The Mexican Little League team from this border community – located just south of Brownsville, Texas – showed Canada’s entry in the 75th Little League World Series on Monday that they take the name seriously by crushing the previously undefeated Little Mountain Little Leaguers of Vancouver 10-0 with a no-hitter and a walk to end the fifth inning. In a game that started three hours late due to earlier weather issues, both starting pitchers went through the first inning. David Zarate of Mexico needed just nine pitches to retire the first three Canadian batters. But Canada, which had not surrendered in a series of earlier wins over Australia (7-0) and Japan (6-0), uncharacteristically didn’t hang around in the bottom of the second game as pitcher Benjamin (Dart) Dartnell and his Vancouver teammates allowed six runs, committed three errors, loaded the bases and misjudged the pop fly routine. Mexico added two more runs in the third inning when Miguel Padilla hit a towering 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 2022 title, got stronger at the plate as the game went on and also showed their defensive chops chasing down anything 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) faces Caribbean Region entry Willemstad Curacao on Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET. The Caribbean team, which struggled to score in Williamsport, opened the LLWS with a 2-0 win over Latin America before being defeated 9-3 by Panama. Needing a win to stay alive in the modified double-knockout tournament, the Caribbean beat Europe-Africa 1-0 on Sunday. The winner of the Canada-Caribbean game will play Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET with the winner of Tuesday’s Panama-Nicaragua game. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on August 22, 2022
