#TIME WASTED ON LEAGUE CRACKED#

Suarez’s daughter, remembered her friend Eliahna, who was named an honorary All-Star during Sunday’s game. Throughout the week’s games and practice sessions, much of the time was spent reminiscing. “Outstanding effort from all of you,” Mr. By game’s end, they celebrated a 25 to 6 victory. The team proved unstoppable, scoring 23 runs to Devine’s three by the top of the third inning. But then the Uvalde players broke out into a familiar chant: “Everywhere we go, people want to know who we are,” they shouted.

The mood at first was solemn, with another period of silence for the dead. Suarez’s softball team for ages 10 to 12 took on their rivals from Devine, Texas. On Sunday, in one of the most anticipated games of the tournament, Mr. In an intense contest that stretched past midnight, Uvalde won 10-5. Then the Uvalde Junior League, for ages 12 to 14, took the field against the team from Jourdanton, Texas. Stotz Little League Community Award and a $5,000 grant to the Uvalde Little League, recognizing the deep community contributions of the group. “He is a victim of this tragedy too.”ĭuring Thursday’s opening ceremony, the Little League International organization awarded the 2022 Carl E. It is hard for them to understand what death means.” “I tried to explain that there is evil in this world and some people make evil choices. “He asked, ‘Mom, why would someone do something like this?’” she recalled. When they had attended Xavier’s funeral service a few days earlier, she said, Joaquin had a hard time with his emotions, especially after seeing his friend lying motionless in an open coffin, surrounded by flowers and Little League mementos. The boy, who played on the same team as Xavier, seemed to be in good spirits, she said, but then again it was hard to gauge what boys his age were thinking. Bueno watched with a mix of joy and worry as Joaquin tried to catch a ball during a practice game. “Getting back to normal when there is so much pain in this town.” She paused, then added, “You feel bad for trying to be happy.” “It feels like you are being selfish, you know?” said Erica Bueno, whose 9-year-old son, Joaquin, made it to the All-Star team.

Some parents wrestled with whether moving forward was the right decision. Suarez got to the last one, he found himself with tears streaming down his face. Suarez, who has been part of the league for two decades, helped place the portraits of the six fallen players on the wall of a dugout, each posing in a Little League uniform with a bat, forever 10 years old: Xavier Lopez, Tess Mata, Eliahna Torres, Alexandria Rubio, Jose Flores Jr. “In my mind, we are putting on this tournament for all of them.” “I reached out to a couple of counselors in town and asked them, ‘What do you think?’ They said that part of the healing process is getting people back to the level of continuity, a level of regularity as quickly as possible,” Mr. Although Uvalde had been chosen this spring to host the regional tournament, the May 24 shooting prompted the Uvalde Little League, which sponsors more than 620 children ages 4 to 15, to consider ceding the hosting privileges to another town.īut Matthew Hughes, a league board member whose daughter plays, said almost everyone they talked to, including parents of the fallen team players, agreed to go forward. The summer tournament almost did not happen. Rodriguez, whose 18 grandchildren have all played in the Uvalde Little League. “In a small town like this, there is not much to do.

#TIME WASTED ON LEAGUE CRACKED#

Leticia Rodriguez, 61, cracked a bittersweet smile, watching children and their parents form a long line to savor the fajitas she was cooking next to the concession stand.

Time wasted on league