Ministry Update

 
It is hard to believe but we are completely done with the regular season and this weekend starts the playoffs. The Reds, after getting embarrassed a week ago, bounced back and beat the Giants 10-6 this past Saturday to claim third place in the oldest category. So the official “brackets” for the playoffs are: 7-9 year old division (1) Indians of Candelaria vs (4) Pirates of Nuevo Amanacer and (2) Tigers of Santa Matilde vs (3) Padres of Quitanca; 10-11 year old division (1) Athletics of Quitanca vs (4) Cardinals of Santa Matilde and (2) Braves of Candelaria vs (3) Rangers of Nuevo Amanacer ; 12-13 year old division (1) Red Sox of Quitanca vs (4) Giants of Nuevo Amanacer and (2) Yankees of Santa Matilde vs (3) Reds of Candelaria. Everybody is very excited to see what will happen and we expect to have some great, intense games over the next couple of weeks.

It seemed like just the other day we were having our kick off event and with a snap of a finger over twelve weeks have past and we are almost done with our first season. To be honest it does not seem that long ago when I was daily fielding calls on something going wrong with the fields and being put it in situations where I would not know what to do with everyone speaking English, much less when everything is in Spanish! Yet, God has been good and even though it has been a whirlwind it has been a big blessing to the communities. We are excited to share that we might have a huge answer to prayer in being able to have Nicaraguan leadership for the actual league itself! The two coaches from Quitanca, Ivan and Walberto, are two men who have a passion for baseball and kids. For over 10 years they have worked with kids four to five times a week without receiving a single penny, but just doing it to help kids do something productive. It was quite random how we came into contact with these two, which makes one believe it was God. The pastor of the church in Nuevo Amanacer, Pastor Bismark, invited Ivan to a dinner we were having with the pastors and prospective coaches back in June when Stan was here. There was limited contact with him until November when we realized that we were not going to have enough teams between our churches to fill the 12 spots in the league. I met with Ivan a couple of days before I left for the States for 8 weeks. He was more than excited to have a team participate in our league. When I got back from the States, I realized the plan of having two Candelarian teams in the oldest and youngest division was not going to be possible due to lack of faithfulness in coaches and players. When I went to Quitanca to be at one of their practices Ivan and Walberto almost begged me to have teams in the oldest and youngest categories and little did they know that I was actually going to ask if they could put together two more teams. Ever since then it has been a great growing relationship between them and us. I cannot tell you how many times they have expressed their gratitude and thankfulness for what we have done for them and their kids. Their presence, along with the people from Quitanca, have been refreshing and we are excited to have them be apart of our ministry. The idea is to allow them to “run” the league for our second season that will be from the beginning of July to the end of September. We share this as a praise report, but also ask for continued prayers in this area as well.

 

Ivan leading his team in a pregame prayer

Walberto is looking pretty intense, but this was the best picture I had!

To close this update I feel compelled to share what God has been teaching and showing me through His word and surprisingly my kids that can so easily frustrate me. I do not have any children so I do not have any sort of sense the love and care that a father would have for a child. The closest thing that I have experienced to that feeling up until this moment is the relationships I have with the kids on the team that I personally coach. All but two of them have been coming to practices since last March and I sincerely do love them. I value that they came to practices weekly when there were no sights of games or uniforms, the exact things that I had promised to them. Yet even though I love and care for them, they can frustrate the living mess out of me. Especially when they continue to do things that I have been teaching them not to do be it in baseball or how they treat one another. Sometimes it feels like I am speaking to a wall. A couple of days ago I had to kick two players off my team the week of the playoffs due to their continual lack of respect towards me. One was my second best player. I did not want to do it, but I gave them chance after chance after chance and they refused to change their attitudes. What hurt the most is I tried to console them with love that was not received and they continually back talked me and verbally disrespected me. It hurt to take them off my team, but it hurts even more to know what their lives will look like five years from now. It just speaks to the culture and the up bringing that kids have here where they are constantly yelled at and degraded and unfortunately the kids often times take the personalities of their parents. Knowing that, I extended an inordinate amount of grace to them but it became that every practice and every game there was at least one if not multiple instances when they would raise their voice at me or completely ignore me when I told them to do something. So I had to do what I did not want to do. 

