Bases loaded. A tie score. The game on the line. And you’re in the batter’s box, one swing away from becoming a hero. It’s the kind of situation every Little Leaguer dreams about.
So nothing could have been more perfect for the Orioles’ Jorge Mateo than to smack that game-winning hit in front of thousands of young athletes in Williamsport, Pa., in the fifth annual Little League Classic. Mateo’s decisive three-run double broke a 2-2 tie and vaulted the O’s to a dramatic victory over the Red Sox on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.
The Birds showed the national TV audience, as well as the exuberant crowd of Little Leaguers from across the country, what O’s fans have known all season: this team is for real.