The Diablillas de Hondzonot scored 15 runs against Selección Xuilub on Saturday afternoon and closed out their playoff series, putting the Tulum team into the Zona Maya women's softball final.
The game began at 1:30 p.m. on August 15 at the sports field in Hondzonot, the Maya community in the Tulum municipality that gives the team its name. It was Game 2 of the playoff round, and the 15 to 7 win was all the Diablillas needed to eliminate the visitors from Yucatán. There was no third game.
A month ago, the same roster came home from Nuevo León one run short of a national title. Now it plays a regional one against the team that spent most of the season at the top of the standings.
A 15 to 7 win that closed the series
The community field drew a heavy turnout, according to the tournament's account of the afternoon, which described a game of high quality in front of a crowd that came out for the decisive round.
Xuilub travels from Yucatán, and that is ordinary here. The Liga de Sóftbol Femenil Zona Maya crosses the state line, pulling teams from Maya communities on both sides of it, so a Saturday game on a village field in Tulum is a road trip for a good part of the league.
Bare feet, huipiles, and a full sideline in Hondzonot
The team is known well outside its own league. Most of the players are Maya women from the community; they play in embroidered huipiles, and many of them play barefoot. Photographers found that combination years ago, and since then the team has turned up in the national press and, this January, in a French magazine. It was also publicly recognized by then-president Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The huipiles are not a costume for the cameras. They are what the players wear to play.
None of that decides a playoff series. What it explains is why a game on a village field pulls the crowd it pulls.
July in Nuevo León, one out short
In mid-July, the Diablillas traveled to Hidalgo, Nuevo León, for a national quadrangular. They opened it by beating Diablas 10-2. In the championship game against Águilas, they were one out away from the title when the other side scored twice and won 6 to 5.
Manuel Jiménez, who manages the team, said after that tournament that his players had shown character and discipline against some of the strongest rivals in the field, and that the trip would help project talent from Hondzonot in national competition. They came home as runners-up. The trip also included a stop at the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame in Monterrey.
Piñeras de Chan Chen wait for the Diablillas de Hondzonot
Piñeras were leading the table in late June with four wins and one loss, while Hondzonot stood at four and two after beating Xocén-Tumben Ká 19 to 7. Both have now cleared the playoff round.
This is familiar ground. In January 2025, the Diablillas reached the same league's final after eliminating Laguneras de Popolnah in the playoff round.
The league describes a season of high participation in every round and reads it as growth for women's softball across the Maya zone.
No date yet
The organizers have not set the day or the hour for the final and said the information will be announced in due course. Supporters were asked to watch for the official announcement.
One final ended for this team in July, in Nuevo León, with two runs scored against them after they had gotten within an out of winning. The next one has a trophy, a rival from Chan Chen, and no date.
Will you be at the Zona Maya final in support of the Diablillas once the date is announced? Join the conversation and share your perspective with us on Instagram and Facebook at @thetulumtimes.