Villa Clara Falls to Ciego de Ávila in Cuban National Baseball Series

Villa Clara’s Leopards fell 3-2 today to Ciego de Ávila’s Tigers, a hard loss for their aspirations of clinching the final remaining ticket to the postseason of the 64th Cuban National Baseball Series.

Now, in the fight for a spot in the next stage with Pinar del Río and Cienfuegos, they are at the greatest disadvantage, as achieving it would require “a great feat that seems impossible.”

Following this setback, the squad managed by Ramón Moré must win all nine of its remaining games to qualify without depending on any other result. If it wins eight of them, it will total 39 victories, the same as the Vegueros of Pinar del Río, who still have one challenge left to play.

Meanwhile, the Elephants of Cienfuegos await at home for a defeat of the pinareños against Holguín’s Cachorros and two more losses by the Leopardos to become the eighth and final qualifier.

In today’s game, the avileños, after being dominated for five innings by starter Raidel Alfonso, opened the scoring in the sixth inning with a run against reliever Dairon Casanova, thanks to a double by Brayan Romero.

A rocket by Mailon Tomás Alfonso in the eighth inning drove in the tying and go-ahead runs for the Leopards against a pitch from reliever and winner Erisdel Martínez; those runs were charged to Liomil González, who had pitched six scoreless innings on the board.

In the bottom half of that inning, Danny Miranda’s pack, with nothing left to lose but its pride, tied the actions with an RBI single by Cristian Pagarizabal.

The teams arrived tied at the tenth inning, and after the visitors failed to score, the Tigers walked them off with a cannon shot by Danny López, with Alain Sánchez on the mound.

The action to define the final passenger to the great festival of Cuban baseball will resume next January 4th. The defending champion Las Tunas—who also secured a spot in the IV Elite League—along with Matanzas and Holguín, teams still fighting for the second place that also offers direct entry to the selective tournament, already have secured tickets.

Others already preparing for the quarterfinals are Mayabeque and Industriales, who will face each other in the only matchup defined so far, as well as Artemisa and Sancti Spíritus.