Defending champs aiming to have fun, and win
For many of the girls who come from around the country and across the globe to play in the Senior League Softball World Series at Roxana, it’s the sport and the competition that’s exciting. As an added bonus, many make new friends, and some get to experience a new country and culture.
Coastal Point • Monica Fleming
Latin America's team from ASOFEM Little League, Maunabo, Puerto Rico flanked by their coaches and manager.
A select few even get to defend an already-earned world championship.
The Latin American team, from Manuabo, Puerto Rico, won the 2008 Senior League World Series in Roxana. This week, team manager Carlos Garcia arrived at the Pyle Center and the first thing he did was touch the ground.
“I prayed to God we’d be able to make it again,” Garcia said through team interpreter (and World Series volunteer) Maria Gonzalez. “The first thing I did when I got here was touch ground, as it’s my good luck charm.”
And make it the Puerto Rican team did. After beating out Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Aruba and Curazo, the Manuabo team got the chance to defend their 2008 championship.
Not that winning is anything new to them. Last year, the girls took home the title in Roxana and, before that, in 2007, Garcia won the Junior League World Series in Seattle. The only world title he hasn’t won as a manager of a Little League-affiliated team is the Little League World Championship, and “I’m after it!” he exclaimed.
The Maunabo teams are also celebrating their 10th anniversary of Little League softball this year. In 10 years, in all age groups, they have won 28 Puerto Rican championships and 19 Latin American championships, have had 20 world championship participants, have placed five times in world championships – and have gone all the way and been named world champions four times: in 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2008.
As for the players that make up those teams, many of the Senior League girls have been playing softball for years.
For instance, this is the second – and final – year at Roxana as a Senior Leaguer for starting pitcher Nemesis Vega, 16. She has also been to Portland, Ore., once and been twice to Seattle, Wash. – once in 2007, when the Junior League team won it all. She got her start as an 8-year-old and also plays school ball.
Vega said last year’s win was a great experience and, even though they got home late from the airport, they still had people waiting for them, ready with their congratulations. She has plans to go into accounting or chemistry after she finishes her senior year of high school this year.
Fellow pitcher Dayanne Solivan, who was accompanied to Roxana by her family, said the best part about the week of competition is the trip and getting to meet the other girls. Solivan, who described playing softball is one of her hobbies, has plans to go into social work and is proud of this year’s team.
For Glorily Lozado, team captain, also 16 and a veteran at Roxana – she played on last year’s winning team – the experience of winning really does make a difference. Lozado, who is heavily involved in Senior League play in Puerto Rico, has been playing softball since age 10 and baseball since she was 7. She plays third base and catcher. She has plans to be an engineer, but if that doesn’t pan out, she said she would like to continue with her softball career. Asked what people might not know about the 2008 defending champions, Lozado didn’t mince words.
“People had low expectations of us, and all those expectations, we have overcome. We have proved ourselves over and over.”
As can be expected, it’s a long road to the World Series for any team. Garcia’s team has a season that runs from December through May. Four teams from their small town are chosen, and then girls are chosen to play territory-wide. After defeating the other teams in their region, they are picked as the Latin American team to compete in the World Series. In July, Garcia and her teammates found out that they had made it again this year.
In addition to their supporters back home, who will be watching on TV should the girls get to the final game, this year, the team has lots of familial support in Roxana, as well as their leadership from manager Garcia and coaches Ramon Pinto and Angel Alicea. They have five mothers who traveled with the team, and two dads. They also have numerous relatives that live in the United States, including in nearby cities such as Philadelphia, who have accompanied them to Roxana.
Janet Virola, mother of catcher Linda, No. 10, is visiting the United States for the first time as a team mom. After a tiring first day consisting of a plane ride and driving, the team has settled into lower Delaware.
“I’m liking it,” she said through Gonzalez. “Softball is huge where we come from, and I am very proud.” She explained that Linda played baseball since she was 8 years old, before she switched to softball.
As a team mom, Virola is responsible for watching after the girls, making sure they clean up after themselves, “lots of discipline” and helping out the organization in any way. She said she is enjoying her time in Delaware, and the people are nice, although she gets a little lost in translation.
“I’d like to learn English, but the people are very friendly and I love the scenery,” she said.
Winning, of course, is always a distant goal, but for many of the people involved with Senior League Softball’s World Series, there are plenty of other things that are just as important: meeting new people, seeing new places and experiencing new things. Virola added that the time in Delaware with her daughter is priceless.
“[This experience] is awesome,” she said. “It’s been a dream to be able to accompany my daughter, and I am very proud.”
Besides touching ground, Garcia said the team has other traditions or “good luck charms,” mostly saying a prayer for themselves and the other teams. He emphasized that it is not about the competition as much as the camaraderie.
“It’s not really the championship they’re after as much as it is meeting new people and making friends, and, if we win, well, that’s just an added bonus.”
Vega, who is at Roxana for the second time as a defending world champion and who is at the end her Senior League career as a 16-year-old, had a slightly different take on why she’s here.
“I came to win,” she said with a smile.
Team interpreter Maria Gonzalez is from Millsboro. This year is the second year Gonzalez has volunteered with the World Series. In addition to translating for the managers and coaches – and reporters – she acted as a team chaperone and bus driver.
