Curacao wins fourth straight Iowa garners semifinal slot

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BANGOR – Unbeaten Willemstad, Curacao, didn’t need to win its final game of pool play at the Senior League World Series on Thursday night to continue its quest for a second straight championship.

That lack of incentive didn’t matter, as the Latin American champions outlasted South Vineland, N.J., 7-6 in eight innings to eliminate the U.S. East representatives from title contention.

A bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Levi Carolus with one out in the top of the eighth drove home Sharlon Schoop with the game-winning run, and Carrol Servania finished off three innings of shutout relief to earn the pitching win.

“Our coach said that when we go on the field, we play to win,” said Schoop, one of three returning players from last year’s World Series championship team.

The win earned 4-0 Curacao the top seed in Pool B, and also advanced Urbandale, Iowa, to today’s semifinals. Urbandale, South Vineland and Brenham,

Texas, each finished 2-2 in Pool B, but Urbandale won the tiebreaker based on lowest ratio of runs allowed per innings played.

Today’s semifinal schedule pits Central Chesterfield, Va., the Pool A champion, against Urbandale at noon and Curacao against Pool A runner-up Hilo, Hawaii, at 3 p.m.

For South Vineland, the loss marks the second straight year the New Jersey team has been eliminated by Curacao.

“This is the most courageous team I’ve ever been a part of, as a player, fan or coach,” said South Vineland manager Dale Elbuef. “We came up one step short of our dream.”

Schoop and Kenley Jansen each had two singles to lead Curacao’s eight-hit attack. South Vineland had 11 hits, including two each by Joey Elbuef, Junie Flores, Jonathan DiJamco and Tito Guadalupe.

Curacao trailed 4-0 after three innings, but took a 6-4 lead by reaching Joey Elbuef, the South Vineland starter, for five runs in the top of the fifth. Curt Smith, Jansen and Renyo Cijntje each had RBI singles, but four of the runs were unearned because of three South Vineland errors.

“You look at the scoreboard, and that was the difference,” said Dale Elbuef of the five errors his team committed overall. “You can’t do that against a team as good as they are.”

But South Vineland battled back, scoring single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to forge a 6-6 tie, the tying run scoring on a Tito Guadalupe double.

South Vineland broke on top in the bottom of the second inning with three runs on five hits. No. 9 hitter Bobby Sansalone delivered the big hit, a two-run single to center.

The U.S East champions extended their lead to 4-0 in the third, as Elbuef hit a one-out double and scored on a two-out single to center by Junie Flores.

“Early in the game we had trouble putting the bat on the ball,” said Curacao manager Norval Faneyte. “But sometimes if you don’t hit a pitcher the first time, you can get to him later in the game.”

Earlier in the day, Urbandale moved into position to grab the second Pool B berth in the semifinals by defeating Guam 6-2 behind the six-hit pitching of left-hander Dan McGrath.

“We knew we had to win this game to advance, no matter what,” said McGrath, who struck out two, walked one and allowed just one earned run during an efficient 81-pitch performance. “If we don’t win this game, we don’t advance.”

Chris Heffelfinger’s two-run opposite-field single to right highlighted a three-run rally that gave Urbandale a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning.

Guam (0-4) bounced back with a pair of runs in the top of the third, as Mateo Matanane plated one run with a sacrifice fly and Calvin Naputi hit an RBI single.

Urbandale’s Ryan Miles scored an unearned run in the bottom of the inning to extend the lead to 4-2, and Pat Hobert and Dan Murphy each hit RBI singles in the fifth to account for the game’s final runs.

Guam got its own complete-game pitching effort from right-hander Neil Gebhard, who scattered seven hits while striking out five, walking two and allowing four earned runs

Hoberg, with two singles, was the game’s lone repeat hitter, while Gebhard doubled for the only extra-base hit.

