With the ceremony held on Tuesday at the José Antonio Huelga stadium in this city, the VII National Under-23 Baseball Series was inaugurated.

Sancti Spíritus, August 3 (JIT) - With the ceremony held on Tuesday at the José Antonio Huelga stadium in this city, the VII National Under-23 Baseball Series was inaugurated.

Alejandro Escobar, member of the espirituano team, read the athletes' commitment in which they expressed their decision to be an example of sports discipline, to compete with responsibility, respect and dedication, and to maintain ethics on and off the field.

The umpires also swore to be faithful to the rules, enforcing them in each game of the Series, which will last seven innings as is the case at the international level.

Frank Sosa Pérez, member of the bureau of the Communist Youth Union (UJC) in Sancti Spíritus, while giving the main speech at the ceremony, called on the athletes to show their public that the new generations of baseball players can achieve outstanding results in any competition in which they take part.

Referring to the mentor of the Sancti Spíritus team, Héctor Huelga Fandiño, son of José Antonio Huelga, Sosa Pérez assured that he is a director of 13 international events with impressive records in softball.

So they have, he told the espirituano U-23 ballplayers, a great opportunity to establish as a competitive strategy, according to Huelga Fandiño, aggressiveness on the bases to manufacture runs, maintain discipline and sportsmanship.

Present at the inaugural ceremony were leaders of the Communist Party of Cuba, the government, Inder, the UJC and mass organizations in the territory of Espiritu.

In 2019, the last championship of this nature was held in Cuba, interrupted in the following two years by the covid-19 pandemic. In that season, the Sancti Spíritus team was champion.

The espirituanos are the only ones that have always finished with more victories than defeats in the history of these tournaments, in which Santiago de Cuba has remained on the awards podium with two titles included, besides being the only team that has never lost a particular subseries.

TODAY'S RESULTS

At the Capitán San Luis stadium, the locals from Pinar del Río defeated the Pineros with a 5x4 scoreboard. Havana overcame Artemisa as a visitor at 26 de Julio Park.

Matanzas blanked Mayabeque 1x0 at the Victoria de Girón stadium and Las Tunas, as visitors at the Huelga stadium, defeated the Espirituanos with a score of 8x4.

Camagüey took advantage of its home venue at the Cándido González stadium to beat Ciego de Ávila 2x1, and the opposite happened to Holguín against Granma (2x3) at the Calixto García stadium.

Finally, Guantánamo defeated Santiago de Cuba (4x3) at the Guillermón Moncada in front of the best attendance of the day, about one thousand fans.

The game between Villa Clara and Cienfuegos could not take place due to transportation difficulties. There were eight home runs and no game lasted more than three hours (JIT).