One-hit wonders
Curacao and Saudi Arabia both record only one hit in 3-0
Curacao win
 By
Mark Rogoff
The names Andrew Holden and Sorick Liberia almost went
down in the record books for something special,
something called a double no-hitter.
As it turns out, neither Saudi Arabia’s Holden nor
Curacao’s Liberia will be etched in Little League
no-hitter stone. Both came within one out of
accomplishing the feat, and both had to settle for a
one-hitter. The culprits: a pair of two-out doubles in
both teams’ last at-bat.
The one for Curacao: Darren Seferina’s double in the
bottom of the fifth that had no influence on the score
or outcome of the game.
The one for Saudi Arabia: Alexander Robinett’s
two-bagger in the top of the sixth that was simply too
little, too late for any rally.
Nonetheless, both pitchers were dynamite, and the line
scores look like this:
Holden: 5.0 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 K
Liberia: 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 9 K
Curacao scored all three of its runs over the first two
innings, taking advantage of a walk, an error, a hit
batsman, a passed ball and three wild pitches. That’s all the Caribbean champs would need, posting a
3-1 win over Transatlantic and finishing 2-1 in pool
play to earn a trip to Thursday’s international
semifinal against the first-place finisher from Pool C.
The combined two hits is the lowest hit total in a game
since pool play began in 1992, breaking the previous
record of three from a game featuring Bedford, New
Hampshire (U.S. East) and Hamilton, Ohio (U.S. Central)
in 1993. In that contest won by Bedford 1-0, Bedford’s
Thomas Beyer threw a no-hitter and Hamilton’s Ronnie
Bicknell allowed three base knocks.
The pair of one-hitters in Monday’s game account for the
22nd and 23rd since pool play began in 1992.
“I feel good about it,” Liberia said of his outing
through interpreter Alec Nicolaas. “My curveball was
dominating most of the game. It’s not important (losing
the no-hitter in the sixth). It’s important that we
won.”
“Andrew has done a great job all summer long for us,”
Saudi skipper Tommy Bumstead said of his righthander.
“We felt confident going in he’d do a great job against
the Caribbean. I couldn’t have asked for a better
performance from our pitcher.”
 Curacao
scored its first two runs in the first. Rayshelon
Carolina led off with a walk, and advanced all the
way to third when Robinett couldn’t handle a hot-shot
grounder off the bat of Seferina at third. Seferina
made his way to second on a passed ball, and with
runners on second and third, Carolina scored on a wild
pitch as Seferina advanced to third. Seferina then
scored on another wild pitch.
The Caribbean champs upped their lead to 3-0 in the
second, when Alexander Rodriguez’s ground out scored
Naeem Lourens, who led off the inning by getting hit by
a pitch and advancing all the way to third on yet
another pitch in the dirt.
No base runners advanced past second base after the
second inning. It stayed quiet –
except for a handful of walks and a hit batsman – until
the bottom of the fifth when the hits started coming.
In the fifth,
Willie Rifaela went down on strikes for the first out
and Carolina flied out to deep center field for out No.
2. Seferina then stroked his high flying double to the
gap in left-center field.
“It feels pretty good,” Seferina said through Nicolaas.
“I was telling the guys in the dugout I was going to get
the first one.”
In the top of the sixth, the Saudis knocked on the door
right away. Leadoff man Matt Timoney hit a hard grounder
to second baseman Seferina, who picked it nicely and
threw to first for the out. Ryan Bumstead hit a hard
grounder of his own to shortstop Jurickson Profar, who
also gunned it to first for the out.
Robinett then stepped to the plate and laced one just
beyond Rudmichaell Brandao at third for a double down
the line.
“We expected a good team because Japan only beat them
3-0,” Curacao manager Vernon Isabella said of Saudi
Arabia. “We didn't expect less hits (for us), though. There
was a little tension when we were winning but not
hitting. We’ll have to start hitting the ball in the
(single elimination games).”
Saudi Arabia will not be making a trip to the semifinal
round this year. With Japan 3-0 and Curacao 2-1, the
ex-patriots cannot advance with an 0-2 record. It marks
the 10th time in 11 tries since pool play began in 1992
that a team from the Arabian American Little League has
missed out on moving into single-elimination play.
Since the start of pool play in 1992, the only year the Saudis were a bracket buster was in 1994, when they went 2-1 in the
lone international pool before losing to a team from
Venezuela 10-1 in the international championship. From
1992-2000, there were only four international teams, and
the top two advanced to the international title game.
“The last two years we’ve been so close, but haven’t
been able to get over the hump,” Bumstead said. “It is
frustrating.”
The fine effort by his team is to be commended,
according to Bumstead.
“I’ve never been more proud of the kids in my life,” he
said. “We fought them down to the wire. I told them, ‘I
know you’re disappointed, but you’re going to look back
and be proud of what you guys accomplished.’”
Game Photos
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