Above, Latin America's Sharifa Finies gets a little love from her teammates. Below, Sulivendra Hooi tosses a pitch home. Bottom, Audry Arballo fires one home against Latin America in the opening game of the Senior League World Series. Photos by RUSLANA LAMBERT

Latin America’s patience in the batter’s box paid dividends after Bloomington’s starting pitcher, Audry Arballo, issued two consecutive walks on 10 pitches before giving them something to hit.

Arballo countered with two straight called strikes before forcing first baseman Gloria de Jongh into a 4-6 fielder’s choice but then gave up a RBI single to right fielder Sharifa Finies, who launched a bomb over center fielder Jaimie Cole, and a two RBI standup double by slick-fielding shortstop Jeannevian Kinburn over the next five pitches.

Latin America’s pitcher, Suliviendr Hooi, tossed a complete game in fewer than 100 pitches (90), walked no one, struck out six and, though she gave up eight hits compared to their six team hits, Bloomington could only muster two runs in the third and for the game.

Arballo’s one-out sacrifice bunt moved Margarita Comarena from second to third base following her 0-2 standup-double to centerfield and Bloomington scored on a throwing error by third baseman Farisette Martina on the play to first.

Two pitches later, No. 2 batter Cole blasted Arballo home on a RBI single up the middle of Latin America’s shifted defense to cut the lead to 3-2 in favor of Latin America.

Despite working a 1-2-3 second inning and giving up another RBI to Kinburn on a single up the middle in the bottom of the third, West manager Gary Mendoza pulled Arballo in favor of first baseman Felicia Mendoza.

Mendoza’s command of the strike zone yielded seven strikeouts and three of which ended the inning with runners in scoring position but her teammate’s bats fell silent in crunch time.

West catcher Jackie Trombie and shortstop Annie Betancourt jumped on a pair of second-pitch, two-out singles in the bottom of the sixth but that same eagerness proved to be their undoing.

“They tried hard and were aggressive,” West manager Gary Mendoza said, “a little too aggressive.”

“I can’t say anything bad about them being aggressive,” he added.

Following a quick meeting at the mound with Latin American manager Myustinov Helmijr, West second baseman Bianca Leal stepped to the plate representing the winning run.

Leal’s first swing grabbed the ball but rather than squirt through the infield or land in the gap, it tumbled straight to Kinburn, who completed her third assist of the game on the 6-3 fielders choice.

The West’s anxiousness batting resulted in seven outs in three or less pitches. Hooi averaged only 18 pitches per inning and got out of the fourth in only five.