Venezuelans Win Little League Title

The team from Maracaibo, Venezuela, is going home with a big haul: the Little League World Series title, after Saturday’s 3-2 win over Bellaire, Texas, and an entire shipment of new bats.

Only in America.

Maracaibo, which arrived in central Pennsylvania with only one bat, got new ones through donations from equipment companies, and used those acquisitions to full effect.

“He hasn’t used that bat anymore,” said Luis Sanchez, interpreting for Maracaibo Manager Eduvino Quevedo. “He soon found out that the other bats were more explosive.”

It wasn’t Maracaibo’s bats that clinched the title, as two wild pitches and an error led to its three runs.

Ruben Mavarez pitched a four-hitter, struck out six and also doubled and scored as Venezuela claimed its second World Series championship in six years and fifth overall for Latin America.

The game ended in dramatic fashion. Bellaire missed a chance to tie the score in the bottom of the sixth when Alex Atherton singled and Nick Wills hit a two-out single, advancing Atherton to third.

With the crowd of 42,000 standing, Mavarez ended the game--and threw his glove in the air--by striking out Hunter Johnson.