75.7 F
Charlotte Amalie
Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesSt. Croix Whips St. Thomas 10-1 for 11-12 Little League Baseball Crown

St. Croix Whips St. Thomas 10-1 for 11-12 Little League Baseball Crown

June 15, 2009 — The St. Croix Elmo Plaskett East Little League 11-12 All-Stars beat the St. Thomas Elrod Hendricks East 11-12 All-Stars 10-1 Sunday to win the V.I. Little League 11-12 championship at the D.C. Canegata Ballpark.
The victory earned the St. Croix squad the right to represent the territory later this year in the Caribbean tournament in Curacao. The Crucians, after dropping the opening game of the best-two-of-three series on Friday, first staved off elimination on Saturday with a 6-2 victory before crushing the Thomians on Sunday in the bullet game. Stephen Rodriguez pitched four-and-a-third strong innings before turning things over to Christopher Joseph.
Controversy abounded in the third inning after the umpires disallowed what appeared to be a go-ahead two-run home run off the bat of St. Thomas' Emari Mills, and from that point on it was all St. Croix.
The home team got on the board in the top of the second inning with the game's first run on a wild pitch to take the early lead.
The score would remain unchanged until the top of fourth inning, since the apparent home run was disallowed in the bottom of the third. St. Croix picked up one run in the top of the inning to extend its lead to 2-0 after four innings as St. Thomas came up empty in the bottom of the inning.
St. Croix would then jump out to a 6-0 lead in the top of the fifth on a two-run double by Evanston Matthew, a wild pitch and a passed ball to take command of the game. St. Thomas' brightest moment since the third-inning controversy would come in the bottom of the fifth inning by way of a solo blast over the left-field fence off the bat David Sacana. It would be their only run of the game.
The home team, however, was not done scoring yet, as they really sealed the deal in the top of the sixth and final inning with four more runs for an insurmountable 10-1 lead and the V.I. crown. They scored four runs on a two-run double by Darren Stevens, an RBI double by De'Ondre Simmonds and an RBI single off the bat of Matthew.
Rodriguez got the win on the hill for St. Croix, while Jose Byas got the loss. Top batters for the winners were Matthew, 2 for 4 with three RBIs; Stevens, 3 for 4 with two RBIs; and Armand Berrios, 3 for 3. For St. Thomas, Sacana went 1 for 2 with a home run and one RBI and Mills went 1 for 1.
Back Talk Share your reaction to this news with other Source readers. Please include headline, your name and city and state/country or island where you reside.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Keeping our community informed is our top priority.
If you have a news tip to share, please call or text us at 340-228-8784.

Support local + independent journalism in the U.S. Virgin Islands

Unlike many news organizations, we haven't put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as accessible as we can. Our independent journalism costs time, money and hard work to keep you informed, but we do it because we believe that it matters. We know that informed communities are empowered ones. If you appreciate our reporting and want to help make our future more secure, please consider donating.