Delayed rally: Mexico scores 5 in bottom of 7th in comeback win over Germany
Mexico scores 5 in bottom of 7th in comeback win over Germany
Paderborn, Germany was on the verge of becoming the first European Zone team to win multiple games in the Pony League World Series.
Paderborn, however, never got the final out.
Navojoa, Mexico put together an unlikely and remarkable comeback in the bottom of the seventh inning, scoring five runs to rally and beat Paderborn 6-5 in a rain-soaked opening game at the Pony League World Series on Monday.
The game had a rain delay of five hours and 25 minutes in the third inning, when Paderborn led 5-0.
Navoja scored the winning run when Santiago Almada beat out an infield single into the hole at shortstop, scoring Andres Munoz from third base with two outs.
“These kids, they never give up,” said Navojoa assistant coach Enrique Hinojosa. “They had that going for them. I think the nervousness for the kids went the other way at the end. This is a big tournament for all the teams and we felt the pressure early in the game. At the end, I think it went the other way.”
Paderborn had a chance to end the game but was unable to turn a ground ball into a double play, settling for one out. Navojoa then tied the score at 5-5 on a wild pitch, setting up Alamada’s game-winning infield single.
Navojoa’s Humberto Borquez was the winning pitcher with 5.1 scoreless innings of relief. He allowed only one hit and one walk. Araiza struck out 12.
“He was our MVP of that game,” Hinojosa said. “He stopped the leaking.”
After both teams went down in order in the first inning, Paderborn batted around in a five-run second inning.
A walk and a pair of soft hits from Joschua Butt and Ben Nussbaum set Germany up with the bases loaded. A pair of wild pitches scored the first two runs, before a sacrifice bunt from Tizian Sulilatu brought in the third.
Back-to-back strikeouts gave Navojoa an opportunity to get out of the inning, but consecutive walks by starting pitcher Mauricio Araiza kept the inning going and a fourth run scored.
Mexico manager Aristeo Munoz made the decision to lift Araiza and brought in Borquez. His first pitch resulted in a passed ball, scoring the inning’s final run before a strikeout ended the frame.
With one out in the bottom of the third, Santiago Almada gave Navojoa its first hit on an infield grounder.
After a passed ball and a walk, Mexico had its first threat with runners on the corners, but with a 1-0 count on Jesus Valenzuela, the game was stopped because of rain.
With the delay, Germany removed starting pitcher Robin Meermeyer and moved Matthes Schwarcke over from third base to the mound.
Once the game resumed after the lengthy delay, the threat was quickly extinguished as Paderborn catcher Tizian Sulilatu back-picked the runner at third before Schwarcke coaxed a flyout to end the frame.
Navojoa’s offense finally cracked the scoreboard in the fourth because of a two-out hit from Luis Enriquez that scored Diego Ruiz.
After throwing a third hitless inning, Borquez led off the Mexico fifth with a base hit. A pair of free passes loaded the bases but Cesar Mendivil, who entered as a courtesy runner for Borquez, was cut down trying to score on a pitch past the catcher. A strikeout and flyout ended the threat as Navojoa squandered its best opportunity to that point.
Borquez had an excellent effort in relief and threw an immaculate seventh inning, striking out the side on nine pitches. He also added a hit and two walks at the plate.
West Covina, 5-3
Jayden Corzantes hit a two-run walk-off homer, his second round-tripper of the game, that gave West Covina, Calif. a 5-3 victory over Hidalgo, Texas in the second elimination game of the day.
The home run came in the bottom of the fifth inning. It was predetermined that the game would be a five-inning contest to keep the world series on schedule.
Corzantes’ dramatics came after Hidalgo’s Josiah Ruiz provided some for his team. With Hidalgo down to its final strike, Ruiz hit a game-tying three-run homer to left field on an 0-2 pitch that kept the South Zone champion’s season alive.
West Covina’s Travis Partida led off the bottom of the fifth with a line-drive single up the middle and Corzantes followed with his game-winning blast to left centerfield.
Corzantes hit a solo homer, to almost the same spot in the field, in the third inning to give West Covina a 3-0 lead. Brandon Chavez opened the scoring with a two-run homer in the first inning.
West Covina pitcher Aaron Morales retired the first 10 Hidalgo batters. He threw a five-hitter and struck out eight.
Wrest Covina will play another elimination game at 12:30 p.m. today.
Two other games Washington County vs. Puerto Rico and Chinese Taipei vs. Hagerstown, Maryland were scheduled to be played later Monday night. Those two games did not end in time to be included in this edition.
Sports editor Chris Dugan contributed to this story.