Home|Sports|The Bahamas 12U split two gamesSports
Team blanks the Cayman Islands but loses to Cuba
Simba FrenchSend an emailJuly 21, 2023 50 2 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
The Bahamas’ 12-and-under (12U) team at the Babe Ruth Caribbean Baseball Championship and Invitational split its games on the first day of competition at the Baillou Hills Softball Complex on Thursday.
They got a convincing 27-0 shutout victory over the Cayman Islands in the first game of the tournament and then lost their second game of the day, 6-5, against Cuba. The team is currently in second place in Pool A with a 1-1 win/loss record, sitting behind Cuba who is at 2-0.
Manager for the Bahamian side Stephen Burrows said that his team had a slow start against Cuba.
“Sometimes guys get game jitters. By the time we were able to snap out of it and string runs together, it was a bit late. We made a lot of errors in the third inning and that caused them to score several runs. We started to tighten up on our
defense and were able to get them out more but we came up short,” Burrows said.
Heading into top of the sixth and final inning, Cuba had a 6-3 lead and came out of the dugout hoping to put the game away. The Bahamas came out with a purpose in that inning as Ajai Knowles opened with a double and Malique Israel walked. A double steal put runners on second and third.
After The Bahamas’ first out, Kylan Taylor stepped up and hit a fly ball that dropped right in front of the right fielder’s gloves. That single brought home Knowles and Israel. That cut into Cuba’s lead as the score was 6-5 in favor of the Cuban side.
Taylor stole second and third and was the tying run. However, with two out, Elon Bullard struck out swinging, ending the game, 6-5, in Cuba’s favor.
Burrows appreciated the resilience from the team.
The Bahamas led early on, going up 3-1 by the third inning. Cuba scored four runs in the bottom of the third inning to change the flow of the game in their favor. Knowles and Ralph Burrows led the way for The Bahamas in the batter’s box. Burrows went 2-for-2 and scored two runs while Knowles went 2-for-4, scored two runs and had a run batted in (RBI).
In the game against Cayman, Burrows drove in five runs and he and Knowles had three hits each. The Bahamas finished with 13 total hits in that game and had 23 stolen bases.
The Bahamas poured in 19 runs in the first inning. They then came back in the second inning and scored eight more runs. The game ended in the bottom of the third inning via the mercy rule.
The Bahamas will play the Netherlands Antilles today at 11 a.m. and then end pool play at 3 p.m. against Jamaica. Burrows said that they need to tighten up on defense and ensure they get runners around the bases on offense.