There are three other full time missionaries that live here and every Thursday morning we have devotion and worship time together. For the past three weeks we have been going through Malachi, which has taught me more than I could imagine on who God is and what His heart is like. For much if not all my life I have viewed the Old Testament God as being different than the New Testament God. The Old Testament God was on a rampage and destroying anything and everything in His path, while the New Testament God was all about grace and love. The truth of the matter is that there are plenty of harsh “punishments” listed in the New Testament for believers and unbelievers, but we like to skip over those parts and make our own warm fuzzy feeling watered down Gospel. Also the Old Testament seems to be only about how stupid the Israelites are, God saves and restores them but then they revert back to their old ways and neglect Him. It is easy to look and say the Israelites were dumb but, the Israelites are such a perfect picture of how humans are. Malachi begins with him calling out the Israelites for their sacrifices. Instead of sacrificing their best cattle (something that was going to genuinely cost them) they were sacrificing their sick and crippled cattle (something that they would probably have killed anyway). Let me tell you, God was not happy about this. In Malachi 2:3 He says, “I will punish your descendants and splatter your faces with the manure from your festival sacrifices, and I will throw you on the manure pile.” Talk about going from 0-100 real quick. How can the Israelites been so stupid in their sacrifices? The funny thing is although I am forever grateful to have been born under the new covenant that abolishes the need to offer sacrifices to cleanse me of my sins, there is still a sacrifice to be given and that is my heart, it’s my life. O how are sacrifices are so similar to those of the Israelites. We neglect to give God our best, the very definition of a sacrifice is giving up something that costs you! Yet we continually give God our “sick and crippled” selves and expect that it does not matter to God. Is God not the same? Jesus Himself says in Luke 14:26 & 27, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own self—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Ummm, that whole sacrificing your best cattle thing is sounding a lot better. God desires all of our hearts, but why? It is what stems his anger towards the Israelites throughout the Old Testament; His passionate, all-consuming, all-covering, radical love for us. Of course He is a jealous God because He understands that we will never be complete, we will never experience full joy outside of His love. That is why He passionately seeks us, waits on us, calls us into deeper because He loves us so much. I almost daily tell my kids, “I will not tell you to do something that will hurt you or make you worse. Trust me and do what I say.” O how frustrated I get when they continually do the things that I tell them not to do. I ask myself, why do they do things that make them worse? I can just see God bopping me on my head and passionately saying, “Jeff why do you continue to do the things you do? Why do you continue to neglect my teachings? Why do you not surrender this part of your life to me? Don’t you know that I will not do something to hurt you or make you worse? I love you and want the best for you!” The “anger” we see from God in the Old Testament I believe comes out of frustration and sadness from people that He radically loves and wants the best for, but continue to make the same mistakes and refuse to walk in the ways of the Lord. In Hebrews it says, “…the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastens everyone He accepts as His son.” Like I said when I have kids of my own I will understand more of how God’s love is for us and understand better of what it means to discipline out of a place of love. But the even more beautiful part of the story is that we are not only God’s sons and daughters, but we as a church are His bride. John Piper in a preaching he did on Malachi 2 sheds some light on God’s heart for His chosen people, “He is the God of Israel. The fellowship may be broken. There may be exile and separation. There may be anger and tears. But when the whole story is told, the sum of the matter is Isaiah 54:4-8: ‘Your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is His name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth He is called. For the Lord has called you like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God. For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing wrath for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer.’ God will never nullify His marriage to the elect. Christ will never forsake His bride, the church. He is a covenant maker and a covenant keeper.” Praise be to God. Please keep me and this ministry in your prayers. Thanks and God bless.

Game Recap April 16, 2016

AGE GROUP: 7-9

Game: Pirates of Nuevo Amanacer vs Padres of Quitanca

The Pirates only win on the season came against the Padres and they were looking to close out the regular season with another one. However they did not get off to a great start. Although Martin Timoco hit a 2 run homerun in the top of the first for the Pirates, Alexis Espinoza would answer for the Padres in the bottom half with a 3 run shot of his own. The Padres would add 2 more in the first and kept things going with another 5 run inning in the second as they led 10-2. Alexis Espinoza would hit his second homerun on the day in the third to give the Padres a 12-2 lead. The Pirates would put through 5 in the top of the fourth to halve the lead thanks to homeruns by Esling Lacayo and Marvin Timoco. The Padres again answered the Pirates with 4 runs in the fourth, and although the Pirates put together a nice 6 run rally in their final at bat it was not good enough to top the Padres as they lost 16-13.

