June 24, 2007 — It has been a long time coming, but the Elmo Plaskett Little League West 11-12 All-Stars is all the way back to being on even par with rest of the districts in the territory as far as playing competitive baseball. The Team which hails from the Frederiksted area swept the Elrod Hendricks West Little League All-Stars from St. Thomas, two games to none in the best two-of-three series to earn the right to represent the territory in the Latin America and Caribbean tournament in Puerto Rico this summer.
The series clincher came on Saturday night in front of a large, loudly cheering crowd, when the Crucians got the early lead, then watched St. Thomas come back to tie the score before winning the game in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single by Marcus Farrington by a score of 6-5.
The St. Thomas 11-12 All-Stars came to St. Croix highly confident and rightly so because they did have a strong team, they were very deep in pitching, and appeared to be well prepared. Unfortunately for the St. Thomas squad, they ran into a team that was just a little bit better offensively, defensively and also very well prepared.
One person who was also very confident was the Elmo Plaskett Little League West 11-12 All-Stars manager, Adanskee Henry: “I watch these players throughout the season and I know we had the talent. It was for us the mangers and coaches to make them believe that they had the talent to win these tournaments. Also we brought in Mr. Wayne Hurley, he is the one that trains them, and he is the man that takes the time every day after work along with my coaching staff to be out here with these kids. He helps us to train their mind, their body and their soul, to make sure that they eat and sleep baseball. Sometimes we are out here until nine, after nine and the parents come wanting to know if it’s not time for their kids to go home, and we let them know that we are working towards something, and we have done it.”
And as far as the discipline his team showed throughout the tournament, “Well discipline was one thing that we tried to instill in them before we even start training. Hurly sat them down and let them know that discipline in the number one thing when it comes to sports and if you don’t have that then you don’t need to be in sports.”
In the series clincher, the Elmo Plaskett Little League West 11-12 All-Stars started the game with the hard throwing lefty Rasheed Swanston. Swanston was very tough early in the game and the St. Thomians could not do anything with him for the first four innings. Meanwhile, the Crucians, who trailed early in game one on Friday, was first on the board on Saturday when they plated three runs in the bottom of the first to take the early lead. They scored three runs on an RBI triple by Edward Peter, an RBI single by Emanuel Guadelupe and a St. Thomas error.
The score would stay that way until the top of the fifth inning when the Elrod Hendricks West Little League All-Stars stormed back to knot the game at three on a two-run single by Malik Mitchell and a bases-loaded walk drawn by William Lawrence.
The Elmo Plaskett Little League West 11-12 All-Stars responded with two unearned runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 5-3 lead heading into the sixth and final inning. Not yet ready to throw in the towel, the Elrod Hendricks West Little League All-Stars again tied the game up at five in the top of the sixth to the delight of their fans who made the trip across the pond to support the team. They scored two runs on a sac fly by Iroy Ward and an Elmo Plaskett Little League West 11-12 All-Stars error.
This set the stage for the series clincher in the bottom of the inning where Marcus Farrington delivered the knock out blow.
Edward Peter picked up the win for the Elmo Plaskett Little League West 11-12 All-Stars, while Kimoi Charles got the loss for the Elrod Hendricks West Little League All-Stars. Top hitters for the St. Croix team were Wayne Lowry and Shawn Matos both 1 for 2, and Marcus Farrington was 1 for 2 with two RBIs. For the Elrod Hendricks West Little League All-Stars, Mitchell was 1 for 3 with two RBIs and Lawrence was 1 for 3 with one RBI.
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