POND ISLAND--Panama won the 17th Annual Latin American and Caribbean Junior Division Championships at the Little League Ballpark on Pond Island Saturday. Panama defeated Puerto Rico 5-4 and will represent the region at the Junior Division World Series to be played in Taylor Michigan August 14 to 21.
In the game for third place, also on Saturday, U.S. Virgin Islands bested Venezuela 6-4.
“It was a good tournament,” said league president Ronald Jacobs. “Panama must really love it here. This is the fourth time they have won on St. Maarten.”
At the awards ceremony following the final Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Silveria Jacobs congratulated all the players, coaches and organizers for “Some fine baseball” that was played during the week long competition.”
Each athlete was presented a medal of participation. Trophies were awarded to the top three teams.
Several individual awards were also presented. Four players hit home runs during the competition but Puerto Rico’s Alvin Martinez was declared the Home Run Champion with a slugging average of .889.
Best Batting Average went to Bonaire’s Bunangel Gregorio Gerly at .625. The Best Pitcher was Tristan Moore from USVI and the tournament’s Most Valuable player was Gamaliel Gonzales from Panama.
A total of nine teams competed in the seven-day long tournament . In Pool A were Aruba, Colombia, Curacao, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. In Pool B were Bonaire, Panama, USVI and host St. Maarten. The top two teams in each pool advanced to the semi-finals.
St. Maarten went 0-3. Panama topped the group at 3-0. USVI was second at 2-1 and followed by Bonaire at 1-2.
Puerto Rico emerged group leader from pool A at 4-0. Venezuela was second at 3-1 and was followed by Aruba, Colombia and Curacao, all at 1-3.
