|
Curacao Profits From Profar
Juremi Profar’s two-run homer puts exclamation point on 6-2 win over
Canada; Curacao advances to international semifinals
By Mark Rogoff
Special Correspondent
 For
nearly three years Jurickson Profar could say he had done something
that his brother Juremi may never get to do – win a Little League
Baseball World Series championship.
Jurickson was part of the 2004 Curacao squad that beat a team from
Thousand Oaks, Cali., 5-2, for the World Series title.
But now in the 2007 Series, Juremi gets a crack at it, and he and
his Curacao teammates moved one step closer to winning the Little
League crown with a 6-2 win over Canada (1-2) on Wednesday in front
of 4,100 fans at Volunteer Stadium.
Juremi’s two-run homer off Shaylen Buis in the fifth broke open a
4-2 ballgame, an exclamation point on a win that guarantees Curacao
a spot in one of Thursday’s international semifinals.
“I can do it, too!” Juremi said with a smile, through an
interpreter, when asked what he would tell his brother now that he
has also homered in a World Series game. (Jurickson hit a two-run
homer in that championship game against Thousand Oaks.)
Curacao’s three-run second inning snapped a scoreless ballgame and
proved to be the difference. All three runs were scrapped together
three runs on a series of Canada errors and wild pitches.
“The errors were uncharacteristic,” said Canada manger John Temple.
“At some point, the guys lost a little focus or gripped the ball a
little too tight.”
Canada did score a pair of runs in the third to get right back in
it. After Buis worked a one-out walk and Tony Tabor laced a double
to right-centerfield, Jeff Kavanagh brought home special pinch
runner Tanner Hoskins from third with a single to center. Tabor, who
had advanced to third on Kavanagh’s hit, then scored on a
perfectly-executed double steal during Parker Stefaniuk’s at-bat.
Tabor came home on catcher Kirvin Moesquit’s throw to second base,
where Kavanagh slid in safely.
Curacao came right back in the fourth, though, adding a run to make
it 4-2. Juremi’s homer in the fifth closed out the scoring.
“We always tell the players to do their job and let the game be it,”
said Curacao manager Vernon Isabella. “(We tell them) to give 100
percent of what they have.
“As you noticed, the team is coming to play better and better,”
added Tivon Faneyte, who pitched one and two-thirds innings of
scoreless relief.
Ulrick Carmelia started on the hill for Curacao, and allowed two
runs on four hits in four innings to earn the win. Quinton Willems
came on for the final out, getting Jordan Emerman to ground out to
first to end it.
Buis, who took the loss, allowed six runs in four and 1/3 innings,
but only two of the runs were earned.
The 2005 Whalley Little League All-Stars from Surrey, British
Columbia remain the only Canada region champs to advance out of pool
play since the tournament expanded to 16 teams in 2001.
© 2007, Little League Baseball
Incorporated
Please direct comments about this website to
webmaster@littleleague.org.
|