U.S. CENTRAL 6, ASIA PACIFIC 2

Guam (0-4) Urbandale, Iowa (2-2)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

M. Cruz, cf 2 0 0 0 Duede, cf 4 1 0

Quinata, lf 1 0 0 0 Hoberg, 3b 4 1 1

Matanane, 2b 1 0 0 1 Miles, ss 3 1 0

E. Cruz, 2b 1 0 0 0 Murphy, 1b 2 1 1

Naputi, 3b 3 0 1 1 Stevenson, lf 3 0 1

Benavente, ss 3 0 0 0 Everett, c 3 0

Gebhard, p 3 0 1 0 Paterno, c 0 0 0

Chaco, rf 2 0 1 0 McGrath, p 2 0 0

Dela Rosa, rf 0 0 0 0 a-Raisch 1 0

Sablan, c 3 0 1 0 Dillenburg, rf 1 1 0

Alcantara, lf 0 1 0 0 b-Thornton 1 0

Manibusan, lf-cf 2 0 0 0 Gertler, rf 1 0

Arce, 1b 0 1 0 0 Heffelfinger, 2b 2 2

Godoy, 1b 2 0 0 0 Johnson, 2b 1 0 0

Totals 23 2 4 2 Totals 28 6 7 5

a-struck out for McGrath in 5th; b-grounded out for Dillenburg in 4th

Guam 002 000 0 ? 2

Urbandale, Iowa 031 020 x ? 6

E?Naputi, Benavente, Sablan; Murphy 2; LOB?Guam 4, Urbandale 6; 2B?Gebhard; SF?Matanane; SB?Sablan 2, Alcantara; Duede, Miles, Thornton

Guam IP H R ER BB SO

Gebhard (L, 0-2) 6 7 6 4 2 5

Iowa IP H R ER BB SO

McGrath (W, 1-0) 7 4 2 1 1 2

HBP?Arce by McGrath; Dela Rosa by McGrath; T?1:48; ATT?230 (est.)

LATIN AMERICA 7, U.S. EAST 6

(Thursday night, 8 innings)

Curacao (4-0) South Vineland (2-2)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Paulina, cf 3 0 0 0 Ortiz, ss 4 0 0

Mauricio, ph 0 0 0 0 DiJamco, 2b 4 1 0

Martis, rf 2 0 0 0 Olson, c 4 0 0

Dos Passos, rf 2 1 1 0 Elbeuf, rf 4 0

Schoop, ss 5 1 2 0 Rodriguez, cf-3b 4 1

Smith, 3b 2 1 1 1 Flores, 1b 4 1 1

Bonevacia, 1b 3 2 1 0 Martinez, lf 3 0

Carolus, 2b 3 1 0 1 Rivera, lf 0 0 0

Jansen, c 4 0 2 2 Guadalupe, 3b-p 3 0 2

Cijntje, p 2 0 0 0 Vasquez, ph 1 0 0

Martis, ph 1 0 1 1 Sansalone, rf 2 0 2

Servania, p 1 0 0 0 Lopez, ph 1 0 0

Rojer, lf 1 0 0 0 Sanchez, cf 0 0 0

Mariano, lf 2 1 0 0

Totals 31 7 8 5 Totals 34 6 11 6

Latin America 000 150 01 ?7

U.S. East 031 011 00 ?6

E?Jansen, DiJamco, Martinez, Guadallupe 3; LOB?Latin America 12, East 5; 2B?Elbeuf, Guadalupe; 3B?Bonevacia; DP?Latin America 1; S?Dos Passos; SF?Carolus, Jansen; SB?Paulina,Schoop, Carolus

Latin America IP H R ER BB SO

Cijntje 5 10 6 6 0 3

Servania (W,1-0) 3 1 0 0 0 2

East IP H R ER BB SO

Elbeuf 6 6 6 2 4 10

Guadalupe (L,1-1) 2 2 1 1 3 1

HBP?Roger by Elbeuf, Mauricio by Elbeuf, Martinez by Cijntje; WP?Cijntje, Elbeuf; T?2:43; ATT?1,125