10/10/2024 1 Minute Read

Valeria Sanchez: Mexico’s two-time Baseball5 World Cup star

The Mexico team with Valeria Sanchez, pictured with sun glasses, is the youngest in the tournament at an average of 17.75 years.

Valeria Sanchez competed in the WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup in Türkiye last year, leading Mexico to the bronze medal against the hosts. Now she is helping Mexico to try and equal or better her country’s fifth-place performance at the WBSC Baseball5 World Cup 2022 in Mexico City.

Two years ago, Mexico had the advantage of being the local team but with no players from the 2022 side featuring at the WBSC Baseball5 World Cup 2024 in Hong Kong, China, the world No. 7 is counting on their WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup 2023 experience where Sanchez and three of her teammates - Luis Bencomo, Eduardo Ochoa and Javier Santos - participated.

With Mexico having claimed three wins from five games during the Opening Round, including a 2-4, 3-1, 8-2 win over China, Sanchez is pleased with her team’s performance in Hong Kong so far, especially with the step up in the level of play compared to the WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup last year.

“With this tournament being an open category, the level of play is definitely higher, providing a great experience for us as a team," she explained. "The city, the experience, the wins, the losses, we learn from everything. For me, everything has been incredible.

“The organisation is very, very good, it’s very well organised. The city is beautiful. What we’re living is a great spectacle.”

Sanchez, at 18, is the third youngest in the side, which includes 15-year-old Frias and 16-year-old Ochoa along with two other 18-year-olds and two players aged 19 and 20.

Mexico has the youngest squad in the tournament with an average age of nearly 18.