By Joel Langton
The 830 Times
Baseball is a numbers game, and the numbers told the story Saturday afternoon as Del Rio opened play in the Babe Ruth 14U World Series against Latin America.
The first number was 14-0, the final score in favor of the Latin America representative.
The second was 17-1. Latin America pounded out 17 hits while Del Rio managed just one, a third-inning single to center field by Andres “Grizzly” Delgado. Tournament officials named Delgado Del Rio’s Player of the Game for collecting the team’s lone hit.
“It was a tough game. Our bats were a little quiet today. We had one really good hit by Grizzly, who ended up being our player of the game. But other than that, it was pretty silent,” Del Rio head coach Derome West said.
Latin America’s pitchers were equally dominant, striking out nine Del Rio batters in the five-inning contest, which ended under the tournament’s 10-run rule.
But perhaps the biggest number wasn’t on the scoreboard.
The Latin America roster was assembled from six northern Mexican states — Sonora, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Coahuila and Durango — with a combined population of more than 16.2 million people, according to Mexico’s 2020 census. Del Rio drew its roster from a community of 34,673, according to the 2020 U.S. Census.
Another number that mattered wasn’t on the stat sheet either. Latin America coaches said several players on their roster are already being followed informally by professional baseball scouts.
Despite the odds, Del Rio never stopped competing. Trailing throughout, the team avoided another milestone that would have ended the contest sooner. Had Latin America built a 15-run lead after four innings, the game would have ended under the mercy rule. Instead, Del Rio continued battling and snuffed out a Latin America effort to score, during one of the game’s better pitching performances to quieten the Latin America bats.
Despite the loss, West remained optimistic.
“Well, we built a solid foundation that can only go up,” he said.
Del Rio returns to action Sunday at 2 p.m. against the Caribbean representative, who defeated Colombia 18-1.Â
Later in the week, they face Tallahassee, Fla., at 2 p.m. Monday and Stamford, Conn., at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
In other games, Tallahassee beat Australia 26-1; Pennsylvania beat Aruba 21-10, Caribbean thrashed Columbia 18-1, Vancouver, Wash beat Panama 11-2, Milford, Conn beat Puerto Rico 9-7 and Tri-Valley, Calif edged Mexico 10-8.
