“We played hard until the last out”: before a great final, the Giants say goodbye with their heads held high

The Carolina Giants did not stop pressing until the ninth inning of the seventh and decisive game of the final of the Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League (LBPRC) before the attendance of 10,000 fans at the Roberto Clemente Walker Stadium.

Down 2-0, they put the Indios de Mayagüez to sweat with a single and a double with no outs to get within a run of their rivals with the fans in their favor maddening in the stands.

In the end, the tribe held out to win the championship in a hard-fought winter ball series that had the Carolinenese lead 3-2 before the Mayagüezans came back.

Carolina reached its first final since 2007 under the new manager Edwards Guzmán, in his first experience as a driver in the tournament. The ninth surprised by finishing second in the regular phase and then eliminating the Cangrejeros de Santurce in the semifinals in seven games.

The bullfight earned Guzmán the Manager of the Year award with a team without big names in its ranks.

When carrying the runner-up trophy, Guzmán expressed his satisfaction with the hard work of his players.

“It was a super experience. I think nobody gave us to be here. We played hard until the last out and that’s where the character of the team was seenGuzman said.

“It feels brutal. We saw the stadium that hadn’t looked like this since 2007. With that we won. Get people out of their homes to support us. That is a win for us,” he added.

Carolina won its only two championships in its history in the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons with Lino Rivera as manager. Until this year, the Giants had not returned to a final.

They did it with a young squad made up of Bryan Torres, Gabriel Cancel, Delvin Pérez, Jan Hernández, José Espada, Brian Navarreto and José Sermo, plus the veteran local Ozzie Martínez, among others.

For the final, they lost the powerful bat of Jonathan Rodríguez and the arm of veteran Héctor Santiago. Still, they put the Indians up against the wall last Sunday. Mayagüez responded Tuesday with Jemery Rivera’s RBI hit in the ninth inning to force a seventh game.

On Wednesday, the Giants had eight hits but were only able to bring home a runner.

“You have to give credit to their pitcher (Rob Whalen with 6.1 scoreless innings). He threw tremendous game. He got the outs when he had to get them. We try and we try. When they brought in the bullpen, we continued to threaten three straight innings. We did what we had to do but, in the end, that hit didn’t come. But, they brought up calf. I think that many teams against Mayagüez would have done what we did in a matter of continuing to put pressure,” Guzmán summarized.

“It is what the boys take with them, what was imposed from the beginning (of not giving up). I hope they give these guys continuity, that next season they come with the same hunger to experience this that we experienced this year,” added Guzmán, who will be back at the helm of the Giants for the 2023-24 season.