Argentina clinch South American baseball championship with walk-off win over Brazil
Argentina claimed the South American championship with a dramatic 2-1 victory against Brazil in the final of the tournament played at Villa Maria del Triunfo in Lima, Peru. Jacinto Cipriota hit a two-run single in the bottom of the seventh inning to give Argentina the title in the regional tournament.
Argentina went undefeated to win the South American championship winning their six games in the tournament. On their way to the final, Argentina defeated Peru, 2-1; Brazil, 2-0; Ecuador, 6-3; and Chile, 11-1. In Semi-finals, Los Gauchos beat hosts Peru, 5-1.
In the final, Brazil took the lead in the top of the third on a sac fly from Felipe Mizukosi and hold the lead until the bottom of the seventh. However, a single by Matias Robles and back to back walks by Alejandro Garcia and Exequiel Talevi loaded the bases with two outs. Then Cipriota hit a walk-off single to center right field to clinch the title for Argentina. The first baseman was the MVP of the final.
From the mound, Lucas Ramon pitched 5.1 innings for the winners giving up three hits, one run and a walk, while striking out five. Bautista Ramon pitched 0.2 innings in relief while Kevin Riello pitched a perfect seventh inning and got the win.
For Brazil, Murilo Gouvea starred pitching six scoreless innings of one-hit ball, with six strikeouts. Heitor Ananias came in in relief and was the losing pitcher giving up two hits, two walks and two runs.
Boxscore of the final here.
For the bronze medal, Chile defeated Peru 6-1 (boxscore here).
Among the individual awards, Luis Felipe Dos Santos (BRA) was the MVP of the tournament with two wins, 10 strikeouts and a 0.00 ERA in 10 innings of work. Alonso Tenya from Peru was the best hitter with .571, while Gabriel Itikawa (BRA) was the RBI leader with seven.