SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — The site of many historic battles over the years, Matamoros calls itself the city of the undefeated, the loyal and the heroic.
The Mexican Little League team from this border community – located just south of Brownsville, Texas – showed Canada’s entry into the 75th Little League World Series on Monday that they take the moniker seriously, crushing the previously undefeated Little Mountain Little Leaguers of Vancouver up 10-0 with a no-hitter and an out to end the fifth inning.
In a game that started three hours late due to earlier weather issues, both starting pitchers made it through the first inning. Mexico’s David Zarate needed just nine innings to retire the first three Canadian batters.
But Canada, which had not given up in earlier wins over Australia (7-0) and Japan (6-0), uncharacteristically came unstuck in the bottom of the second inning as pitcher Benjamin (Darth) Dartnell and his Vancouver teammates allowed six runs, committed three errors, flipped bases and misjudged routine pop flies.
Mexico added two more runs in the third inning when Miguel Padilla hit a huge home run with a teammate on base.
Mexico loaded the bases in the fourth but did not score. However, the team added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth and won the game on the 10-run mercy rule. Mexico stranded eight runners on base in the five-inning game.
The Mexicans, who are one of the teams favored to win the title in 2022, got stronger as the match progressed and also showed their defensive prowess, going after everything Canada threw their way. They also had 11 hits and committed just one error.
Mexico will play Taipei City on Wednesday in a battle of 2-0 powerhouses, while Canada (2-1) will face Caribbean Regional entry Willemstad, Curaçao on Tuesday at 5:00 PM ET.
The Caribbean team, which struggled to score points in Williamsport, opened the LLWS with a 2-0 win over Latin America before being beaten 9-3 by Panama. Needing a win to stay alive in the modified double-knockout tournament, the Caribbean cruised past Europe-Africa 1-0 on Sunday.
The winner of the Canada-Caribbean game will play Wednesday at 5:00 PM ET against the winner of Tuesday’s Panama-Nicaragua game.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on August 22, 2022
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