Our Own Bad News Bears

You have to marvel at the Cinderella story of an east-side baseball squad

The best sports story in Vancouver these days is 4,800 kilometres away in Val-d'Or, Que., where a team of youngsters forged on the mean streets of the city's east side is marching toward the Canadian Little League Championship.

Baseball being baseball, the Hastings Little Leaguers could still fall short, but they rampaged through the tournament's round robin with a perfect 5-0 record, outscoring their opponents from across the country, 81-15.

What's so great is that this is the first time in 30 years a team from the gritty Hastings side of the tracks has represented British Columbia at the national show. For years, the B.C. Little League crown has been the preserve of powerful squads from the well-manicured suburbs - Langley, Coquitlam, White Rock - where, in summertime, the living is easy.

Home diamond for the Vancouver crew is wedged in among the Playland amusement park, busy Hastings Street and the roar of traffic from the nearby Cassiar connector.

Now, they are just two games from Canadian Little League supremacy. For Cinderella fans, it's sort of like the Brooklyn Dodgers finally winning the World Series in 1955 by beating the hated New York Yankees.

As one might expect, the team reflects the area's rich cultural diversity. Look at the names: Lee, Wong, Carusi, Matsuda, Vincelli, Woo, Cusati, Burman. ... Then there's the team's first-sacker, Katherine Reyes. That's right. A girl. It doesn't get much better than that.