The island of Curacao

Wild Cats one victory away to their seventh baseball title

All needed for the BBC Wild Cats to achieve their third victory against BBC Santa Maria Pirates were the two veterans (Renato Anastagasti and Sor Moesquit) and the Venezuelan pitcher (Leonel Guerrero).

Second Victory

This happened during the fourth game of the finals for the title of Curacao Baseball. BBC Wild Cats hired the Venezuelan pitcher Leonel Guerrero in the second half of the season and it was all worth it. During that fourth game he pitched for 8 innings and 2/3 to get his second victory in the play-off games.

Protest Denied

Due to the protest brought in by the BBC Santa Rosa Indians during the semi-finals questioning the legality of Leonel Guerrero, the final games of the play-off couldn’t be played for two weeks. It was ruled that – by a special commission appointed by the FEBEKO – Leonel Guerrero was eligible and therefore legal to participate in the play-off games of Curacao.

Two Wins in a Row

He became a reliever in the first game which was also his first appearance. Mr. Guerrero won that game and came back Thursday night to beat BBC Santa Maria Pirates for the second consecutive time.

The first points went to the BBC Santa Maria Pirates after a costly error by the third baseball Junior Orcadia. Santa Maria Pirates gained some momentum to score another run and got a comfortable lead of 2 – 0 after three innings. That lead didn’t last for too long. In the top half of the fourth inning, Wild Cats were able to tie the game at two. But in the bottom half of the same inning, Santa Maria Pirates came back and scored another run to recover the lead.

Riley getting in

In the fifth inning, BBC Wild Cats exploded, rallied for 4 runs, sent the Pirates starting pitcher, Evenon “Nene” Martis to the shower, and took the lead. Richard Isenia tried to be the reliever but was pounded by the Wild Cats hitters. Rodney Riley – who had some shoulder problems – stepped in for Isenia and did a pretty good job.

In the last game at bat for BBC Wild Cats the visitors club, everybody where all over Xiandro Markwell, who came as a reliever for Rodney Riley. They scored 8 runs in this part of the inning.

Ending the Game

Finally Ernesto “Mango” Marks had to come from center field to finish the game. On the other hand, Leonel Guerrero pitched a great ball game for a total 8 2/3 innings. Adelberth Martha came as a reliever and received the last out by threwing only one ball.

For BBC Wild Cats, 15 runs, 18 hits, and 4 errors, Leonel Guerrero won the game, and playing Manager Renato Anastagasti had a perfect day at the plate with 5 hits out of 5 at bats. For BBC Santa Maria Pirates scored 3 runs, 6 hits and 1 error. Nene Martins lost the game. With this victory, Wild Cats need only one more win for their seventh Curacao Baseball title.

Batting Line Up – The Wildcats

Mayron Martinus / Norwin Moesquit / Remick Bernadina / Renato Anastagasti