The baseball team from University of Tampa, The Spartans, has developed for a week a broad agenda that included the celebration of games and exchanges with students, artists and children of the island.
A review of the first days of the trip said that on Monday night they hosted a dinner where they invited Victor Mesa, director of the Matanzas team that right now is disputing the second stage of the LIII National Series. The former outfielder from Villa Clara invited them to attend a game of his team.
The group of visitors that includes , in addition to athletes and coaches, university staff and some parents shared last Tuesday with people gathered in the famous Central Park. In the preferred site for the eternal Havana baseball discussions, they chatted animatedly with those fans who gather daily at the side of the statue of Cuban National Hero José Martí.
The next day they played the first of the planned games. The Spartans, current kings of the second division of the NCAA circuit faced a team from the capital city’s Baseball Academy. The result favored the northern squad with the scoreboard showing a tight 2 to 1 victory. The Cuban Play website highlighted words by Spartans coach Joe Urso , after the game : “Sport brings people together… when you talk about the history of Tampa and the Cuban roots we have there , and have the opportunity to come here, winning or losing is not important . “
Meanwhile, the director of the Havana Academy team, José Luis Boss said : ” These exchanges are important because friendship helps much . There have been other teams who fraternized with other players from Cuba and others are joining this”
The American students visit concludes Sunday. For Friday they agreed to have a second match when they will face the Mayabeque team, which already ended its participation in this season of Cuban baseball.