Game: Tigers of Santa Matilde vs Indians of Candelaria

Everybody wanted to see if the Indians could complete their perfect season as they faced off against the ever-improving Tigers. The Indians got on the board first with a 2 run first inning. The Tigers would put up 2 of their own thanks to a homerun by Jose Aranda and that seemed to had been the spark for the Tigers. In the following inning Elio and Eliseo Rodriguez hit back-to-back homeruns that capped a 4 run inning for the Tigers who took their first lead of the game 6-2. The Indians would only score 1 run in the third. In the fourth inning the Indians defense began to unravel as their errors gifted the Tigers 4 more runs and they trailed 10-3.  Martin Gonzales hit a 2 run homerun to give the Indians hope trailing by 5 going into the fifth and final inning. Yet, the hope was quickly squashed by the Tigers as Eliseo Rodriguez and Justin Somarriba hit back-to-back and gave the Tigers a 15-5 lead. The Indians would score 5 in the bottom half but it was not enough to continue their perfect season as they lost for the first time 15-10.

Next Week:

The final standings are: Indians (11-1), Tigers (8-4), Padres (4-8), Pirates (1-11). In two weeks we will begin the playoffs and it will see the Indians face the Pirates and the Tigers play the Padres. 

The Padres and the Pirates fought it out!

The Tigers were happy to finally knock off the Indians!

 

AGE GROUP: 10-11

Game: Braves of Candelaria vs Cardinals of Santa Matilde

The Braves were looking to win second place outright and the Cardinals were looking for some confidence heading into the playoffs. The Cardinals came out strong as they scored 3 runs thanks to a 2 run double by Adolfo Cordoba. The Braves as they seem to always do came out sluggish as they struck out 5 times in their first seven at bats, but good pitching and solid defense kept the game 3-0 going into the bottom half of the third. The pitcher for the Cardinals started to lose control and the Braves took advantage of walks and shaky defense to score 4 runs and take a 4-3 lead into the fourth. The score stayed the same until the end. The Braves almost added to the lead but the Cardinals made a great play at the plate to give themselves a chance. Yet, Alexander Martinez emphatically closed out the game with six strikeouts in two innings to give the Braves second place for the year.

Game: Athletics of Quitanca vs Rangers of Nuevo Amanacer

The Athletics looked to try not to lose their perfect season as the Indians had earlier in the day and they took care of business as they have done all year. They once again used their outstanding hitting, good pitching and great defense to easily beat the Rangers 11-0. Juber Guivera hit another homerun for the Athletics and Evert Somarilla almost pitched a no hitter as he only gave up one hit, 2 walks and struck out 6 in four innings of work.

Next Week:

The final standings are: Athletics (12-0), Braves (6-6), Rangers (4-8), and Cardinals (2-10). The Athletics get the Cardinals and the Braves and the Rangers will play in the other semifinal matchup.

Milton was feeling good after the big win to clinch second place!

The cool kinds

 

AGE GROUP: 12-13

Game: Red Sox of Quitanca vs Yankees of Santa Matilde

This very well could have been a preview of the Championship and if it was we will be in for a treat. The Yankees are the only team to have beaten the Red Sox this year and they looked poised to do it again as they started off the game with a good first inning where they registered three hits but were only able to score one run. From there the game turned into a pitching/defensive battle as the two teams struggled to get base runners much less hits.  Through five innings the score was 1-0 and the pitcher for the Yankees, Josue Dolmos, had a no hitter going. Unfortunately for him, the Yankees had four straight innings of only having three batters come to the plate. The Yankees got a hit to start the sixth by Julio Flores who went 2-2 in the game, but the next three batters did nothing and the score stayed 1-0. After getting the first out in the bottom of the sixth, Ivan Zeledon finally broke the no hitter with a single. He would get to third by stealing, and eventually brought home by a misplayed ball in the outfield and the Red Sox tied the game 1-1 going into the final inning. The Yankees went three up three down in the top half and the Red Sox had a chance to win it with their final at bat. Josue Dolmos got the first batter out but then was looking at the two of the top three batters in the league in Jean Carlos and Jose Reyes. Jean Carlos was up first and hit a triple. Then, Jose Reyes hit a deep fly ball that was caught but was deep enough that it easily scored Jean Carlos without much of a play at the plate, and the Red Sox ended the season with a walk off victory 2-1.

Game: Giants of Nuevo Amanacer vs Reds of Candelaria

The Reds controlled their own destiny. All they had to win and they would win third place outright. But with the Giants knowing that fourth place has to play the Red Sox in the playoffs, they came out swinging. They scored 6 runs over the first two innings of play and would add five more over the final four innings. The Reds, who have mightily struggled at the plate the past couple of weeks, only managed 1 run and they fell to the Giants 11-1. With the Giants winning they are completely tied with the Reds as they both sport a 4-8 record and have beaten each other twice. Next Saturday they will play to see who gets the displeasure of having to face the Red Sox.

