The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

TEAM Bahamas closed out the group stage with a win at the Caribbean’s qualifier for the Little League World Series.

The under-12 team from the Junior Baseball League of Nassau (JBLN) scored a 5-0 shutout win over La Javilla Little League of the Dominican Republic yesterday at the LLWS Caribbean Regional qualifying tournament in Willemstad, Curacao.

The Bahamas finished pool play with a 3-2 record.

The Bahamas is in Pool B with Antigua (Antigua LL), Bonaire (Bonaire LL), Cuba (Havana LL), Curacao B (Pariba LL) and the Dominican Republic (La Javilla LL). Pool A includes the US Virgin Islands (Elrod Hendricks West LL), Aruba (Aruba South LL), Curacao A (Pabao LL), Puerto Rico (Piratas De Venezuela LL) and St Maarten (Saint Maarten LL).

In game one, JBLN opened with a 7-3 loss to Curacao B Saturday afternoon in the tournament opener. They followed with a 15-0 win over Bonaire, an 11-0 win over Antigua and Barbuda and a 6-0 loss to Cuba.

Curacao B leads Pool B with an undefeated 5-0 record with Cuba in second place at 4-1. Curacao A leads the field in Pool B at 4-0 with Puerto Rico and Aruba deadlocked at 3-1 records. The winner of their head-to-head matchup tomorrow will determine the final team for the semi-final.

The semi-final rounds follow on Friday and the tournament concludes with the championship and consolation game on Saturday.

The winner of the tournament will advance to play in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Each of the eight international regions - Asia-Pacific, Australia, Canada, Caribbean, Europe-Africa, Japan, Latin America and Mexico - will contest their regional tournaments this month.

The United States divisions take place in early August and the LLBWS takes place August 15-25 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Over the course of 30 days, approximately 935 little leaguers aged 10-16 from nearly 80 different baseball and softball teams around the world will compete to determine the seven World Series champions for 2019.

JBLN earned the right to represent the Bahamas when they won the Bahamas Baseball Association’s National Championship in the 12U Division, hosted in Eleuthera. They emerged as champions in the five-team field and won the gold medal with an 11-1 win over the Grand Bahama Little League.