Saudis Overwhelm Israelis--That’s Baseball

RAMSTEIN, West Germany — Saudi Arabian and Israeli children got together Sunday and made history of sorts.

The scene was a baseball diamond at the Ramstein U.S. Air Force base. The event was the European Little League championships, featuring teams of 11- and 12-year-old boys. Saudi Arabia beat Israel 50-0.

The match was believed to be the first of its kind between the two nations, which are officially at war with each other.

Israelis involved in organizing the game said there was “no politics, and the game was played in the true spirit of Little League baseball.”

The Saudi Arabian coaches, Americans Mark Tucker and Cornell Seymour, took a similar tack. “We are just happy to win,” Seymour said.

The Israelis, making their first international appearance in Little League, knew they had no chance against the Saudi Arabian squad, which has won the European title four times in recent years.

If a team is completely outclassed, the rules allow them to concede when they trail by 10 runs. But Israeli coach Larry Bleicher refused, even though the Saudis had already scored 13 runs in the first inning and 22 in the third on their way to victory, saying he wanted his team to have the practice.