JEDDAH — It was the second week of action in the Jeddah Youth Baseball League at the Saudia City Baseball Complex. Thursday and Friday’s games set the pace for the season. There was a special presentation made to the JYBL corporate sponsors, Mc Donald’s and Exxon Mobil. Both Mc Donald’s and Exxon Mobil see the JYBL as part of their continued commitment to support positive activities for the youth in Jeddah.

In the T-Ball Division (ages 5-8), the Pirates won an exciting game against the Red Sox 9-7. The game was marked by some great individual plays. Adam Alabaster, for the Pirates, ran from third base to second base to tag the runner out. Safiyyah Smith made a dazzling throw from second base to first base, which was caught by Sam Westwood. The Pirates Abdullah Al Mithin and the Red Sox Jumanah Bilal both hit homeruns.

In Coach Pitch Division (ages 8-11), the Mariners hammered out an exciting 11-5 victory against the Jeddah Giants. An RBI-triple from Asma Bilal brought Marcus Lawrence around the bases to score for the Mariners during the first inning.

The score was 3 — 3 after the second as the Giants’ Ussaed Halwani, Tareq Hamzah and Malek Mounlah earned runs. However, the third and fourth innings were pivotal for the Mariners as they garnered seven runs from Bilal, Faisal Al-Sulaiman, Zach Abdul-Aziz, Ishaq Ja’far and Nadia Al-Maghrabi. Lawrence, Bilal, Faisal, Maghrabi and Ishaq all scored on inside-the-park homeruns during this highly charged match-up.

In the Majors Division, (ages 11-13), the Braves held off the Angels for a 8-6 victory. The Braves opened the game with a 3-run first inning and a 4-run second inning, which was capped by a 3-run home run by Ihsan Abdul Saboor.

The Angels were led by home runs from Ibrahim Alireza and Douha Knio. The Angels fought back to make the game close, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the early lead the Braves opened up. The Braves relief pitcher Wataru Yamauchi closed out the game with a strike out on Yusuf Bajsair.

In the Juniors Division (ages 13-16), the Red Sox beat the Yankees 12-13, in a seesaw game in which there were four lead changes.

Although the Red Sox had a chance to break the game wide open, it was stopped when the second baseman Sariah Al Derhali made a laser throw to home plate which was caught by the catcher Sulayman Dehlawi who made a tag on the runner to stop the rally by the Red Sox.

The Red Sox were led by Mustafa Bilal who had a 3- run inside the park home run. The Yankees had runs scored by Sharifah Alabaster, JP Organ, Sulieman Khan and Jad Kano.

Faris Fitiyanni, pitcher for the Yankees, shut down the Red Sox with an assortment of pitches that baffled and dazzled the Red Sox and amazed the crowd.

However, a fielding error in the final inning by the Yankees allowed the Red Sox to score the winning run.