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From the start of the game and until the last minute of their participation on the field, the Venezuelans fans crowded the stadium to support the members of the national team, which fought bravely in the 12th Women’s Softball Championship, which will end on Friday at the Independencia Stadium in La Rinconada.
In each of Venezuela’s games, stadium was filled with fans of th “National Heroines,” which reciprocated with six victories, the best performance of the Venezuelan national team in any softball championship.
Until the last minute of the game against China, when all options for classification were lost, the crowd was into the game and vibrated with excitement for Kim Wright’s team. In each play, the fans made themselves heard, with great discipline and Venezuelan pride.
Surprising support
To the amazement of millions of Venezuelans who followed the game against China on television, and for the almost seven thousand fans at the stadium in La Rinconada, the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Rafael Chávez, showed up at the locals’ dugout to join the support, rooting for the team in every play and every at bat.
The public appreciated the gesture by the President, of supporting the national softball team. By his side, there was former People’s Minister for Sport, Victoria Mata, chief organizer of this major event held in Caracas.
Thousands of people from different regions of the country, not only Caracas and surroundings, went to the games, including the players’ relatives and friends, and of course thousands of fans.
Other people came to the stadium in La Rinconada "to witness a historic event, unprecedented in the region, which perhaps will be done again after a long time, and which has served to show the world that Venezuela can do things in an organized way and with great talent,” affirmed Luis Gómez, a softball man with over 50 years of experience.
They fought with dignity
Based on the opinion of many people at the stadium, we were able to confirm the satisfaction they feel with having seen their national team’s performance and with the organization of an event which makes us all proud.
"The truth is, the performance of Mariangee Bogado, María Soto, Johanna Gómez, Yubirí Alicart and all the other players in the team was very good, and they fought to win, but that difference in experience, tradition, of the teams which ended ahead of us is worth taking into consideration. But we have improved tremendously in the recent past," said Jesús Herrera.
The 12th Women’s Softball Championship excited children, youngsters and grownups from all over Venezuela. The organization moved them and made them feel proud to be Venezuelans.
"This has been beautiful, I wish we could have a similar event in the near future. We all felt close and united because of this championship and the national team will be able to have an outstanding performance in any other competition. Thank God we were able to come to some of the games and that Venezuela has such good players," commented eleven-year-old Oriana Durán.
While Edliet Mujica and Marco Canino, from Teques, praised the level of the participants and claimed that the security, discipline and good behavior of the public, ratify that good things “like this 12th Women’s Softball Championship give us a good image as a country and really make us all Venezuelans proud."
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Locals got full support
