By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas’ bid to qualify for the Pony 12U World Series came to an end yesterday in the semifinals of the Pony Baseball 12U Latin American and Caribbean Zone Championships in the Dominican Republic.

The winner of the tournament earned the rights to represent the Zione in the World Series in Indianapolis, Indiana in August.

After advancing  to the semifinals with a 3-1 win-loss record in the round robin, Team Bahamas was blanked 12-0 by the defending champions Dominican Republic host team in their semifinal game yesterday.

Manager James Clarke said the players showed that pound for pound, they could play against the teams in the tournament, but they just didn’t have it when it counted the most. 

“I think playing with them and some calls didn’t go our way, they realised this is a team that we could beat,” Clarke said. “We told the guys, when you play someone in their hometown, you have to beat them and you have to beat them badly and not make it close because, at the end of the day, there’s no guarantee that the calls will go your way.”

Despite not advancing to the final, coach Norman Bastian said the players performed as best as they could.

“Over this weekend in these five games, the boys performed very well,” Bastian said. “We threw a lot of strikes, we hit the ball very well and our defence was pretty impressive as well.

“At this age, they are going to make one or two slight mistakes, but that’s alright because they end up picking themselves up. They have a lot of heart, fight and energy. I like the way they played. They played tough and battled right to the very end, even though we fell  short at the end.”

Ask some of the players and they will tell you that they were pleased with their effort.

“It feels good to come out here strong,” said outfielder Josiah Filterman. “We made a few errors, but we came back and fought strong. We battled back until it was over.”

Catcher Bosfield Butler III said after losing their first game, they came back strong. But he admitted that it was a tough loss to the Dominican Republic.

“We will see them next time,” he noted.

And Gissnno Newball, the shortstop, said the tournament went very well.

“We played some good competition. I love it. It was fun,” he summed up.

The team is expected to return home tomorrow.