The Virgin Islands Senior Little League team defeated Columbia, 4-2, on Tuesday in their final round robin game in Pool B play of the 2014 Latin American Regional Senior Little League tournament in Panama City, Panama.
Jahmoi Percival carried the V.I. team to victory with a strong game on the hill with nine strikeouts and six scattered hits. Percival also scored the team’s first run and singled in the fifth inning.
Columbia drew first blood, scoring a run in the first inning. Geo Zuniga hit a one-out double to right-centerfield. He would steal second and then score on a wild pitch. The Columbians would add another run in the top of the fourth inning when Jose Herrera doubled in the left-centerfield gap. Herrera was followed by Angel Galinool who deposited a Percival offering into the right-centerfield for an RBI double. After the next batter had an infield single, Percival retired the next two batters with a strikeout followed by a fly out to V.I. centerfielder David Nicholas to end the threat.
The V.I. team was held scoreless the first four innings. However, in the fifth, they answered with Percival leading off the inning with a single. Nicholas then sacrifice bunted him over to second. Percival was able to steal third during Kelani Luke’s at bat. Luke struck out for the second out of the inning.
Aaron Shelford Jr. then drove Percival home with a single. Shelford then stole second and was driven home by a Dumoi Pole single. The Columbians intentionally walked Caleem Serrant to face Eugene Farrell Jr., who hit a one ball, one strike pitch to the centerfield wall for a two-run triple to give the territory a 4-2 lead. Mychal Lett then flied out to centerfield to end the inning.
Percival retired the Columbians in order in the top of the sixth inning with a ground ball back to him followed by two strikeouts. The seventh and final inning was not as easy. The first batter for Columbia popped out to Percival for the first out. The next three batters reached base safely with an infield single and a walk followed by another infield single to load the bases.
The next batter for Columbia, Zuniga, had a three balls no strikes count when Percival threw the fourth pitch. The home plate umpire called strike one. This caused Santiago Vega, the runner on first, and Jesus Jimenez to both get caught off the bases for the second and third outs of the ball game.
The V.I. team advances to the semifinals with the victory.
