao, Geedion Jakobs was brought in, and Biegal gracefully gave up the mound to play third base, applauded for his excellent performance. Jakobs couldn’t seem to get into his groove, and several wild pitches allowed Aruban players to fill the bases.
Jakobs was replaced almost immediately during mid-inning by Jerson Domatilia, who saved the day for Curacao after Aruba had tied the score and had bases loaded, with what looked like a sure chance to take the lead. Domatila came through, striking out the Aruban player at bat, with the next out off a high fly ball, a retiring the side without that leading run scored.
Curacao then scored three runs in the bottom of the inning thanks to some virtuoso base stealing and several errors on Aruba’s part. Relief Pitcher Endry Brito was brought in for Aruba, who retired Curacao without anymore runs. The Aruba team rallied at the top of the final inning and tied the score, 5-5, a valiant effort that electrified the players and spectators.
Curacao relied on strategy playing to bring in the win, getting a man on third with walks and stealing bases, as a tired Aruban pitcher struggled to keep control of the ball. Finally, Curacao batter Draydon Evelina came to the plate and hit a bunt, creating enough confusion to bring in the winning run and the trophy for a jubilant Curacao team.
Aruban spectators gave the new champions a hearty ovation for their smart play. Aruba has dominated the Junior League championships for a few years now, winning the world sub-championship title during last year’s world series. Curacao’s coaches expressed how pleased they are to see their team make it to the world series next month. The Curacao players will travel to Taylor, Michigan to compete in the Junior League World Series of Baseball in Heritage Park from Aug. 11 to Aug. 17.
