World No. 8 Venezuela defeated No. 4 Argentina, 6-2, to claim the title in the Men’s Softball South American Championship, played in Monteria, Colombia. The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) live-streamed a total of 33 games during the eight-day, 11-nation tournament.
Venezuelan pitcher John Garcia was given a 6-run lead before he made a single pitch in the final game against Argentina. Venezuela took advantage of four hits and four mistakes in the top of the first inning to take the early lead in the game.
In the third inning Gonzalo Masmu tripled to left field and then scored Argentina’s first run of the game with a rolling to second base.
Finally, Argentina cut the lead in the bottom of the seventh, with a solo shot by Juan Zara to center field.
Right handed Garcia claimed the win and was named the MVP of the final.
Earlier on Saturday, Venezuela advanced to the final with a 4-0 win over Dominican Republic in the semifinal game. A stellar performance by Maikel Pimentel, who threw a 1-hit, complete game shutout for the Venezuelan team to lead his team to the victory.
The Dominican Republic had advanced to the playoffs as the only undefeated team in the tournament, with a ten-game winning streak, but they couldn’t keep it alive in the playoffs, losing consecutively against Argentina and Venezuela to finish in third place.
The playoffs started on Friday with the best four teams in the round robin: Dominican Republic, Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia.
In the first match of the playoffs Venezuela defeated the host team, 1-0, in a win-or-go-home game. Venezuela scored the only run of the game in the eighth inning, with a walkoff single by Carlos Ojeda.
In the second playoff game, Argentina defeated Dominican Republic by a score of 8-1, in five innings, and advanced to the final.
WBSC live streamed all the games played in Villa Deportiva stadium, via WBSC Facebook Page and WBSC Official Channel in YouTube. More than 800.000 views have been registered only in Facebook, averaging more than 22K views per game and 90K views per day.
PLAYOFFS
Friday – June 8, 2018
| Match |
| COL |
0-1 |
VEN |
| ARG |
8-1 |
DOM |
Saturday – June 9, 2018
| Match |
| VEN |
4-0 |
DOM |
| VEN |
6-2 |
ARG |
Final Standings
1.- VEN
2.- ARG
3.- DOM
4.- COL
5.- ARG Junior
6.- CUB
7.- PAN
8.- ECU
9.- ARU
10.- PER
11.- BRA
Round Robin Scores
Saturday – June 2nd, 2018
| Match |
Field |
| COL |
17-0 |
PER |
Chinu |
| ARG |
8-1 |
ECU |
Campestre |
| PAN |
0-18 |
VEN |
Villa Deportiva |
| ARG Junior |
11-0 |
PER |
Chinu |
| ARG |
11-0 |
BRA |
Campestre |
| PAN |
0-7 |
DOM |
Villa Deportiva |
| ECU |
7-0 |
BRA |
Campestre |
| CUB |
7-1 |
ARU |
Villa Deportiva |
| COL |
4-2 |
ARU |
Villa Deportiva |
|
|
|
|
Sunday – June 3rd, 2018
| Match |
Field |
| ARG |
5-3 |
CUB |
Chinu |
| ARG Junior |
0-1 |
DOM |
Campestre |
| PER |
8-5 |
BRA |
Villa Deportiva |
| COL |
1-0 |
ECU |
Chinu |
| VEN |
1-9 |
DOM |
Campestre |
| PAN |
11-0 |
BRA |
Villa Deportiva |
| VEN |
5-3 |
ARU |
Campestre |
| ARG Junior |
6-4 |
PAN |
Villa Deportiva |
| PER |
0-11 |
ARG |
Villa Deportiva |
| COL |
1-0 |
CUB |
Villa Deportiva |
|
|
|
|
Monday – June 4th, 2018
| Match |
Field |
| COL |
7-0 |
BRA |
Campestre |
| ECU |
10-0 |
PER |
Villa Deportiva |
| DOM |
13-0 |
BRA |
Campestre |
| VEN |
4-1 |
CUB |
Villa Deportiva |
| DOM |
13-0 |
ARU |
Campestre |
| PAN |
2-7 |
CUB |
Villa Deportiva |
| PAN |
2-0 |
ARU |
Campestre |
| ARG Junior |
0-7 |
ARG |
Villa Deportiva |
| ARG Junior |
5-1 |
COL |
Villa Deportiva |
|
|
|
|
Tuesday – June 5th, 2018
| Match |
Field |
| CUB |
1-2 |
DOM |
Chinu |
| ARG Junior |
7-0 |
BRA |
Campestre |
| ARU |
9-1 |
PER |
Villa Deportiva |
| ARG Junior |
0-1 |
ECU |
Campestre |
| ARG |
10-0 |
ARU |
Villa Deportiva |
| VEN |
8-1 |
ECU |
Campestre |
| ARG |
9-0 |
PAN |
Villa Deportiva |
| VEN |
15-0 |
BRA |
Campestre |
| COL |
5-0 |
PAN |
Villa Deportiva |
| COL |
1-2 |
DOM |
Villa Deportiva |
|
|
|
|
Wednesday – June 6th, 2018
| Match |
Field |
| ARU |
12-1 |
BRA |
Campestre |
| PER |
2-14 |
CUB |
Villa Deportiva |
| ARU |
0-1 |
ECU |
Campestre |
| ARG Junior |
3-2 |
CUB |
Villa Deportiva |
| DOM |
7-0 |
ECU |
Campestre |
| ARG Junior |
0-3 |
VEN |
Villa Deportiva |
| PER |
0-7 |
PAN |
Campestre |
| ARG |
7-0 |
VEN |
Villa Deportiva |
| ARG |
0-2 |
COL |
Villa Deportiva |
|
|
|
|
Thursday – June 7th, 2018
| Match |
Field |
| BRA |
0-13 |
CUB |
Campestre |
| ARU |
2-1 |
ARG Junior |
Villa Deportiva |
| ECU |
0-14 |
CUB |
Campestre |
| DOM |
4-3 |
ARG |
Villa Deportiva |
| ECU |
0-1 |
PAN |
Campestre |
| DOM |
18-0 |
PER |
Villa Deportiva |
| VEN |
10-0 |
PER |
Villa Deportiva |
| VEN |
2-0 |
COL |
Villa Deportiva |
|
|
|
|
Round Robin Standings
| Team |
W |
L |
| DOM |
10 |
0 |
| ARG Senior |
8 |
2 |
| VEN |
8 |
2 |
| COL |
7 |
3 |
| ARG Junior |
5 |
5 |
| CUB |
5 |
5 |
| PAN |
4 |
6 |
| ECU |
4 |
6 |
| ARU |
3 |
7 |
| PER |
1 |
9 |
| BRA |
0 |
10 |
