St. Croix Plays Host To Caribbean Regional Little League Tournament

ST. CROIX —  It took a year of preparation, and the funding only came a month out, but the Elmo Plaskett Little League organization was able to put all the necessary pieces in place to host this year’s Caribbean Regional Little League Baseball Tournament, bringing to St. Croix a host of teams from around the region, including Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire for this year’s competition, with games lasting through Saturday.

For Renee Hansen, Elmo Plaskett’s vice president, yesterday’s realization would not be possible without the collective effort of the community.

“We had a year to put plans in place, and received the money one month away, but our community comes together when we need to come together,” Ms. Hansen said. “From the private sector to the government and individuals. I love them for that.”

The Elmo Plaskett organization includes a team of 40 committee members and about 50 volunteers, Ms. Hansen said. Students from Central High and Educational Complex are also helping, which earns them community service credits as well.

The games are being played at the Canegata Ballpark, with the first game seeing a strong turnout yesterday, as members of the community came out to support the various teams. There was a parade and performances from groups, including the We Deh Yah Cultural Dancers. Politicians also spoke at the event, among them Kurt Vialet and Lieutenant Governor Osbert Potter.

The Caribbean region is being represented through the games, and the winner of the tournament will go to the Little World Series to be aired on ESPN in  August, Ms. Hansen told this publication.

And there’s a simultaneous event happening in Puerto Rico, in the 9-10 Division. However, that group does not have a world series. “That’s the babies,” Ms. Hansen said. “That’s how you prepare them for this — the 11-12 age group currently participating in the Regional Tournament.”

Ms. Hansen encouraged the community to support the league and similar efforts, as they keep children engaged and have reputations of being longstanding organizations.

“Programs like this need to be supported. I’ve heard a lot of private sector people say that a lot of groups ask for money, and people are not sure what they do with the money. This is something that we on St. Croix have been doing from 1969. And we’ve been consistent from then. So this is an organization that has never stopped; we have maybe dwindled in numbers, but we’ve always been able to have a league, and we’ve always participated in this,” she said.

“So when they hear us saying we need money to travel to go to our regional tournament, this is what we’re going to in another country,” Ms. Hansen concluded.

The games are being held everyday through Saturday. Here’s the lineup.