This is how all of Cuba wanted to see a national selection, whatever the category: combative, not giving up, even when there is one inning left, and they are losing by three.

This is how the lads of the team from the Greater of the Antilles behaved in the dispute for the bronze medal which, furthermore, meant qualification for the World Championship, from which the Caribbean island had been absent since 2021.

From José Ignacio Bermúdez, asking for the ball to start – on Friday he had a fateful sixth inning –, passing through the bat of Raider Sánchez, to the sensational relief of Yunier Batista, the squad managed by Danny Miranda was all courage.

«I asked for the ball, out of shame, I couldn’t be left with the image from the previous day, the team didn’t deserve this. The objective was to control the game, and although in the fourth inning our defence failed us tactically, costing us four runs, I knew my teammates wouldn’t stop fighting,» said an emotional Bermúdez.

«I’m good at bat, I just had to concentrate on the fact the bases were loaded, and that I was the man who could tie the game. I wanted that moment, I desired it, and when it was given to me, I couldn’t fail, not for me nor for my team, which has never stopped believing in me,» said the young Raider, who at 19 years old seems like a veteran.

His double against the centre field fences tied the game at four in the final act. However, they couldn’t score, to pressure the Mexican squad to come to bat in the seventh inning at a disadvantage.

But on the mound was the Avilanian star, the same Batista who carried his Ciego de Ávila team in the last Elite League. Now he did the same with the Cuba team, by hanging the last two zeros on the Mexicans, with a velocity that the stadium’s radar guns registered at up to 93 miles per hour.

«I assumed the role they gave me here, that of closer, and I prepared for that job of one or two innings. When Raider tied the game, I told myself: I am the arm my team needs. They called me, and the work came out. I am very happy to have fulfilled my duty to the rest of the ballplayers, to my manager, to my people, and to my family, which has never stopped supporting me and to whom I dedicate every pitch,» he said.

This team fulfilled the objective of qualifying for the World Cup, so that Cuban baseball would be in the world contests of all categories.

From Cuba, some fans expressed their joy to Granma: «it’s been a long time since we saw a national team react in that way»; «that is the Cuba we missed so much»; «wow, how happy I feel, I saw in them the spirit of Kindelán, Linares, Germán, Víctor Mesa, of Pedro Luis Lazo…, that is how you win,» was heard from an impromptu gathering in Santos Suárez.

«We came to be in the final. The game against Panama got away from us in one inning, and also due to the good work of their starting pitcher. However, the players didn’t stop fighting, and against Mexico they didn’t look lost even when we were down 4-0 in the fourth inning. That’s why I feel happy, because of the way they fought,» stated the Manager.

«But what they did here surpassed all my expectations, and stemmed from their unity with the management collective. I have to congratulate them for their discipline, and the group of coaches deserves a monument, for their sacrifice and their dedication.»

Miranda’s words encompass what in Panama was the Cuba family, that of baseball, that of national identity and cultural heritage.