Next Week:

The final standings are: Red Sox (11-1), Yankees (5-7), Giants (4-8), Reds (4-8). Again the playoffs will not start until another 2 weeks but the Red Sox will get the loser of the Giants and Reds as the Yankees will play the winner.

Nice game action shot!

David vs Goliath

Game Recap April 9, 2016

 AGE GROUP: 7-9

Game: Pirates of Nuevo Amanacer vs Tigers of Santa Matilde

The Tigers are on the prowl and the Pirates were their latest victims. They used great hitting and suffocating defense to easily win 15-3. Jostin Somarrilla was the star for the Tigers as he was 3-3 with 3 RBI’s and 2 homeruns. Eliseo Rodriguez also chipped in with a solo homerun of his own.

Game: Padres of Quitanca vs Indians of Candelaria

The Padres always want to win when they play, but if you ask their coach there is a different attitude when they face the Indians. The Padres have had their eyes on knocking off the Indians the whole year and this past Saturday was their last crack at it. The Padres got things going early thanks to a two out 3 run homerun by Alexis Espinoza. The following batter, Jordan Zuniga, turned a single into a homerun thanks to uncharacteristic errors by the Indians and the Padres started the game with a 4-0 lead. Without blinking an eye the Indians scored four runs of their own thanks in most in part to the heart of their lineup and the score was 4-4 going into the second inning. The Padres did nothing in the second and the Indians got a 3 run homerun but little Cesar Vega to take a 7-4 lead. Not wanting to relent the team from Quitanca rallied to score five runs in the top of the third and shut down the Indians in the bottom half as they controlled the game 9-7 after three innings. The Padres would add two more runs in the fourth thanks to Yelkel Martinez who followed up his third inning homerun with another one in the fourth. Trailing, 11-7 with only two more at bats left the Indians were left with no choice but to crush the ball, which is what they did. Ruben Calero and Norlan Trana hit back-to-back homeruns in what has become a routine even for the young studs and the Indians retook over the lead by scoring five runs in the bottom half of the fourth. After getting the first out in the top of the fifth it looked like the Indians were going to once again flex their muscles and close out the game with their defense. But that is when Jordan Zuniga stepped up to the plate wanting to prove he could hit a homerun without the help of errors and he hit a laser and raced around the bases to tie the ball game at 12-12. The Padres would add 2 more runs and looked to knock off the mighty Indians as they led 14-12 heading into the Indians final at bat. Unfortunately for the Padres the Indians were at the top of their lineup. It only took four batters for the Indians to tie the game and Norlan Trana, the cleanup hitter, put the final nail in the coffin of hopes for the Padres as he crushed what would have been a homerun to easily score the runner that was on third base. The Indians won the instant classic 15-14.

Next Week:

Heading into the final weekend of the regular season the spots for the playoffs have already been decided with the Indians being the number one seed followed by the Tigers, Padres and Pirates, but that does not mean that the Tigers will not look to gain confidence in their quest to take away the perfect season from the Indians and the Padres will try to get a little win streak going heading into the playoffs as they will face off against the Pirates.

Little Miss Belen Rodriguez is such a sweetheart!

Jordan Zuniga feeling pretty good after his homerun!

 

AGE GROUP: 10-11

Game: Athletics of Quitanca vs Cardinals of Santa Matilde

The Cardinals came out hot early as they were able to put through 2 quick runs on the Athletics, but the A’s answered back with 3 runs of their own in the bottom half. The second inning ended without a change of the score. In the third the Cardinals scored 2 more runs thanks to Maudiel Gonzales whose double turned into a 2 run homerun thanks to throwing errors. In the bottom half of the third the A’s were able to get one more run back as it was the game was surprisingly tied. The scored stayed deadlocked 4-4 until the bottom half of the fifth inning where the Athletics set off some fireworks. An 8 run inning, where all but two batters scored a run, was highlighted by a grand slam by Juber Guavara. The Cardinals were able to score 3 runs in the top of the sixth but were let down as they fell to the Athletics 12-7.

