Belen Little League headed to state tournament despite dealing with flooded fields

BELEN, N.M. — Both divisions of Belen Little League qualified for the New Mexico State Tournament this weekend despite missing a few practices due to their baseball field flooding.

The coaches are proud.

“I’m very happy with this team. This groups of kids are awesome,” said the Majors’ All Star team coach, Kevin Harvey. “Just the practices were just really smooth flowing. Little issues with teamwork. They worked well.”

The Majors is made up of players age 10 through 12, while the Minors team is players age 8 through 10.

Ricky Luna, the coach for the Minors, said, “this is probably the biggest stage they’ve been on so far.”

The coaches had to cancel practice and find other ways to train the athletes after flooding ruined the field.

“It’s been hard for the community just with what’s happened in the last few years with covid and the struggles we’ve had to even be out in the field or do anything,” Luna said.

The team returns to the field this week after the water was gone, but it still left behind a mess.

“Now, the way the field is now with the water settling and then drying up, big ruts in the field — it just makes it really hard to practice,” Harvey said.

But the Belen Eagles are ready to soar.

Watch the video above to hear from the players. To see the tournament bracket, click here.