Bayamon makes the play to top Bay County
It was a play that would have made Dan Revette proud, even if the outcome didn’t go his way.
Revette, the longtime coach of the Bay County team in the Pony League World Series, always managed the game the way it should be. His players rarely, if ever, put on a show on the field.
Revette died on Sept. 4, 2019, and his wife Jill passed eight months later.
So the first time Bay County took the field after Revette’s death, his team battled but fell to Bayamon, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean Zone champion, 3-2, Saturday afternoon at Lew Hays Pony Field in Washington Park.
The big play in the game came in the sixth inning for Bay County. Talon Dabo hit a one-out single to center. Kingston then drove a pitch high and deep to right. Juliomar Campos dove for it and the ball glanced off his glove and came to rest next to his body.
Dabo held up till he was sure the ball was not caught, then roared around the basepaths. Campos got up and fired a perfect strike to home plate to get Dabo.
“I wasn’t worried because that run would just tie the game,” said Jesus Rodriguez through a translator. “They weren’t going to get ahead of us.”
And Bay County didn’t.
Bayamon relievers Joseph Carmoma and Eliel Ramos shut Bay County down the rest of the way.
“There was no question I was sending him,” said Bay County manager Jim Butts. “I didn’t think it was even going to be that close. They just made an outstanding play. I’d do it every time.”
Bay County opened a 1-0 lead when Talon Dabo hit the first pitch he saw over the left-field fence.
But Bayamon snatched the lead by scoring twice in the bottom of the first. Joniel Cuadrado knocked in a run with an infield single and Sebastian Ramos came in from third on a sacrifice fly to center field.
Bay County tied the game in the fourth when Jason Jenkins singled home Dabo, who walked and made it to second on a balk.
Bayamon got the winning run in the fifth. Juliomar Campos singled in Eliel Ramos, who singled, stole second base and got to third on a flyout.