Game: Rangers of Nuevo Amancer vs Braves of Candelaria

The Rangers had not beaten the Braves all year and wanted to beat them in their final try before the playoffs. They got off to a great start as they shutdown the Braves in the top half of the first and scored 3 runs in the bottom half. In the second inning the pitcher for the Rangers got a little wild and helped the Braves score 4 runs with walks and wild throws. Yet, the Braves had issues of their own on the defensive side and gave up 6 runs in the bottom half of the inning which included a 3 run homerun by Jeffry Zelaya. The Braves trailed 9-4 until the fourth where Alexander Martinez hit a solo shot to get the Braves within 4. The Rangers refusing to give the Braves any hope found two more runs in the bottom half of the fourth and led 11-5 with only two innings left to be played. The Braves scored one more in the fifth and shut down the Rangers to trail by 5 heading into their last at bat. After being asleep for five innings the Braves’ bats woke up and the Braves put together an unbelievable 5 run inning to tie the game 11-11. The Braves looked to shut down the Rangers to force extra innings, but Ariel Hernandez started the inning off with a double. The next batter Manuel Guardian hit it a groundball to the pitcher for an out but advanced Ariel to third base. Alexander Martinez struck out the next batter to bring Josel Sarrio to the plate with the winning run on third and two outs. Little Josel turned on a 1-1 pitch and hit it between the third and second baseman to give the Rangers a walkoff win!

Next Week:

The playoff spots in this division are set as well. Even though if the Braves lose and the Rangers win to tie them with their records, the Braves hold the tie breaker by having beat the Rangers three out of four times. The Athletics remain undefeated and will be the number one seed followed by the Braves, Rangers, and Cardinals. The Braves will look to get back on track against the Cardinals this week and the Athletics will look to complete an unblemished regular season as they play the Rangers.

Somebody needs to tell Ricardo thats a bat and not a guitar!

Josel Sarrio getting ready to throw a laser!

 

AGE GROUP: 12-13

Game: Giants of Nuevo Amanacer vs Yankees of Santa Matilde

When the Yankees are hitting like they did on Saturday they are almost impossible to beat. It is amazing the turn around they have made from the beginning of the season where it seemed they could not hit a beach ball. It was another game where the Yankees scored at least one run in every inning as they crushed the Giants 12-1 to take sole possession of second place. The Yankees were led by Domingo Dolmos, Eduardo Lara, and German Chavarria who went a combined 6-9 at the plate with 6 RBI’s, the latter also pitched five innings while only surrendering one run on one hit.

Game: Red Sox of Quitanca vs Reds of Candelaria

The Reds looked to keep pace with the Yankees for second place and it looked bright as Wilson Martinez started the game off with a triple, but the Reds somehow did not find a way to get him home. That would be the only glimmer of hope on the day for the Reds as the Red Sox do what they always do; play great defense, hit the ball, and utilize savvy base running. The Red Sox used a steady attack to dominate the Reds for a 10-0 victory. The Red Sox were led by Pedro Perez who hit two homeruns and Ivan Zeledon chipped in with a homerun of his own. Jelsnor Quiroz piched six inning of shutout baseball to earn his fifth win of the year.

Next Week:

The Red Sox and Yankees have the number one and two seeds wrapped up. The game of the week will be between the Giants and the Reds. If the Reds win they will avoid a one game playoff and play the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs. The Giants will have to win next week and win the one game playoff to avoid having to face the Red Sox in the playoffs. In the other game it will be the Yankees trying to prove that the one time they beat the Red Sox was not a fluke and that they are more than capable of playing with the mighty team from Quitanca.

I can only imagine what Eduardo Lara was saying, he is the team jokester!

The Godfathers

Game Recap April 2, 2016

AGE GROUP: 7-9

Game: Pirates of Nuevo Amanacer vs Indians of Candelaria

The Indians continued their dominance on Saturday as they easily took care of the Pirates. They scored multiple runs each inning to cruise to a 15-2 victory. Their usual studs, Ruben Calero and Norlan Trana, did their part as always but the leaders for the Indians for this particular game were, Jelson Mendoza and Kevin Montes. Jelson Mendoza hit two home runs and Kevin Montes went 3-3 with 3 RBI’s.

Game: Padres of Quitanca vs Tigers of Santa Matilde

The Padres, after showing life midway through the season, have fallen off a bit as the Tigers wrapped up second place by taking down the team from Quitanca 10-2. The Padres could not get their bats going and the Tigers scored runs in every inning besides the last one. Eliseo Rodriguez, Justin Somarriba, and Jose Aranda all hit homeruns for the Tigers as they look like a team that might be able to compete with the mighty Indians.

