By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net    

PREPARATIONS have already begun ahead of the sixth Caribbean Baseball Cup slated for October 23-28 at the Andre Rodgers National Baseball Stadium.

The event’s organising committee hosted a press conference yesterday to officially announce their partnership with Valor Security, a firm committed to ensuring the safety of players, fans and guests for next month.

It was the first official partnership announced by the organising committee and, according to Theodore “Teddy” Sweeting, CEO of the organising committee, it was one of the most important parts of the preparation process.

“We are in the final preparation stages of the sixth Caribbean Baseball Cup. We have some powerhouses coming in which are top countries from around our Caribbean region so we have to make sure that these national teams are well-protected and secure. 

“We are excited to partner with Valor Security, who will be in partnership also with our Royal Bahamas Police Force as well as our Defence Force as these national teams come in to participate in this Caribbean Baseball Cup.

“Valor is truly setting the stage for us in respect of how they are gonna secure the tournament, the players and all of our fans that are gonna participate in this event. We are excited not only from an organising committee standpoint but from a federation standpoint to build up this relationship with Valor Security,” he said.

The Bahamas will host five countries at the regional event next month. 

The visiting countries include no. 8 Cuba, no. 12 Dominican Republic, no. 28 Curaçao, no. 65 US Virgin Islands and Sint Maarten (not ranked). The Bahamas will be in action in the featured game every night at 7pm starting on October 23. Their first game will be played against the US Virgin Islands followed by matchups against St Maarten, Curaçao, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

Medal games will take place on October 28.

Mirlene Stubbs, vice president of Valor Security, is confident that this will be a successful partnership between both parties involved.

“We have not only done security for organisations such as this but we have done security for many different facilities such as Palm Cay, OakTree and others. We felt the need to join this annual cup because it is a big event and we just wanted to be a part of it. We just want to make sure that everyone in the facility is properly secured and we also have K-9 units just in case anything happens. Our K-9 unit will be able to sniff out anything negative around the facility,” she said.

The Bahamas had its first hosting privileges in 2022 for the fourth Caribbean Baseball Cup. It was the first tournament to take place at the Andre Rodgers National Baseball Stadium at that time.

Nikita Thompson, chief administrative officer for the organising committee, was proud to partner with a small business ahead of next month’s baseball showdown.

“We are very excited to be here with our small business partners Valor Security. We are definitely encouraged and looking forward to the event and partnering with them. The organising committee has a very proactive sponsorship/partnership programme with decks that are very beneficial so we are excited today to announce our first small business partner Valor Security…We are happy to be here and from a partnership perspective we are very pleased that Valor Security is on board with the sixth Caribbean Baseball Cup team,” she said.

The Bahamas will look to ascend the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) rankings once again at this event.

The Caribbean Baseball Cup is also supported by the National Sports Authority and will be broadcasted live via RiLive on pay per view.