A Little League game for the ages

Panama’s entry in the Little League World Series, the boys from Curundu, were on a roll. Undefeated in their group, they topped their qualifying run by soundly thrashing Taiwan 6-2. It didn’t seem that anybody could stop them.

Then they ran into the boys from Guadalupe, Mexico in the semi-finals of the international division.

Most especially, they ran into Walter Montemayor, a truly awesome pitcher for his age. Through four and two-thirds innings, Montemayor had a perfect game going, getting most of the Panamanian batters out on strikes. In the second inning he helped himself with an RBI single, with the Mexicans adding another run in the fifth.

Going into the bottom of the sixth inning --- normally the last inning in Little League play --- things were looking exceptionally bleak for the Panamanians.

Then Eduardo Fruto led off with a single, and Mario González smashed a drive down the right field line for a triple, driving Fruto across the plate. A steal and a sacrifice later González was on third and Christian Bethancourt laid down a little bunt for the suicide squeeze.

Montemayor fielded the ball and threw it to the catcher. The ump called González out, but the replay on ESPN gave every appearance that it was a bad call. Had González been called safe, the game would have been tied.

As it turned out, the next batter, José Murillo, doubled to left, driving Bethancourt all the way around from first for the tying run. If we want to play “what if,” that should have been the winning run.

But it wasn’t and the call at home plate will live on for many years in the annals of Panamanian baseball lore.

The game then went into extra innings, to gain its place in the record books. By the time it was settled, the boys from Curundu and Guadalupe had played 10 innings over 3 hours and 50 minutes, that latter statistic setting a new record for the longest game yet in a Little League World Series.

Montemayor stepped down from the mound after the sixth inning, having struck out 14 batters. In came Oscar Garza, who proved every bit as awesome as Montemayor had been. Over the next four innings, Garza fanned 11 Panamanians and held the Curundu team scoreless.

In the top of the 10th, Panama allowed Daniel Lozano to get on base on an error, then Garza singled to help himself. Then Alan Camarillo homered over the center field fence, giving Mexico a 5-3 lead and driving in what turned out to be the winning run. Guadalupe scored another run before their half of the inning was over.

In the bottom of the 10th Curundu started to rally, putting their first two runners aboard. But then Garza struck out three Panamanians in a row, and that was the end of a fabulous dream for the Little League team from Curundu, one of Panama City’s most impoverished and squalid urban neighborhoods.

Mexico went on to lose the international division’s final to the boys from Curaçao, who then defeated Thousand Oaks, California to become this year’s Little League World Champions.

Also in this section:
Soccer: Panama stuns Jamaica in Kingston, to face US on Sept. 8
Curundu ousted from Little League World Series by bad call
Panamanians in Major League Baseball

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Curundu bounced out of the Little League World Series in a game for the ages