Guadalupe: Prayers answered in final moments, Mexican fans plan heroes’ welcome.

MONTERREY, Mexico — As he watched son Gabriel removed from the pitcher’s mound after allowing Mission Viejo to score its first three runs following a team error, Leobardo Alvarez quietly shared his disappointment.

“An error demoralizes the team, makes them nervous and distracted,” he said somberly from his home, which was filled with hand-wringing relatives of the Guadalupe Linda Vista Vaqueros.

“It was a good move,” he said as the phone rang continually with calls of consolation. “But it’s true, I feel the pain of my son.”

Just two innings later, however, Gabriel emerged a hero when he blasted the three-run, last-inning homer that evened the game and gave his family a moment they will never forget.

Breathless from jumping and shouting, Alvarez beamed. “I had faith that he’d come back and have a chance to make a difference,” he said.

Throughout the game, the people of this middle-class neighborhood kept the faith. And when the boys of Linda Vista pulled out of their slump to win the Little League World Championship with a flourish, hundreds of tearful and exuberant fans clogged the streets fronting the field, waving flags, blowing horns and shaking their heads in wonder.

“From the day they left here two weeks ago, we knew they would come home champions,” said Lupita Maldonado, whose nephew, Daniel Baca, scored one of four final-inning runs that would win the game. “And now, believe me, we’re going to celebrate.”

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Amid the festivities, Venancio Garcia, 13, whose brother Ricardo played third base, stood silently under a fresh 6-foot sign proclaiming the team “World Champions 1997!”

“I am so happy, I can’t put it into words,” he said, wiping away tears. He sighed and said, “To win this way, aah, I am exhausted.”

In downtown Monterrey, drivers honked their horns and flashed thumbs-up signs. In an upscale sports bar called Yes, 10 members of the Little League team that won for Monterrey in 1957 toasted the new champs, whose victory came 40 years to the day after their own.

“It will be a beautiful gift for us to see the little ones win again,” said Rafael Mario Estrello, who played right field on that winning team years ago, as Saturday’s game started. “It’s a great way for us to remember our own championship.”

The Vaqueros are due to return at 2 p.m. today to a heroes’ welcome, starting with mariachis at the airport and an open-truck parade that will wind through the main plaza of this city of 3 million.

Gov. Benjamin Clarion is scheduled to greet them. Then the procession will take them home to the tidy suburb of Guadalupe, about 10 minutes from downtown.

“Then who knows what will happen,” said Regina Marcos, Daniel Baca’s mother. “You can be sure there will be a party.”

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About 100 friends and neighbors monitored the game on large televisions set up at the Little League field. The few players’ parents who remained in town watched on two television sets at the Alvarez home.

The house filled with hopeful excitement at the first pitch, but the mood turned to grim desperation as Mission Viejo scored three runs in the fourth inning.

Alvarez fielded phone calls and viewed the game upstairs with his older son, Jose Lavardo, a Little League coach.

Alvarez moved his family to the Monterrey area from Tijuana nine years ago because of a job transfer. And Gabriel, who was only 3 at the time, soon caught the region’s obsession with baseball. He started playing at age 6, and, with most of his current teammates, helped the Linda Vista pee-wee league team become national champions two years ago.

“He wants to play in the majors,” said his father. “Well, maybe he will. But I told him, ‘You have to study hard first and see what happens.’ ”

Downstairs, three nervous team mothers and two grandmothers followed every painful moment on another television. They held each other’s arms and at several points dropped to their knees for a quick prayer.

“We all believe in God, and we know there are miracles, right?” said Baca’s grandmother, Juanita Rojas, at one particularly dark moment. “Well, now is the time.”

A moment later, she asked for a cigarette. “I haven’t smoked in 11 years but I need one now,” she said.

At times, it seemed the mothers were more nervous and spent than the players. Alicia Alejandro rubbed her arm and rocked in anguish when her son, Ricardo Garcia, struck out in the second inning.

“He’s my baby,” she cried, as others assured her that even in the big leagues, players occasionally strike out.

Garcia had another chance to be a hero two innings later, when he was walked to first, putting two on base. Luis Robles followed up with a bunt that loaded the bases. “Now, this is when we start,” Rojas exclaimed.

But two strikeouts later, the Linda Vista team was still without a run, and the tension in the silent room was palpable. “All right, everybody. This might seem strange, but if you all get nervous you will transmit it to them,” Lupita Maldonado said. “Be calm. Be happy.”

The room filled with smoke. Arms were crossed tightly. Rojas held a towel to her face, wiping sweat and tears and keeping her eyes off the television.

So it went until the final inning, with only one Linda Vista run to break the gloom, and then suddenly, a hit batsman, a walk and a home run by Alvarez.

Shouts of joy mixed with sobs.

“Si, se puede,” the mothers cried. “Yes, we can.”

Moments later, they were embracing friends in jubilation at the field.

“Tell the mothers in California I know how they feel, “ Alicia Alejandro said. “I am sorry for the other team because they played so well, and they’re only boys. But right now, I am so thrilled. I am happy more than anything. I just want to give Ricardo a big hug.”