The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

FREEDOM Farm Baseball League returned to the Bahamas Baseball Federation’s Andre Rodgers National Championship this year and staked their claim as the sport’s most dominant programme in the country.

Freedom Farm captured gold medals in each of the five contested divisions as the 14th edition of the national tournament concluded Sunday at the EMERA Baseball Complex in Grand Bahama.

The Farmers took first place in the Coach Pitch (7-8 years old), Minor (9-10), Major (11-12), Junior (13-15) and High School (16-18) divisions.

The event featured 24 teams representing four islands including the Farmers and Junior Baseball League of Nassau (JBLN) out of New Providence contesting all five divisions.

Others were Grand Bahama Amateur Baseball Association (GBABA) - Junior, High School; Grand Bahama Little League  (GBLL) - Coach Pitch, Minor, Major, Junior; and Legacy Baseball (LB) Coach Pitch, Minor, Major, Junior out of Grand Bahama, North Abaco Baseball League (NABL) - Minor,Major,Junior - and Eleuthera Junior Baseball League of Rock Sound (EJBL) – Junior .

Ravaughn Pinder was named the MVP of the Coach Pitch team as he led his team to the group’s first gold medal Sunday afternoon. They rebounded from a 6-5 loss to Legacy and also scored a 17-0 win over GBLL and a 6-2 win over JBLN.

Over in the Minor division, the Farmers closed out the tournament with a 3-1 win JBLN in the championship game. Andru Arthur was named the team’s MVP. Freedom Farm’s path to the title included a 13-4 win over GBLL, 15-5 over JBLN and 15-1 over Legacy.

In the Major division they won 11-3 over GBLL and Deshaughn Forbes was named the MVP. They opened the tournament with a 7-3 win over GBLL, 8-0 win over Legacy on day one. Day two featured an 8-1 win over Legacy and 23-0 blowout win over Abaco. They also won 6-1 over JBLN.

The Junior team dominated the field led by MVP D’Shawn Knowles. In the tournament finale they won 11-0 over GBLL. They also won 11-1 over NABL, 10-1 over GBLL, 5-1 over JBLN and 10-0 over Legacy.

The High School team also overcame an early tournament loss to defeat JBLN 13-3 in the championship game behind an MVP performance from Kevon Moxey. They opened the tournament with a win over GBLL followed by a 12-8 loss to JBLN. They also defeated GBLL in the first meeting between the two teams and topped JBLN 11-1 in the first meeting.

The sponsors for the nationals were Grand Bahama Port Authority – Title Sponsor, Insurance Management – BBF Coach Pitch, Gatorade - BBF Major Division, FOCOL – BBF Junior Division, Summit Insurance – BBF High School Division, D’Albenas Agency and Pelican Bay Hotel.

The tournament titles have changed hands several times over the past few years as participation has fluctuated.

In 2015, Freedom Farm opted not to participate while JBLN and GBLL each took a pair of division titles.

GBLL won Coach Pitch and Minor, while JBLN took the Major and High School divisions.

GBABA took the Junior division while the New Providence Amateur Baseball League  (NPABL)took the Collegiate title.

In 2014, Freedom Farm appeared in the championship game in each of the six contested divisions and captured three gold medals.

The Farmers took gold in the Coach Pitch, Minor and Major divisions and finished as runners-up in the Junior, High School, and Collegiate divisions. 

JBLN took the Juniors, while GBABA took gold in the High Schools and the NPABL came out on top in the collegiate ranks.

In 2013, Freedom Farm withdrew from the event and JBLN captured four of the six contested divisions at the Bahamas Baseball Federation’s marquee event.

JBLN took the Collegiate High School, Junior and Minor divisions. Grand Bahama won titles in two divisions as GBLL won in the Major and GBABA took the Coach Pitch.