June 28, 2026
By Courtney Oakes
WESTMINSTER | With just a short time together, chemistry can be difficult to find for softball teams at the Triple Crown International Challenge.
The 18U Mexico team, however, looked like a well-oiled machine on its undefeated run that culminated Sunday evening at Christopher Fields when it claimed the 18U Gold championship.
A year after winning the Silver bracket of the same tournament, Mexico downed an also-hot Canada team 9-1 in five innings to claim the top bracket of a tournament that featured 22 teams. Cal State Long Beach commitment Lilianna Acosta threw a complete game and the Mexico team continued its relentless style of offense in a recipe of a dominant victory.
“It is difficult to have a cohesive team so quickly,” head coach Tony Delgado said, noting the extra time and financial commitment for the participating players, who have to arrive five days ahead of competition with their usual teams. “Some of these girls know each other, which helps, but the majority come from California. We have a girl from Washington and one from Houston, so they are from all over the place. They all committed to coming together and playing together and it’s a credit to them. Doing this is not easy.”
With a team cobbled together in part with last-minute additions to go with a handful of experienced International Challenge players in addition to come newcomers, Mexico went 3-0 in pool play, then dispatched Polynesia 10-4 and Japan 16-0 en route to the final, where it encountered a Canada team that rolled past USA 11-3 in the semifinals.
Team Canada got on the scoreboard in the opening frame when leadoff hitter Alexis Kyles walked, moved up on consecutive walks and scored on a wild pitch. Acosta got a fly out to strand two runners and limit the damage.
It turned out that would be the only real threat for Canada, which had only one player (Kyles again) reach scoring position in the subsequent four innings. Acosta adjusted after the opening inning and finished with four strikeouts in a two-hitter.
“I knew I had to switch speeds and hit corners, hit my spots because they were obviously hitting off USA,” Acosta said. “I also mixed in my change up to keep them off balance.”
Because of how Acosta pitched, in addition to a defense that made routine and outstanding plays throughout, a four-run first inning would give Mexico all the offense it needed to win the contest.
Elysse Diaz set the tone with a leadoff single against Canada starter Kwinci Brown, who then hit Johana Pina with a pitch and saw the bases full when Giselle De Casas reached on a fielder’s choice. Four straight hits — singles by Julyssa Jimenez, Acosta and Samantha Garcia, which were sandwiched around Ryleigh Pliego’s double — gave Mexico a 4-1 lead after just one frame.
The offense wouldn’t end there, however, as Delgado’s team scored at least one run against each of a parade of Canada pitchers — Brown, Lydia Berendt, Ashley James and Rylee Ruppel — to pull away. Pliego had a big blow in the second inning when she doubled in Diaz and Jimenez and then scored on Acosta’s single to expand the margin.
“We came up and really did our job in the boxes,” said Pliego, who was 3-for-3 with three RBI and scored three times.
“We had the power hitting, we had the bunting, the speed, really anything we needed,” she added.
Garcia hit a solo home run to open the third inning and Acosta picked up yet another RBI in the fourth inning to round out the scoring for Mexico’s offense, which totaled 58 runs in five games.
“I loved how my team backed me up with everything and I felt like I didn’t have any pressure on me at all,” Acosta said. “It feels amazing to win it all.”
Delgado — who coaches Southern California-based Batbusters Delgado — is a huge fan of the tournament and came away impressed with how well his team played given the circumstances.
“We had a lot of good innings and put up a lot of runs against some fantastic teams,” Delgado said. “We were just riding a wave and we were just hot. “We have a good balance in our offense. We mixed and matched and it just worked for us this weekend. …This is my favorite tournament, high school or travel ball. The energy is different, the competition is different and just the whole atmosphere makes it a fantastic event.”
