SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, (CMC) – Darling Batista led the way with a quintuple, and two others collected hat-tricks to lead the Dominican Republic to a record 17-0 plunder of the British Virgin Islands in the Digicel Caribbean Cup on Thursday. Batista broke the deadlock early in the first half, as the host led 4-0 at halftime before he struck four times in the second period in a match rescheduled for a mid-morning start.

Inoel Navarro scored on in the first stanza, and twice in the second, while Domingo Peralta switched that order around to help carry the DR to the most emphatic victory in the history of the game not only in the Caribbean Football Union – but also CONCACAF.

Braces from Eric Ozuna and Omar Reynoso, as well as Kelvin Severino and Gonzalo Frechilla helped the DR to complete the rout.

The defeat added insult to injury for the BVI, after the match had to be delayed by 19 hours due to a number of challenges faced by the visitors.

It’s been one of the most trying times for the BVI over the last few days, after the corporate offices of their association suffered a break-in.

The national squad also had to overcome inclement weather issues before travelling, challenges with players’ passports, obtaining confirmation on player eligibility, and flight delays.

The World record for the most lopsided international victory is currently held in the Oceania region by Australia. They defeated American Samoa 31-0 eight years ago in a World Cup qualifier.

The most one-sided result in all of the CFU and CONCACAF is held by St. Lucia, when they trounced the United States Virgin Islands 14-1 more than nine years ago in the previous incarnation of the Caribbean Cup.

Bermuda also overcame Montserrat 13-0 in a World Cup qualifier six years ago.

Batista got things rolling with a strike in the fifth minute, after a pass from Jonathan Faňa put him within point blank range.

Peralta got his first in the 22nd minute, and his second in the 43rd either side of a tally from Navarro in the 26th minute to put the home team ahead 4-0 at halftime.

In the second half, it was all one-way traffic, as the energised DR took advantage of the travel-weary visitors, and cruised to a memorable victory.

The BVI have little time to regroup, since they faced Dominica in their second match yesterday afternoon at the same venue.