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HomeNewsLocal newsGriffith Park Massive Win Memorial Fastpitch Softball Tournament

Griffith Park Massive Win Memorial Fastpitch Softball Tournament

Griffith Park Massive team picture after they won the championship game. (Photo by Mark J Daniel)

Championship day of the Department of Sports, Park and Recreation’s Memorial Softball-Fastpitch Tournament included plenty of exciting games. The department hosted the event in memory of Dwayne Abbott and Ceneca Lindo. The two softball enthusiasts recently lost their lives. They not only played the game but worked with our young people as coaches and umpires. The community came together in honor of these young men.

Abbott and Lindo played with Griffith Park Massive. They must have been looking out for the team as GPM had to come from behind to win their semifinal and the championship games of the memorial tournament on Sunday evening at the Emile Griffith Ballpark.

Championship Game – Griffith Park Massive 10 – Los Rumis 8
Griffith Park Massive made a dramatic comeback in the top of the seventh inning to take the championship away from the Los Rumis 10-8 in the Memorial Fastpitch Softball Tournament’s final game Sunday evening.

GPM scored first with three runs in the third inning. A lead they later relinquished on the heels of a three-run inside the park home run by J. Austin of the Los Rumis, tying the score at four. Los Rumis captured the momentum and nurtured a one-point advantage going into the seventh and final inning. Andrea Peters started that decisive inning off with a leadoff double for GPM. Then Kyle LaMotta drove the first pitch he saw over the centerfield fence, giving GPM a 7-6 lead.

Griffith Park Massive added three more runs in the inning. Los Rumis mounted a mini-comeback, but it fell short, giving Griffith Park Massive the championship. Tournament MVP GPM’s Jerald Gooding earned the win while J Nieves took the loss. Peters, Lamotta, and Kelani Luke led the offensive charge for GPM with two hits each. Los Rumis Austin and Eddy Morales registered two hits each for the losers.

Griffith Park Massive 17 – Llacos 16 – Semi-Final Game 1
The fans at the Emile Griffith Ballpark were treated to a high scoring intense marathon as the Griffith Park Massive held on to nip Llacos 17-16 in the first semifinal game of the Memorial Fastpitch Softball Tournament on Sunday evening. GPM brought their hard hats to this affair as they went to work pounding out 13 hits.

Marlon Richardson and Richard Clendinen started off the second inning with back-to-back hits for GPM. Later in the inning, Leon Martin and Kyle LaMotta came through with clutch hits, giving GPM a 5-1 lead. Llacos responded with an eight-run third inning powered by Eric and Javier Perez’s home runs. The Llacos four-point lead was short-lived as GPM used three singles and a miscue by Llacos shortstop to plate four runs, tying the contest at nine runs with no time left in regulation.

Softball tournament games are typically played with a time limit. GPM produced eight runs in the 5th inning on just two hits. Llacos made a valiant comeback as GPM pitchers allowed eight walks in the bottom of the fifth. But Llacos would leave the bases loaded when Eric Perez grounded out to Kelani Luke to end the game. The win reserved a spot in the Championship Game for the Griffith Park Massive.

Los Rumis 8 – Spartans 6 – Semi-Final Game 2
The second semifinal game of the Memorial Fastpitch Softball Tournament at the Emile Griffith Ballpark pitted Los Rumis versus Spartans out of St. Croix. J Nieves of Los Rumis went the distance, striking out nine and allowing seven hits in his team’s 8-6 victory of the Spartans. Los Rumis scored three runs in the opening frame behind a triple by Willy Morla and a double by J Austin. The Spartans responded with three runs of their own in the third inning.

Orlando Benitez led off the inning with a single. Marquise Sexius drove him home with a single. Dushane Browne pushed the other two runs home with an RBI double for the Spartans. Los Rumis came up with four consecutive hits that scored four more runs in the fourth inning. Morla, Rafael Iedesma, Rafy Barete, and J Zapata had two hits each for Los Rumis. Sexius and Browne led the offensive to attach for the Spartans in the loss. Los Rumis will face Griffith Park Massive in the Championship Game.

St. Thomas Stars 7 – FEDS 1
Bianca Sibilly was a star in the circle for the St. Thomas team as she pitched a two-hit gem in the first game of the final day of the Memorial Fastpitch Softball Tournament at the Emily Griffith Ballpark. Sibilly pitched a complete game striking out five FEDS batters.

Bianca Sibilly of the St. Thomas Stars pitches against the FEDS on Sunday afternoon. (Submitted by Department of Sports, Parks, & Recreation)

Rashida Rawlins pitched well for the FEDS but gave up seven hits. The Stars sealed the game in the fourth inning when Jonique Clendinen and Alanique Brathwaite both laced home runs. Brathwaite and Laura Issac both tallied two hits each. Clendinen, Yemeli Rodriquez, and Roniece Pharoah added one hit each. The FEDS two hits were struck by Rawlins. The St. Thomas Stars won the game 7-1.

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