lUMBERJACKS RESUME TRAINING ON THE ROAD TO THE AMERICA SERIES

The "Enchanted Forest" of Julio Antonio Mella, headquarters of the double national champions, opened its doors again to the green and red team that will attend the first edition of an event that will be held in Nicaragua from the 24th to the 30th of this month.

Ángel Sosa, the teacher in charge of general physical preparation, said that in the first week of training all the objectives that they had planned in the three fundamental areas of play were met, and that the boys had assimilated the work of the loads and the intensity very well.

This second week will be quite similar, but we plan to change the preparation games for confrontations between pitchers and batters (BP Live), to work on offense, pitching and defense, announced the coach, who hopes that this way they will be able to make up for the lack of preparation in relation to the other teams.

This is a disadvantage that the so-called Eastern Nightmare has compared to the other teams participating in the tournament, who will mostly arrive in Nicaragua after their professional leagues have concluded.

The Leñadores, led by Abeicy Pantoja, were proclaimed champions for the second consecutive season six months ago, although their players participated in the provincial championship that concluded in December.

With the exception of the DAOM Club from Argentina and the local Nicaraguans who will attend with their national team, the other contenders will arrive at the event with their blood very hot.

On Friday, the Metropolitan Eagles won the Panama League title, and in Colombia and Curacao, the players who will defend the colors of their nations have yet to be defined.

However, the confidence in a management team that has shown great professionalism in the last two seasons and the arrival of 11 reinforcements, seven of them in the pitching area, maintain the optimism of many fans, eager to see the flag of Las Tunas at the top of the podium of the regional tournament.

This team, under the reins of Pablo Civil, won the silver medal in the 2019 Caribbean Series, when they fell in the final against the Panamanian Toros de Herrera, in a match played at the famous Rod Carew stadium in the capital of the Canal.

The last foray of the Las Tunas team into the international field was in the 2019 Caribbean Series, held at the Rod Carew National Stadium in Panama City, between February 4 and 10 of that year.

The team from the east did not do badly at all if we consider that they lost the final against the local Toros de Herrera, with a score of 3-1.

The Leñadores finished the regular stage with a 2-2 record, tied with the Charros de Jalisco and the Cardenales de Lara, but the tiebreaker system benefited them and the Cubans moved on to the medal discussion.

The people of Las Tunas, in short, have a kind of "aché" for international competitions, and the so-called "Series of the Americas" seems like a tournament in which the aspiration for a medal does not seem crazy.

The title does seem too much to me, taking into account the baseball break on the island and the end-of-year and New Year holidays, when everyone (including the baseball players) is busy with anything but staying in shape.

After the competition, the current national champions will have another prize trip, the second edition of the Baseball Champions League, to be held at the Alfredo Harp Helú stadium, of the Diablos Rojos de Mexicali, from April 8 to 13.