Next Week:

Heading into the second to last weekend of the regular season the standings are: Indians (10-0), Tigers (6-4), Padres (3-7), and Pirates (1-9). The Tigers look to keep the momentum building as they face the Pirates and the Padres look to gain confidence as they try to finally knockoff the undefeated Indians who they almost beat the last time the teams played.

Even though they might not win, the Pirates always come with smiles each Saturday!

The Padres always run on and off the field, it is great to see that kind of effort from young kids!

 

AGE GROUP: 10-11

Game: Rangers of Nuevo Amanacer vs Cardinals of Santa Matilde

The Rangers looked to secure at least a third place finish and the Cardinals were trying to keep their hopes alive for the third place spot as these two teams battled it out. It was a 1-1 game heading into the third inning when the Cardinals got their bats going and rattled off 4 runs to take a 5-1 lead into the fourth. The Rangers responded with 2 runs of their own in the top half of the first, only to see the Cardinals answer back with a run of their own as the game was 6-3 Cardinals going into the fifth. The Cardinals changed pitchers to start the inning and the Rangers rallied to put up a quick three runs on the youngster. It looked like the flood gates were about to open as there was only one out, the bases were loaded, and the Rangers were in the heart of their lineup with their third and fourth batters to bat. Yet, surprisingly after putting himself into the jam, Luiz Marin, the pitcher for the Cardinals struck out two consecutive batters to keep the game tied at 6-6. That is how the game stayed until the bottom of the sixth and final inning where the Cardinals had a man on third with one out. The pitcher, Luiz Marin, hit a slow ground ball to the second baseman that allowed enough time for the Cardinals to score the game winning run and win 7-6.

Game: Athletics of Quitanca vs Braves of Candelaria

The Braves have looked like the only team capable of competing with the Athletics, but on Saturday the Athletics showed that might not be the case.  The Athletics came out crushing the ball and never let up. Meanwhile, the Braves could not touch the ball as they struck out ten times as a team. This one was called early as the Athletics dominated their way to a 14-1 victory. The Athletics were led by Juber Guerara who was 3-3 with a homerun and 3 RBI’s and Bryan Sarria who was 3-3 with 3 RBI’s as well.

Next Week:

With the Braves falling and the Cardinals winning it leaves a chance for there to be a shakeup within the standings the next two weeks, but as of right now it is the Athletics (10-0), Braves (5-5), Rangers (3-7), and Cardinals (2-8). The Braves look to secure second place as they will face the Rangers and the Cardinals hope to steal a victory as they play the Athletics.

It was an overcast morning which was a nice change up from all the sun we have been getting!

The Braves hanging out together before their game!

AGE GROUP: 12-13

Game: Reds of Candelaria vs Yankees of Santa Matilde

The Reds looked to take a stronghold of second place as they faced off against the Yankees, but it was the Yankees who looked like the team that wanted to win. The Reds took an early 1-0 lead after the first inning, but that would be the only lead they would have. As the Yankees scored in every inning besides the first and flexed their muscles as they beat the Reds 12-5. The Yankees were anchored by their veterans Francisco Mendoza, Julio Flores, and Crisanto Mesa who accounted for all the team’s RBI’s.

Game: Red Sox of Quitanca vs Giants of Nuevo Amanacer

The way the Giants had been playing over the past couple of weeks many thought that this would be a cakewalk for the Red Sox, but that was anything but the case. The Giants took a quick 1-0 lead after the first, but the Red Sox tied the game in the second and then took a 2-1 lead in the third inning. The Giants would tie the game in their half of the third inning and then rattled off 2 runs in the fourth to take a surprising 4-2 lead into the fifth. The Red Sox did what they always seem to do which is respond. They tied the game in the top of the fifth and then shut down the Giants in the bottom half. In the sixth inning, maybe due to pressure or just trying not to make mistakes, the Giants began to unravel with errors as they gifted 3 runs to the Red Sox. The Red Sox not wanting to give any more hope to the Giants shut them down in the sixth and seventh inning and would add 2 more runs of their own in the seventh to win 9-4.

Next Week:

The Red Sox easily have first place secured but after that it is a logjam. Here is what the standings look like: Red Sox (9-1), Reds (4-6), Yankees (4-6), and Giants (3-7). This Saturday, the Yankees will look to continue their charge for second place as they face the Red Sox and it will be a battle for positions in the standings as the Giants look for a much needed win against the Reds.

The Red Sox were thrilled after their big win!

Although the mornin was nice the sun came back with ferocity in the afternoon!