The Cubans had come into the title game undefeated.
Photo: Yunier Sifonte

Havana, July 10 (RHC)-- Cuba, with its U12 team Santa Clara, lost 1-3 to Curacao A in the final of the Little League Baseball tournament in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, on Saturday.

In this way, the Curaçao A team won the only ticket to the World Final to be held in the U.S. city of Williamsport, from August 17 to 28.

The Cubans reached the title match undefeated, with four victories in Group B against the teams of Curacao B (2-1 and 8-1) and Dominican A (4-2 and 15-8), a performance to which they added the success (8-2) of one of the semifinals on Saturday against Aruba.

A brief review included in a chronicle published on the site www.cubadebate.cu describes what happened in the match after a regrettable mistake by the Santa Clara players.

The text points out that in "a fateful fourth inning, Curaçao broke the one-run hug and sealed its pass to the title. From then on, little more happened, so little that the winners finished the game with only three hits, two less than the Cubans, who also enjoyed the home run of Elvis Herrera".

Against Aruba - in the semifinals - Cuba opened the scoreboard in the first inning, with one run, a score that was extended with three in the second, one in the third and three in the sixth.

Aruba's two runs came in the bottom of the third, against the pitching of starter and winner William Álvarez, who was replaced in the fourth by left-hander Cristian Aguilera due to the number of pitches.