The Arenosos de Camuy made history this past Sunday claiming the Puerto Rican Double A Superior Baseball League title for the first time, defeating the Toritos de Cayey 12-6 in front of more than 5,000 fans, at the Pedro Montañez Stadium.
For the fourth consecutive year, the tournament champion was decided in game seven of the final. “We were on the brink of elimination seven or eight times. This is a team with character and a lot of desire. Here we are enjoying this national championship and we are very grateful,” said Dennis Pérez, manager-player of the Arenosos, at the end of the match.
Victor Claudio went 3 for 4 in the game with three RBIs and one scored. He was selected the MVP of the series. Additionally, Noel Cuevas had two hits with four runs scored.
Left-hander Henry Iglesias won the match in relief with 4.1 innings pitched. He gave up two hits and one run with four strikeouts. The loss was charged to Christian Bonilla, who allowed five runs and five hits in 1.2 innings.
Since the 2012-2013 seasons, the Double A has not had a 'back to back' champion. The last team to repeat a championship was the Cidra Braves. It is also the only franchise to have done so three times in the last 15 years. They defended their reign successfully in the 2005-2006, 2008-2009 and 2012-2013 seasons.
Since the last 'back to back' championship, the Montañeses de Utuado (2014), Artesanos de Las Piedras (2015), Bravos de Cidra (2016), Sultanes de Mayagüez (2017), Toritos de Cayey (2018), the Mulos de Juncos (2019), the Grays of Humacao (2021), the Toritos (2022) and the Arenosos (2023) have won the title.
