LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES : Cypress Pitchers Cordero, Brito Put Their Rivalry on Hold

The slate-gray skies hung over Howard J. Lamade Stadium like a damp mop Wednesday afternoon, making the second day of the Little League World Series a soggy experience. But Kerry Cordero didn’t mind. As a 12-year-old in the midst of youth baseball nirvana, Cordero was too busy beaming to notice anything dreary.

Despite the rain delay and eventual postponement of Wednesday’s quarterfinal game between Shippensburg, Pa., and Mobile, Ala., Cordero and his Cypress Little League teammates found plenty of excitement just being in a place they never thought they’d be.

“All of us thought we’d lose in the first round (of last week’s Western Regional tournament),” said 12-year-old outfielder Matt Mims, who had “WIN IT ALL, WEST!!” printed in his palm.

“I mean, all of us knew we had good pitching and stuff,” Mims said. “But Cypress has never even gotten close to Williamsport.”

Cypress is scheduled to play at 2 p.m. (PDT) today against the winner of Shippensburg vs. Mobile--a game that Shippensburg led, 3-0, Wednesday before it was postponed in the middle of the third inning. A victory would put Cypress in the final, scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday. There is a 70% chance of rain today and Friday.

The Shippensburg-Mobile game will resume at 10 a.m. today. Forty-five minutes after the conclusion of that game, Ramstein Air Force Base of West Germany will play Tainan County of Chinese Taipei in the last quarterfinal. Then, if the weather cooperates, Cypress will meet Shippensburg or Mobile.

Bobby Brito (8-0) will pitch for Cypress. Cordero, who struck out 12 in a 9-0 victory over Brooklyn, Mich., Tuesday, will catch.

The Brito-Cordero rotation--each catches for the other--has been extremely effective for Cypress (20-1) this year, Cypress Manager Gary Shelton said.

“I don’t have one No. 1 pitcher,” he said. “I really have two No. 1s.” Shelton said Damon Katz, the team’s starting shortstop, also contributes on the mound.

Until the Cypress All-Star team was formed this summer, Brito and Cordero were rivals. Cordero pitched for the Cypress Expos and Brito for the Cypress Cardinals. They respected each other, so joining forces wasn’t a problem.

“I always thought he was good,” Cordero said. “I lost to him once, but that was because I pulled a groin muscle. We were always friendly rivals.”

Now, they’re partners in arms.

“They’re very helpful and informative with each other,” said Charles Cordero, Kerry’s father and the team’s pitching coach. “When one of them gets flustered, the other goes up to the mound and talks it out. I tell them to talk about anything up there, just not anything about baseball. Just get the other to relax.”

Charles Cordero got his son started in baseball two years ago, after the family moved to Cypress from Long Island, N.Y.

“I’m a baseball fanatic, but I never push my sons,” said Cordero, who wears his hair long like his son and has a gold hoop earring in one ear.

“But I knew Kerry was going to be a good athlete. He used to throw a Frisbee with accuracy when he was 3 years old.”

The elder Cordero said Kerry and Brito both have great maturity on the mound. Their differences show mostly at the plate, where Brito, who bats third, has 40 home runs this season compared to seven for Cordero.

Brito, who is 5-feet-1 1/2 and 130 pounds, is the team’s power pitcher and hitter. Cordero, wiry at 5-4 and 109, averages 12 strikeouts a game with a fastball and curve.

Together, Brito, an intense competitor, and Cordero, a more easy-going athlete, give the team its punch. But the others contribute in their own way. Especially in the lucky charm department.

Mims, who recently recovered from a broken toe suffered in a bicycle accident, says he always wears the same lucky sock--a sock with a large hole that had been cut out when his toe was healing. The team has not lost since he started wearing it.

And Steve Martin, back-up first baseman, carries in his game cap a photo of his girlfriend.

“It’s lucky,” he said, “at least for me.”

Charles Cordero, who admitted he is wearing the same lucky shirt that he believes has helped the team through the playoffs, said the parents of the players are probably more worried about today’s game than their kids.

“The parents--they’re wrecks,” Cordero said. “When the kids step on the field, they just know one thing: to play ball.”