Nicaraguan Baseball
Baseball is Nicaragua´s most popular sport. There are four teams in the professional league. León has a team so I recently made the trip out to visit the stadium with some of the professors and students from my school. Luckily, it was a playoff match-up against rival Chinandega, so the atmosphere at the park was pretty intense.
The stadium is a crumbling wooden and concrete structure, rather similar to an old minor league park in the States; it has lots of charm. By game time the place was packed with a capacity crowd of 8,000; fans squeezed onto the stairs and blocked the aisles. Women in aprons slide through the crowd, selling homemade quesillos, plastic bags of plantain chips, and boxes of pizza. For most of the game the crowd was chanting and dancing, and it became particularly intense in the area where the rival fans were located.
The progress of the game itself was likewise exciting. It was a well-pitched, scoreless affair until León got on the board in the 6th: It started with a hit batsman; the crowd climbed to its feet and screamed with delight for the baserunner on first. Then a throwing error made it runners at first and third with only one out; the crowd jumped up and down wildly with anticipation.
My immediate though: Gee, these people desperately want something to cheer about.
Well, they got it: Rivas that batter. One out, runners at the corners. Here´s the pitch: It´s a deep fly ball to left. It´s over the left fielder´s head. It´s over the wall! And now the fans are going absolutely beserk because Rivas and León have broken this game open, 3-0, in the bottom of the 6th innning.
But it wouldn´t be so easy. León gave back two runs in the top of the 7th, and carried a 3-2 lead into the 9th. But then their closer served up a one-out, solo shot to Chinandega: Shades of Armando Benitez. And the game was tied 3-3 going into the bottom of the 9th.
In the bottom of the inning, the lead off man Garth reached with a walk. He was quickly bunted to second. Then a strike out. With two down on and a runner on second, Yoni Lasso came to the plate. The standing crowd watched nervously as he worked the count. And then the climatic moment arrived:
Man on second, two down. Here´s the 2-1 pitch to Lasso: It´s a shallow fly ball to left. Here´s the left fielder charging. Here´s the ball sinking. It looks like he´s going to... No! It´s under his gove and past him. Garth is racing around third! He´s coming around to score! Would you believe it? León has won the ballgame 4-3 on Lasso´s RBI single with two out in the bottom of the 9th! I don´t think it could it possibly be louder in this stadium!
¡Viva León Jodido!
The stadium is a crumbling wooden and concrete structure, rather similar to an old minor league park in the States; it has lots of charm. By game time the place was packed with a capacity crowd of 8,000; fans squeezed onto the stairs and blocked the aisles. Women in aprons slide through the crowd, selling homemade quesillos, plastic bags of plantain chips, and boxes of pizza. For most of the game the crowd was chanting and dancing, and it became particularly intense in the area where the rival fans were located.
The progress of the game itself was likewise exciting. It was a well-pitched, scoreless affair until León got on the board in the 6th: It started with a hit batsman; the crowd climbed to its feet and screamed with delight for the baserunner on first. Then a throwing error made it runners at first and third with only one out; the crowd jumped up and down wildly with anticipation.
My immediate though: Gee, these people desperately want something to cheer about.
Well, they got it: Rivas that batter. One out, runners at the corners. Here´s the pitch: It´s a deep fly ball to left. It´s over the left fielder´s head. It´s over the wall! And now the fans are going absolutely beserk because Rivas and León have broken this game open, 3-0, in the bottom of the 6th innning.
But it wouldn´t be so easy. León gave back two runs in the top of the 7th, and carried a 3-2 lead into the 9th. But then their closer served up a one-out, solo shot to Chinandega: Shades of Armando Benitez. And the game was tied 3-3 going into the bottom of the 9th.
In the bottom of the inning, the lead off man Garth reached with a walk. He was quickly bunted to second. Then a strike out. With two down on and a runner on second, Yoni Lasso came to the plate. The standing crowd watched nervously as he worked the count. And then the climatic moment arrived:
Man on second, two down. Here´s the 2-1 pitch to Lasso: It´s a shallow fly ball to left. Here´s the left fielder charging. Here´s the ball sinking. It looks like he´s going to... No! It´s under his gove and past him. Garth is racing around third! He´s coming around to score! Would you believe it? León has won the ballgame 4-3 on Lasso´s RBI single with two out in the bottom of the 9th! I don´t think it could it possibly be louder in this stadium!
¡Viva León Jodido!
posted by Hayden @ 12:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home