SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — As the Sweetwater Valley team paraded around the field during the Little League Baseball World Series opening ceremony on Wednesday, their families stood in the stands to cheer them on.
They were not alone. Rows of boisterous, green-clad fans sitting next to them did the same.
“Bonita, Bonita, Bonita!” they chanted, loud enough to be heard across Volunteer Stadium, home of the Little League World Series.
Fans of the Tijuana Municipal team, representing Mexico, showed up in full force for their neighbors — and vice versa.
It’s a gesture of mutual support between two Little Leagues separated by just 13 1/2 miles.
Both Tijuana Municipal and Sweetwater Valley were supposed to start LLWS play on Thursday, but rain forced a postponement. The teams will instead open play on Friday morning (see box).
“I think it’s a great representation of Southern California/Tijuana baseball,” said Sweetwater Valley coach Steve Winnick. “A lot of these boys have played travel ball baseball here. They know each other, they are friends with each other. It’s really cool to see the high-level baseball concentrated in that area.”
Mexico fans cheer during the Little League World Series Opening Ceremonies at Little League International Complex on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The bond between the teams stood out as they readied for the opening ceremony. The Mexico and West Region teams were fittingly placed next to each other.
While waiting to enter the 5,000-seat stadium, the players from both teams laughed and chatted in English and Spanish, played rock-paper-scissors and lined up for a photo together.
For many, it is a sense of community that people living at the U.S.-Mexico border share.
Liliana Pino, mother of Sweetwater Valley player Sebastian Pino, grew up in Tijuana and moved to the U.S. when she was 7 years old. But she said she never lost her connection south of the border.
“We have a border separating us,” she said, “but for many of us, it’s more like an invisible line.”
Family ties also cross the border.
Sweetwater Valley star Noah Kirk, for example, is cousins with Toronto Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk. The big-leaguer played Little League at Tijuana Municipal.
Friends Katherine Olmos and Jessica Aguirre strolled around the Little League International Complex on Wednesday. Olmos, the mother of Gael Santamaría, was wearing a Mexico shirt. Aguirre, the mother of Isaac Ramírez, wore one from the West Region. They became friends about five years ago when their kids competed in a tournament in Tijuana.
Aguirre said that many kids on the Sweetwater Valley and Tijuana Municipal teams met each other the same way.
“This is already a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” she said. “But being here with the players (our kids) grew up playing baseball with, even though on different teams, is something very special.”
Sweetwater Valley, representing the U.S. West Region, players wave to fans during the Little League World Series Opening Ceremonies at Little League International Complex on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Some players from both teams, including Ramírez, either play or used to play together on the Chula Vista Rhinos travel team. Winnick coached Tijuana’s Emiliano Kerber and Santamaría on the Grind Baseball San Diego travel team.
“It’s great, but I’m also nervous,” said Tijuana Municipal player Jean Paul Lavenant about playing on a different team than Sweetwater Valley’s Ramírez and Jesús Cuadra, whom he once shared the field with.
The same goes for Tijuana’s Gareth García, who said he has known the Sweetwater Valley players for years. “They play very good baseball,” he said.
The Little League World Series splits 20 teams into two brackets, International and United States.
The only way Sweetwater Valley and Tijuana Municipal would play each other is if both make the Aug. 30 final.
“It would be a magnificent championship game. Just imagine,” said Francisco Fimbres, coach of Tijuana Municipal. “We’d love that. Hopefully, we can both make it.”
Box: Rain washes away LLWS openers
Both Tijuana Municipal and Sweetwater Valley will open Little League World Series play on Friday morning after Thursday’s games were rained out.
Tijuana Municipal will play Australia at 6 a.m. PDT Friday in a game that will not be televised. Sweetwater Valley will play Davenport, Iowa at 9 a.m. on ESPN2.
The games were rescheduled after thunderstorms swept through South Williamsport, Pa., home of the two-week tournament.
“It was a bit frustrating,” Tijuana Municipal coach Francisco Fimbres said. “We had the excitement of the first game, the enthusiasm, the energy (…) But, well, Tláloc (the god of rain) didn’t want us to play today, so we’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”
Fimbres said the players are disappointed that Friday’s game won’t air on TV, but understand that certain things are out of their control.
“They had hoped that their grandparents, uncles and aunts, siblings, and friends would watch them on TV,” he said.