Matamoros Little League (Matamoros, Tamaulipas) is heading to Williamsport to represent the Mexico Region at the 75th Anniversary of the Little League Baseball® World Series (LLBWS) after defeating Municipal de Tijuana Little League Little League, 3-2, in the Mexico Region Championship to finish the tournament with a 6-1 record.
After getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the fifth to keep the game tied at 1-1, Matamoros Little League was able to use that momentum to score two runs of its own in the top of the sixth to take the late lead. Despite a one-out home run to cut the lead down to a run, Matamoros Little League held on to seal the championship title and its trip to Williamsport.
Matamoros Little League has been to the LLBWS on five other occasions dating back to its first in 1990, including most recently in 2018 when it won its first game against Australia before being knocked out of the winners’ bracket by the eventual international champions from South Korea. In 2008, Matamoros Little League had its best finish in the LLBWS, winning five straight games on the way to a runner-up finish in the championship game.
Matamoros Little League’s appearance in Williamsport will mark the 34th time a team from Mexico will play in the LLBWS. Overall, the country is 72-55 in LLBWS competition with four runner-up finishes, three third-place finishes, and three championships (1957, 1958, 1997). Mexico’s illustrious past in the LLBWS goes back to the country’s first World Series in 1957, where Industrial Little League (Monterrey) became the first international team to win the LLBWS with Angel Macias throwing the only perfect game ever in a championship game.
Matamoros Little League will play in Game 7 of the opening-round of the LLBWS against the Puerto Rico Region Champions, Guaynabo Baseball Little League, on Thursday, August 18, at 5 p.m. ET in Volunteer Stadium.
The 75th Anniversary celebration of the LLBWS will continue for the rest of the summer leading up to this year’s World Series in August. More information about the 2022 Little League World Series tournaments, including full schedules and downloadable brackets, can be found at LittleLeague.org/WorldSeries.