Only Joy South of the Border

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

“Unfortunately, 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 continuously 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. And he did.

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 Series championship game with a flourish, hundreds of tearful and exuberant fans clogged the streets fronting the field, waving Mexican 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.”

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

“I am so happy, I can’t put it into words,” he said, wiping tears from his eyes. 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 the 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 hero’s welcome, starting with mariachis at the airport, and an open-truck parade that will wind through the main plaza of this city of three 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.”

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

“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.”

So it went until the final inning.

“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.”