Cuba Repeats As 15U Champ

Highlights !!!! Japan v Cuba U-15 World Championship Finale #U15WorldCup #CUB #JPN https://t.co/BViRWXSVDn

— WBSC (@WBSC) August 7, 2016

Cuba, spurred by an upset win over the United States, took home the gold medal in the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s 15U World Cup, beating host Japan 9-4 at Iwaki Green Stadium in Iwaki, Japan, in the finale.

Tournament MVP Loidel Chapelli, a first baseman who hit .444 in the event, went 5-for-5 with two runs scored and three RBIs in the championship game.

Cuba went just 3-2 in pool play but went 3-0 in the “super round” including an 11-2 defeat of the previously unbeaten United States, taking advantage of nine walks and five American errors. Three of the U.S. errors came in Cuba’s decisive six-run fifth inning.

Livan Chaviano threw 4 1/3 hitless, scoreless innings out of the Cuban bullpen to short-circuit any American attempts at a comeback. Chaviano threw in four games for Cuba in the event overall with a pair of victories and no earned runs allowed in 13 2/3 innings, striking out nine.

The United States finished with a bronze medal, defeating Panama 8-3 in the third-place game. The Americans lost twice in the super round and went 7-2 overall, following their loss to Cuba with a 5-2 win against Japan before losing out on a gold-medal rematch with the Cubans with a 7-5, 10-inning loss to Colombia. In that game, the U.S. left 15 runners on base and had three others caught stealing.

First baseman/pitcher Justin Campbell led the team, batting .500/.577/.722 with four doubles while also picking up a win and not giving up an earned run in seven innings over two starts.

“We played 20 bad minutes of baseball that cost us, which was that inning that got kind of sideways on us against Cuba,” said Team USA coach Mike Strickland (Marist School, Atlanta), after the bronze-medal win. “(Not playing for gold) was tough and it was tough on our guys, but much like anything, when you set your goal at the absolute pinnacle of what’s out there and you get hit in the face and you know you’re not going to be able to attain it, there is a tremendous amount of disappointment and self-introspection. It showed . . . a little bit (against Colombia and Panama), but these guys finally made the decision that, ‘We are going to be accountable and we aren’t going to back down from the goal we set, but we are going to continue to move forward.’ That’s what you saw today.”

Mexico Tops U.S. In 12U Finale

Host Mexico dominated Team USA in consecutive games Saturday and Sunday to claim the 12U Pan Am championship.

Mexico won 11-3 and 10-3 in the two games, with the latter score coming in Sunday’s gold-medal game. The U.S. took a 3-0 lead early before Mexico tied the game in the third inning and took control with a seven-run fifth.

Team USA went 7-2 in the 12U tournament overall.