(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo courtesy of the Federación Colombiana de Béisbol)
     Colombia wins baseball-tournament Bolivarian Games
Nederlands
 SANTA MARTA, Magdalena (Colombia) -
Colombia has won the baseball-tournament of the 18th Bolivarian Games.
Colombia won 6-4 against Panamá in the Final that was played on Thursday (November 23).
Five countries participated in the baseball-tournament.
It was the third time that Colombia won the baseball-gold at the event.
It first won in 1947, then captured its second Gold Medal in 1973.
A week earlier, Venezuela won the softball-tournament of the Bolivarian Games.
The Bolivarian Games, where 34 sports are played, are held in Santa Marta, which is the oldest city of Colombia and the second oldest in South America.
It was founded July 29, 1525 by Spanish conquistador Rodrigo de Bastidas as the first Spanish settlement in Colombia.
The Bolivarian Games are a multi-sport event held in honor of Simón Bolívar (1783-1830), the Venezuelan military and political leader who played a leading role in the establishment of Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú and Panamá as sovereign states, independent of Spanish rule.
The event is open to athletes from these six countries.
In 2010, Chile became the seventh member of the Organización Deportiva Bolivariana, which organizes the event every four years.
Chile first participated in 2013, as did non-members Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala and Paraguay.
All eleven countries also participate in this years edtion, which ends on November 25.
The first Bolivarian Games were organized in 1938 in Bogotá (Colombia) to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the city.
Hereafter, five more editions followed through 1970.
Since 1973, the event is held every four years.
Both baseball and softball have been played frequently at the Games.
Baseball is part of the program for the fourteenth time, softball for the ninth time.
The tournament went underway on Saturday, November 18, two days after completion of the softball-tournament.
At the Estadio de Béisbol at Parque Deportivo Bolivariano, Colombia stayed unbeaten in the round robin, winning four games.
The host country opened with a 7-2 win against El Salvador, then shutout Panamá 2-0 the next day.
On Day 3 of the event, Colombia recorded another shutout, this time winning 8-0 against Perú to become the first finalist.
On Tuesday, Colombia won its fourth game, which again was a shutout.
Colombia won 2-0 against Venezuela to finish in first place.
The game was a pitching-duel between Juan Escorcia Torres (Colombia) and Frank Mata Salcedo (Venezuela), who both pitched six strong innings.
Mata pitched in 15 Major League-games for Baltimore Orioles in 2010.
Colombia scored its first run in the third inning when Charlie Mirabal Leon scored on a hit by Milton Ramos Meza.
The second run was added in the eighth on an RBI-double by Adrián Sánchez Tomas.
Jhon Romero Rodriguez, who pitches in the minors in the organization of the Chicago Cubs, closed for Colombia and retired the side in the ninth to secure the win.
Panamá and Venezuela battled for second place.
Panamá opened with a 17-0 win against Perú, lost its next game to Colombia, but then added a 9-4 win against El Salvador.
Venezuela also began with a big win against Perú, winning 16-0.
The next day, Venezuela won 5-1 against El Salvador, but then also suffered a loss against Colombia.
On the final day of the preliminary round, Panamá and Venezuela faced each other.
Panamá won 3-0 to become the second finalist.
Panamá scored all its runs in the fifth inning.
Eduardo Thomás led off with a double, then Jorge Bishop, Gerald Ching and Edgar Muñoz followed with runscoring singles.
Winning pitcher Davis Romero threw a strong game.
In 2006, Romero pitched in seven Major League-games for Toronto Blue Jays.
On Wednesday, Venezuela won the Bronze Medal by winning 5-1 against El Salvador.
In the Final, Colombia came from behind to win 6-4 against defending champion Panamá and capture the Gold Medal.
...Colombia wins the Gold Medal at the Bolivarian Games...
(© Photo courtesy of Federación Colombiana de Béisbol) |
In the Final, Colombia opened the score in the second inning when Jorge Alfaro Buelvas crossed the plate, scoring on a hit by Diover Ávila Lopez.
Alfaro is one of three players on the Colombian roster, who played in the Major League.
The catcher played in 29 games for Philadelphia Phillies this year.
The other two are second baseman Dilson Herrera García and infielder Adrián Sánchez Tomas.
Herrera played in the Majors in 2014 (18 games) and 2015 (31 games) for New York Mets.
This year, he played in Triple-A for the Cincinnati Reds.
Venezuela-born Sánchez played in 34 games this season for Washington Nationals.
However, Panamá answered with three runs in the next at bat to take the lead.
Colombia reacted with a rally of its own, scoring four runs in the fourth inning to turn the game its way.
Diover Ávila Lopez doubled, then scored on a single by Álvaro Noriega Palacio to make it a 3-2 score.
Next batter Efraín Contreras Elzau walked, which was followed by a runscoring single from Charlie Mirabal Leon that tied the score.
Hereafter, a single by Sneider Batista gave Colombia a renewed lead.
Panamá scored another run in the eighth inning, but then Colombia added an insurance run in the ninth to make it a 6-4 score.
Karl Lewis Triana De Alba was the winning pitcher, throwing 7 1/3 inning.
This year, the righthander played in Single-A in the Baltimore Orioles-organization.
Kevin Escorcia Torres took over, but gave up Panamá's run in the eighth.
He was relieved by Kendy Batista Pacheco, who then completed the game for Colombia.
Panamá had won the past three editions of the baseball-tournament of the Bolivarian Games.
The team won in 2013 in Trujillo (Perú) and in 2009 in Sucre (Bolivia).
There was no baseball-tournament in 2005 when the event was held in Armenia/Pereira (Colombia).
Panamá also won the Gold in 2001 in Ambato (Ecuador).
(November 25)
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