The Jr. Lions roared back to defeat the Suns 10-6 Thursday afternoon in St. Thomas Pee Wee League action at the Emile Griffith Ballpark.
The Suns jumped out in front with two runs in the top of the first inning. They scored thanks to a two-run home run by Josiah Bute that tipped off the glove of Jr. Lions’ left fielder Raheam Soldiew. Jr.
Lions right fielder, N’Gozi Prentice made two outstanding defensive plays in the first inning. He robbed the Suns of a big inning by throwing out batters at first base.
However, offensively the Jr. Lions could not score in the first two innings. Although they had three hits in those innings five of their first six outs were strikeouts.
The Suns erupted for four runs in the top of the third inning. Taffia Weekes started the rally with the first of his two hits. He was driven home on a triple by Jah Quan Harley. Then with one out Deja Brown singled him home. The next batter, Akeel Morris, struck out. But the rally was not over as Bute hit his second two-run homerun of the game to put the Suns on top 6-0.
The Jr. Lions bats woke up with one out in the bottom of the third inning. Khalide Cherubin hit a three-run home run in the right-center field alley to start the comeback. The Jr. Lions scored three more times in the inning to tie the game at six.
Cherubin, the Jr. Lions shortstop, also did it with his glove. He took away an extra base hit off the bat of the Suns’ Jamie Maldonado.
The Jr. Lions continued their scoring attack in the bottom of the fourth inning. They added four runs off of six hits to take a 10-6 lead into the fifth and final inning.
The Jr. Lions used defense once again to seal their victory. First baseman Franklin Leonard Jr. snagged a ground ball for an unassisted put-out of the Suns leadoff hitter Shaquille Brown. Weekes then got his second hit of the game, a single up the middle as the Suns tried to come back. The next hitter Dean Adams Jr. hit what looked like another single up the middle. However, Cherubin, gloved it stepped on second and threw a bullet to first that doubled up Adams to end the game and made the crowd cheer with appreciation.
In the St. Thomas PeeWee League nine players field but 12 bat. The batters face a maximum of five pitches, which are thrown by their own coaches.
