The sixth Bahamas Games is in full swing, with three sporting disciplines wrapping up on day five yesterday, and three more getting started. As it moves closer to the weekend, athletics and boxing will take center stage.
In baseball, New Providence (NP) Head Coach and Team Manager Clarence "CJ" McKenzie described it best when he said they were waiting 22 years to celebrate the way they did yesterday, knocking off Eleuthera in the gold medal game.
The gold medal game turned out to be a pitcher's duel between Chad McKenzie of New Providence and Eleuthera's Norman Bastian III, but at the end of the day, McKenzie's team played defense while the Eleuthera Adventurers' defense took the night off, or so it seemed.
The New Providence Buccaneers won 4-0 Tuesday night at the new Andre Rodgers
Baseball Stadium, knocking off Eleuthera for the second night in a row. Eleuthera settled for the silver and the Columbus Isles Arawaks (Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador) took the bronze, losing to Eleuthera 3-1 earlier in the afternoon.
In the gold medal game, Bastian pitched all five innings and yielded just two hits, but his defense committed six costly errors behind him, including three drops on routine fly balls or an infield pop fly. The Buccaneers plated the first run of the game in the bottom of the third when Eleuthera's right fielder Devilus Delva dropped a fly ball. New Providence added another run in the bottom of the fourth and then padded the lead with two insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth.
"This feels excellent. Grand Bahama won the last baseball championship 22 years ago, so we had to listen to them bragging for 22 years," said Head Coach and Team Manager "CJ" McKenzie last night. "We feel great winning this one and we look forward to winning the next one as well. We had very tight defense today. Our pitcher Chad McKenzie was phenomenal on the mound and the defense went to work. We were confident in the beginning but we knew that we couldn't take any team for granted. We respected every opponent but at the end of the day, we believed that we had the best team and we proved that."
Winning pitcher Chad McKenzie went the distance, pitching all six innings. He hurled a one-hitter, struck out 10 and gave up just one walk. Bastian was strong in defeat, striking out nine batters and giving up just one earned run.
"I feel good," said winning pitcher Chad McKenzie, a 20-year-old who just finished his freshman season at Ventura College in Ventura, California. "Being so far from home in California, it's a great feeling to come home and help New Providence win the gold medal. It was a lot of fun. From the second inning, my arm got a little sore, but through God I just kept going. He gave me the strength to keep going, and at the end of the day, I was able to finish what I started."
Pheron Charlton was 1-for-2 with an RBI (run batted in) for the New Providence Buccaneers and Sanchez Sands had the other hit for them. Frankie Mooreen had the only hit for Eleuthera.
"It's a sad feeling," said losing pitcher Bastian. "It's a team sport and it is disappointing but sometimes when you have those errors, it's a tough pill to swallow. It could have gone either way, but I just take it as an off day for the defense and just suck it up. A lot of people didn't expect us to be in the gold medal game but there is a lot of talent on this team and hopefully we could continue to grow together. We played well as a team. I'm a little upset but I'm proud of the way we played throughout the tournament. A lot of these guys are 17 and 18 and they will be around for a long time to come. We'll suck this one up as a learning experience and come back stronger next time."
In the game to get to the gold medal match, Joel Miller had two of the three hits for Eleuthera to lead them past Columbus Isles, 3-1. Columbus Isles settled for the bronze.
In women's volleyball, Columbus Isles lost their only game of the Bahamas Games tournament to the Buccaneers, but bounced back to knock off the tournament's favorite in the gold medal match, 18-25, 25-12, 25-19 and 25-15. Abaco women won the bronze, defeating the Grand Bahama Lucayans, 25-23, 25-13 and 26-24.
"This feels great, coming back 22 years later and being able to play and win the gold medal is a great feeling," said Columbus Isles' Team Captain Laval Sands. "I know they came out here expecting to beat us, especially after beating us during the round-robin phase of the tournament but we pulled together when we needed to the most and got the job done."
Columbus Isles had to regroup after middle blocker Krystel "Kizzie" Brown tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) earlier in the tournament.
"That was a blow for us but we just came together and said this one is for her," said Sands. "Service and communication was key for us tonight. We're veterans and it feels good to pull this one off, and we did it for Kizzie."
In the men's gold medal match, New Providence defeated Columbus Isles in three sets, 24-14, 25-17 and 25-21. Columbus Isles settled for the silver and the MICAL Flamingoes (Mayaguana, Inagua, Crooked Island, Acklins and Long Cay) won the bronze medal in the men's category, defeating Grand Bahama in the bronze medal match, 27-25, 25-19 and 25-21.
In tennis, the Andros Chiccharnies won the team gold medal, going undefeated in the tournament. Grand Bahama won the silver and Eleuthera settled for the bronze. Sydney Clarke, of Andros, was the most outstanding player in the women's category and Denali Nottage, of Grand Bahama, was the most outstanding men's player.
The Long Island Sheep Runners finished fourth, New Providence was fifth and the Abaco Survivors ended up sixth. MICAL brought up the rear.
In sailing the day before, the New Legend, skippered by Stefan Knowles, won the gold in the 'A' Class for Long Island. Ruff Justice, skippered by Joshua Knowles and Mark Knowles, claimed the silver for Andros and Silent Partner, skippered by Morris Rolle, won the bronze for Grand Bahama.
In Class 'B', the New Chase, skippered by Stefan Knowles, won the gold for Long Island. Barbarian II, skippered by Delsworth Gibson, claimed the silver for MICAL and Ants Nest, skippered by Lee Armbrister, won the bronze for Grand Bahama.
Stefan Knowles was a triple winner as he led Sassie Sue to a gold medal performance in the 'C' Class for Long Island. Sacrifice, skippered by Crysto Cartwright, won the silver for Grand Bahama and H2O, skippered by Efford Kemp, won the bronze medal for the Exuma & Ragged Island Navigators.
In soccer, New Providence women won the gold, defeating Grand Bahama, 2-1, in the gold medal match.
In cycling, Jay Major, of New Providence, won the gold in the men's road race. Andros' Chris Curry secured the silver and Kevin Daley, of Columbus Isles, finished third. Eleuthera's Lorin Sawyer won the men's timed trials. Daley, of Columbus Isles, was second and Jeff Tynes, of New Providence, finished third.
Grand Bahama's Smobia Moreau won the ladies' road race and timed trials. Grand Bahama's Maria DeRosa finished second in the road race and Marla Abury, of Eleuthera, came in third. It was the same order of finish in the timed trials. Laury Duncombe, of Grand Bahama, won the gold medal in the 15-17 boys road race and timed trials. New Providence's Kami Roach did the same in the 15-17 girls category and Taylor Knowles accomplished that feat in the 12-14 girls category. Long Island's Lachlan Menzies won the gold medal in the 12-14 boys category timed trials and Lenin Hamilton took top honors in the 12-14 boys road race.
The sporting disciplines of softball, basketball and golf got underway yesterday. Soccer and eduKarting will wrap up today. Athletics and boxing will get underway on Thursday, and optimist sailing will be the final discipline to get started, set to commence on Friday.
The Golden Jubilee Bahamas Games got underway last Friday and will wrap up this coming Saturday. Following the final event in athletics on Saturday, the open men's 4×400 meters (m) relay, a brief closing ceremony will be held at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium.
The games are back in action after a 22-year break.
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