Tuesday, August 21, 2001
Russians overcome obstacles
Associated Press
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - Overlooking Little League's
Howard J. Lamade Stadium, 11-year-old Alexey Kobrinets said the
biggest difference between baseball in the United States and back
home in Russia isn't the well-kept fields or the high-quality
equipment.
It's the attitude.
"Nobody cares about baseball in Russia," Kobrinets said
through manager and translator Vladimir Eltchaninov. "Everyone is
playing soccer."
Thanks to a team from Moscow, that might soon change.
Ten years after a failed coup ushered in a new political era in
the former Soviet Union, Kobrinets and his teammates are writing a
new chapter in Russian sports history as the first team from the
region to compete in the Little League World Series.
The Khovrino Little League from Moscow is the leading edge of a
new age in Russian baseball, said Eltchaninov, who learned the game
in New York when his parents worked for the Soviet government. It
began in 1986, when the Soviet Union created a baseball federation
to support Olympic competition and grew when the first Russian
Little League was formed 10 years ago.
"There were some Russian players before," Eltchaninov said.
"Most came from other sports, like (team) handball. There's still
not many, and in Moscow there are only maybe eight teams. But maybe
this will make more people interested."
The barriers to competition in Russia can be substantial.
Eltchaninov's team practices and plays its games in an open field
in a city park without backstops or baselines, where they sometimes
have to stop play so that pedestrians and their pets can cross.
"Compared to this one, we don't have a field," said infielder
Sergei Volkov, looking at Lamade Stadium.
The Russians arrived in South Williamsport without baseball
shoes, with only one set of catcher's gear (teams can't warm up a
pitcher unless there's a catcher in full gear) and without a light
bat for the smaller players. So locals and parents from U.S. teams,
led by a group from Oceanside, Calif., pitched in to buy the team
nearly $1,000 in new equipment.
They got this far not by wearing the best shoes, but by playing
good baseball. At the Europe Region qualifying tournament in Kotna,
Poland, the Russians defeated Georgia 12-2 to win the World Series
berth. In eight games, they outscored their opponents 74-12.
Nikolai Lobanov, a fastball pitcher, gave up only four runs in
16 innings at Kotna, and shortstop Kirill Chermoshentsev is one of
the best fielders at the series this year. Catcher Tatiana Maltseva
also has become a fan favorite as the only girl in this year's
series.
"I don't underestimate those kids," Guam manager Ramon Aguon
Jr. said after his team beat Russia 5-0 Monday. "They play their
hearts out, and they're well-disciplined. We committed three
errors, and they didn't commit any."
Russia didn't fare well in the competition, opening Saturday
with a 5-1 loss to Canada, then losing to Guam. Russia lost its
final game Tuesday, 2-0 to Mexico.
This might not be their last chance. Chermoshentsev and
Kobrinets are two of four team members young enough to return next
year. Only one team, Panama, has more players young enough to
return.
"We feel that our team is good enough to play with these
teams," Eltchaninov said.
If the swimming pool and the video games are a distraction,
that's OK, said Eltchaninov, who would like to take his team to a
New York Yankees game before they return to Russia.
"All our kids are not focused on baseball now," Eltchaninov
said. "But we don't think that's bad, because they're not
professional ballplayers - they're just kids. This whole trip is a
good experience for them."
