The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas claimed three medals at the inaugural Babe Ruth Caribbean Region Championships and Invitational.

The teams took gold in both the U16 and U12 divisions, and won an additional bronze in the U12 division at the conclusion of the five-day tournament at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex.

The Bahamas Host team won the gold medal in the U12 division with a 3-0 shutout win over Cuba. With the win, they advance to represent the Caribbean Region at the Cal Ripken Major/70 World Series in Branson, Missouri.

The team, managed by Javier Bowe, opened tournament play with a 6-5 win over Cuba followed by a 2-1 win over Aruba and a 4-0 loss to the Bahamas Tournament team.

They recovered from the pair of losses and ended the tournament with three consecutive wins, 7-0 over Puerto Rico, 7-4 over Aruba in the semifinal and the win in the final over Cuba to finish the tournament with a 4-2 record.

Antwon Bain was named MVP while Chishard Thompson Jr was the winning pitcher and was named the top defensive player.

Thompson pitched four shutout innings with eight strikeouts and gave up just a single hit. Bain went 2-3 with an RBI, Alijah Butler was 1-2 and Kamdyn Miller went 1-3.

The Bahamas scored all of their runs in the third inning when Leslie Sands Jr scored on a wild pitch, Thompson scored on a sacrifice fly from Ralph Burrows and Bain drove in the third run.

Bain was also named the best hitter of the tournament after hitting .500 (7-14) with four runs and five RBI.

The Bahamas Tournament team won the bronze medal with an 8-0 win over Aruba. They finished with a 6-1 record.

Cavian Roberts surrendered just a single hit en route to the win and totalled five strikeouts on the afternoon.

At the plate, Trae Neymour went 2-3, highlighted by his 2-run “in the park” home run, two RBI and two runs, Jordan Archer was 1-2 with one RBI and one run and Marlon Bostwick Jr went 2-3 with two RBI and scored a run.

Javan Smith won the top defensive player award after he finished the tournament with 16 strikeouts.

Offensively for Bahamas Tournament team, Kaizen Dorsett had a .588 (10-17) batting average with seven RBI and six runs over the course of the tournament.

The team had the number one seed in tournament play after five consecutive wins, 20-0 over the Cayman Islands, 6-0 over Puerto Rico, 4-0 over Bahamas Host, 5-0 over Cuba and 3-2 over Aruba. They lost 7-2 to Cuba in the semifinals before the bronze medal win.

In the 16U Division, The Bahamas, managed by Greg Burrows Jr, won 13-6 over team USA in yesterday’s final and finished the tournament with a 6-2 record.

The bats for team Bahamas came alive in that final with five home runs to power the gold medal game. Rashawn Pinder hit two home runs, Breyas Dean added two home runs and Andru Arthur added another home run.

Pinder finished 3-4 with a game high five RBI and two runs, Dean went 2-3 with two RBI, Arthur was 2-4 with two runs and two RBI, Chad Delancy was 2-5 with two runs and two RBI and Dionton James was 1-4 with two RBI.

They opened the tournament with a 4-1 win over Netherlands. On day two they lost to Puerto Rico 4-2, but followed with a 20-0 win over Aruba. On day three, they followed with a 6-2 win over St Maarten and a 9-4 win over the USA in the second half of a double header.

In Sunday’s semifinal, The Bahamas suffered a 15-13 loss to the USA relegating them to a bronze medal elimination game against Puerto Rico. They avenged an earlier loss to Puerto Rico with a 7-0 win to advance to the gold medal game.