Perfectamente!
Mexico stays perfect in Pool D play as the Guadalupe Trevino
Kelly Little Leaguers use three solo homers, their first of the Series, to sneak
past Asia-Pacific, 3-2.
Source: South Williamsport, Pa.
Date/Time: Tuesday, August 25, 2009, 6:00pm ET
It’s not that the game didn’t matter. In fact, that wasn’t the case at all.
Despite the fact that both the Asia-Pacific champs from Kuei-Shan Little League
and the Mexico all-stars from Guadalupe Trevino Kelly Little League were already
set to advance into the second round, both teams agreed that they were playing
for much more than just practice as they took the field Tuesday night at
Volunteer Stadium.
The game would determine who would win and who would place second in Pool D play
in the 2009 Little League World Series. It would decide who must face undefeated
Curacao and who would take on annual powerhouse Japan. More importantly, the
game, eventually won by Mexico, 3-2, would be played for pride, passion and pool
play perfection.
“Because we were already moving on, we were looking at this like a pool
championship,” said manager Cheng Ta Lee through interpreter Ming Huang Yeh.
“We all knew we had advanced to the second round,” said Mexico manager Agustin
Montoya. “But we were going to play hard against a good team.”
“Good” is an understatement. Both sides entered their final pool play contest
batting over .400. But their bats were only part of the lethal combination.
Asia-Pacific not only boasted a sub-.100 opponent batting average (.065), the
Chinese Taipei Little Leaguers hadn’t allowed a single run in their two previous
outings. Meanwhile, Mexico, with a comparably bloated .128 opponent batting
average but a whopping 23 hits to its name, hadn’t yet found real estate beyond
the 225-foot fence.
Both of those facts would change quickly Tuesday night.
With pitcher Cheng Chieh Lee on the hill with one out in the top of the first,
Luis Trevino – 1-for-3 in his previous two games – wasted no time getting his
team on the road to their goals, slugging Mexico’s first home run of the Series.
It was a no-doubter, high and far and well beyond the reach of outfield
onlookers.
“I’m very pleased with it,” Montoya said of the return of power hitting to his
team. “We hit the ball stronger, harder this game. But I feel that we made more
contact the previous games. We still have to make the adjustments on staying
back on some pitches.”
“It feels great,” Trevino said of his homer. “I woke the team up and I feel
really happy.”
And after Marcelo Martinez made quick work of Asia-Pacific in the bottom of the
first, Berrones made the one-out home run a pattern with his own shot to
centerfield to run the score to 2-0.
The Chinese Taipei all-stars mustered just a pair of baserunners through the
third frame, both put on by way of the walk, after averaging 10.5 hits per game
to open the Series.
“The Mexico pitching, especially the lefty pitcher, are doing a very good job,”
said Lee. “This pitcher, he got really good combinations. He was looking good.
The issue was he is just so slow. Our coach was reminding the batter to slow
down because he was pitching it so slow. [He told them] if there was a timing
issue between the pitcher and the batter, step out and call time.”
Mexico was back at it again to lead off the fourth, this time courtesy of Luis
Perez, who took Lee deep for the third time in four innings, ripping the pitch
toward the scoreboard in left field where the ball snuck just underneath the
bottom panels.
Lee would leave the game in favor of hurler Chin Ou, who retired the rest of the
side in order.
But his counterpart Martinez just wouldn’t budge. Averaging 18.2 pitches per
inning through 4.2, he struck out the side twice, allowing just four baserunners
and taking a no-hit bid through four and two-thirds. In fact, despite striking
out just once every 5.73 batters entering Tuesday’s competition – Asia-Pacific
had struck out just 11 times – the team more than doubled their Series total
against Martinez (12) – that’s a strikeout every 1.5 plate appearances.
“We gave [Martinez] a second opportunity to prove himself and prove to us that
he could throw,” said Montoya. “He came in really nervous [against Canada
Saturday] and wasn’t hitting his spots. We gave his a vote of confidence in this
round and he was definitely more relaxed.
“Even though it was a crucial game, he knew nothing would change from it,”
Montoya continued. “He gained confidence and gave confidence to all of us in
considering him for the second round of the championship.”
And when the young hurler maxed out on his 85-pitch limit, he confidently walked
off the mound, tipping his cap as he headed to his new position in centerfield.
“Every batter faces different pitchers,” said Lee. “You have to get used to
facing a different pitcher. I was telling the team just slow down. [But] when
they changed to a new pitcher, for us we had a new chance.”
Mexico threatened again in the fifth when a looper into shallow left, a single
to right and a hit batsman, all in consecutive order with two outs, loaded the
bases for Perez, but reliever Wen Hua Sung got the clean-up man out swinging,
stranding the trio.
In the latter half of the same frame, Chinese Taipei would get two runners on
board for the first time, the second coming on a two-out hit-by-pitch after the
departure of Martinez. Yuan Ting Tai came to the plate representing the
game-tying run to face reliever Jorge Maldonado.
But it wasn’t to be, as Tai lined Maldonado’s offering into the waiting glove of
third baseman Raul Rojas.
But the Kuei-Shan Little Leaguers weren’t going down without a fight. Down to
his team’s final three outs of the game, Sung stepped up to the plate and proved
one thing on the first pitch of the frame: there would be no combined no-no
tonight.
He vaulted Maldonado’s first offering over the centerfield wall, cutting
Mexico’s lead to 3-1 with three outs remaining.
[We just had to] pick him up and cheer his up,” said Trevino of Maldonado after
he gave up the shot. “It was the first out so we couldn’t let him down.”
“I personally told him not to worry about it,” said Martinez. “[I told him to]
pick his head up and just to put all his effort and all his energy into keeping
pitching to get the win.”
One out later, Po Chuan Pan cut the visitor’s lead in half when he lofted a
towering fly ball into center. With two outfielders running for the ball,
Barrones took over but lost the ball in center, allowing it to fall in. As Pan
rounded second, Barrones picked up the ball and threw into third where his throw
hit the runner and ricocheted away, sending Pan home and close the gap to 3-2.
One more out brought in hard-throwing closer Rojas to face Kuan Sheng Huang.
“I felt really nervous when we were 3-2 and we had two outs,” said Perez. “I
didn’t know what was gonna happen, but when they put Raul in to pitch I felt
better.”
“I actually felt really good, really confident on the last out that my friend
Raul was going to get the job done,” echoed Trevino.
And just like that, with a 2-2 count, Rojas would complete the victory, getting
Huang to strike out swinging.
“He threw a slider for a ball for the last out,” Montoya said, “and fortunately,
he swung at it.”
With the win, Mexico moves to a perfect 3-0 in Pool D play and earns the right
to face Japan (2-1) in Wednesday’s International semifinal. Asia-Pacific (2-1)
will move on to play Curacao (3-0) in Thursday’s semifinal.