Once again, the Little League World Series has shown us sportsmanship isn’t dead.
The latest evidence came Monday night after Venezuela beat the Dominican Republic, 3-2, in thrilling — yet heartbreaking — fashion.
Dominican pitcher Edward Uceta, one of the breakout stars of the 2017 LLWS, surrendered a walk-off triple to Venezuela’s Omar Romero in the sixth inning. As Venezuela celebrated, Uceta, understandably, broke down on the mound. But thanks to an unlikely source, he didn’t stay down for too long.
The crazy think about this is that Uceta was first consoled by the opposing coaches and players, rather than his own team. But the awesome gesture didn’t go unnoticed by the Dominican Republic manager Jose Cordero.
“We’re all Latino, we’re brothers,” Cordero told ESPN after the game. ” …Â That little boy (Uceta) has a very big heart. If I talk too much about him, I start to tear up.”
With the win, Venezuela earned the right to face Mexico in an elimination game, which will take place at 3 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
