The underdogs have traveled a long way to reach Athens – 53 years and 1,015 miles don’t even begin to describe the journey of the “little giants” from Monterrey, Mexico. 

However, their incredible story is balanced on more than the backs of an undersized Little League team – producers, entrepreneurs and Terry business students have all had a hand in giving indie film “The Perfect Game” a voice. 

Tonight, the film will play to a soundtrack of “Attaboy” and the whack of bats smacking baseballs out of the park in front of Sanford Auditorium’s audience, including local Little League teams, the Diamond Dogs and their coach David Perno. 

Students are invited to attend the special screening of “The Perfect Game” – in theaters nationwide April 16 – for free.

Every step of this story has proven that the underdogs ultimately prevail. It begins with a simple dream.

Meet the “little giants” of Monterrey, Mexico, circa 1957. The names are familiar: Koufax, Campanella, Snider — a triumvirate of talented players on the Brooklyn Dodgers roster at the time. The faces, however, are not.

The 12-year-olds, sons of impoverished steel mill workers, are on average 35 pounds lighter and six inches shorter than the average Little League player. They play with tree branches and balls made from yarn. 

All they want to do is play one real game of baseball in real uniforms on a real baseball diamond on American soil, even if it means losing the game. They call each other the names of their heroes. The great pitching legend “Koufax” is really Angel Macias, a boy who shares this dream and strives to make it a reality.

“All they expected to do was live their dream,” producer Christian Tureaud, said. “They ended up winning.”

 The true story unfolds even further than one game. But telling this story was just as hard as creating Little League history in the first place. 

Terry’s innovative Entrepreneurship Program discovered the independent film, in the can for two years due to a lack of funds, through a mutual connection with Digital College Network Studios. 

Dill Driscoll, Terry’s Entrepreneur in Residence, works with DCN, of which producers Tureaud and David Salzberg happen to be co-presidents.

After speaking with Tureaud and Salzberg about the film, Driscoll knew that even on short notice, it was a perfect project for his Terry Entrepreneurship Club “Team 1430.” 

“This movie is going to be the ‘Rocky’ of your generation,” Driscoll said. “How cool is that?” 

The dedicated students on Team 1430 turned the special screening event into a possibility in a week, promoting the film through social networking sites, writing press releases and coordinating the guest list.

They have also organized a Q&A session in Sanford 314 with the producers before the screening, geared especially towards film students. 

“It’s all happened pretty fast,” Kaitlin Kelly, a member of Team 1430, said. “Anybody that has ever played a sport or been that underdog will appreciate it.”

The film itself almost never happened. Hollywood has tried to tell the story since it captivated America in the late ’50s, and the producers have faced a long road of adversity to make it happen, from collecting the talent to scouting marketing to raising all of the money, only to have it crumble in the face of economic recession two years ago. 

Driven, they started all over because Tureaud and Salzberg were passionate about sharing one of baseball’s greatest untold stories. When the film premiered in Monterrey, Tureaud described it as “the second coming of The Beatles.” 

Now, “The Perfect Game” will be receiving the red carpet treatment on North Campus before it debuts across the nation.

“It’s the ultimate underdog story,” Tureaud said. “While it tackles racism and sexism, it’s also about kids living their dreams and inspiring other kids to live their dreams. The world needs positive messages right now. We need things to make us feel good.”

When: 7:15 tonight, Q&A at 5:30 p.m.

Where: Screening in Sanford Hall Auditorium 213, Q&A Sanford 314

Price: Free, but tickets on a first-come, first-serve basis. Free snacks as well.