Dana Point Baseball Club Takes Lesson in Latin : Despite Rainouts and Losses, Players Gain From Their Trip to Costa Rica

“Los Delfines de Dana Hills: Jovenes, pero buenos”

(The Dolphins of Dana Hills: Young, but good)

--sports page headline of last Wednesday’s La Nacion, the national newspaper of Costa Rica, describing the Orange County baseball team that visited Costa Rica last week.

The headlines are only scrapbook material now. But for the Dolphins Baseball Club of Dana Point--composed mainly of Dana Hills High School players--the nine-day trip to Central America offered much more than cut-and-paste memorabilia.

The trip, which was financed by the players and organized by Dana Hills Coach Bob Canary, who played and coached baseball in Costa Rica from 1973-77, was a cultural experience.

Take the baseball stadiums, for instance.

“The stadium at Limon (a small Caribbean port town) was the biggest shocker,” said Denny Papp, a senior first baseman. “The park was very small, only 260 (feet) down the lines. And the grass was really tall, or there was no grass at all with huge piles of mud and holes all over. There was reggae music blaring from the stands all day long, too.”

And the Costa Rican hospitality.

“Friday night, our game ended after midnight,” said Canary. “It had rained on and off all night, and all our uniforms were filthy with mud. We had to leave for a game at 8 the next morning, but there was nowhere to wash them.

“Then this man, Eduardo, insisted that he take them home to wash. He didn’t have a washing machine, but he brought them back, totally hand washed, clean and folded, by 8.”

And then there was the Costa Rican cuisine.

“The food was culture shock,” Papp said. “We had to eat this stuff called gallo pinto (a simmered mixture of rice and beans). After the first time, it gets kind of old. I never want to eat it again. Fortunately, there was McDonald’s.”

But unfortunately, there was rain. Lots of rain. Of the six games scheduled, three were canceled because of submerged fields. The other three games were dampened by rain delays and the forces of the Division I (top-level) teams of Costa Rica, composed of amateur players ranging in age from about 19 to 30.

“The Costa Ricans are good players,” said Bryan Hatch, the Dolphins’ leading pitcher last season. “They’re aggressive, they’re quick, and they try hard all the time. They don’t have any slow guys.”

In its first game, against Santo Domingo, Dana Hills led, 4-1, in the bottom of the ninth. But Santo Domingo rallied to win, 5-4.

The next day, playing in extremely muddy conditions, Dana Hills lost to Limon, 8-1.

The last game, featuring an opposing all-star team of players from both the University Nacional and the Cachorros (Cubs), was another struggle among mud puddles and thick, slick clumps of grass. Dana Hills lost, 5-4.

“No one really played to their potential,” said Mike Oetinger, a junior shortstop. “We didn’t have many hits.”

Hatch disagreed.

“We played well,” he said. “We only made four errors the whole week. And on those fields, that’s not bad.”

The Dana Hills players said that after their games, they were besieged by autograph seekers, pennant traders and baseball collectors.

“The Costa Ricans get WGN (a Chicago superstation) down here,” Canary said. “So the people have always been Cub fans. But now it looks like they have a new team to get excited about.”

Call it La Delfinemania.