Guantanamo.- The Santa Clara team, representing Cuba, defeated Panama 12–6 today to maintain its undefeated record in the Latin American Little League Series, 9–10 age category, currently taking place in Monterrey, Mexico.
The previous day, the Cuban squad secured a walk-off victory in their debut against Mexico’s Treviño Kelly team, thanks to a clutch hit by Leonardo López Jr. and solid relief pitching from Liam Daniel Rodríguez.
In today’s matchup, they overcame a Panamanian team that also won its first game and now sits third in Group B with a 1–1 record, tied with Mexico and behind Venezuela (1–0).
Panama struck early with two runs off starter Leonardo López, but Cuba evened the score in the fourth inning with a run-scoring single by Kelian Calado and a sacrifice fly from Cristofer Méndez.
The comeback was completed in the fifth inning, when the team managed by José Yadián Ganuza exploded for 10 runs, establishing an insurmountable lead.
Cuba tallied eight hits in that inning alone, including RBI singles from Marlon Hernández, Erislandy Pérez, Anthony Ruiz, Ángel Espinosa, and Calado, along with a double by Anthony Rodríguez that drove in a run and dashed Panama’s hopes of a comeback.
Panama responded with four runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning but could not overcome the deficit.
Reliever Jean Carlos Santana earned the win for Cuba, while fellow reliever Jesús Cedeño took the loss for Panama.
On Wednesday, the young Cuban “Leopardos” will face Nicaragua, followed by Thursday’s key matchup against Venezuela. They will conclude the group stage Friday with a game against Chile.
In Group A, the second Mexican team, along with Brazil and Puerto Rico, each won their opening games and currently lead the standings, ahead of Costa Rica (0–1) and Guatemala (0–2).
