By Jim Montecalvo

Staff writer

jmontecalvo@observer-reporter.com

Long Beach, Calif., continued its powerful hitting at the Pony League World Series Thursday night.

Two days removed from a 13-run outburst against host Washington, Long Beach pounded out 11 hits, including seven that went for extra bases, and eliminated Kingwood, Texas, 9-1 at Lew Hays Pony Field.

Long Beach will face Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico in Saturday's 1 p.m. championship game. It is the second consecutive year the West and Caribbean Zone champions have met in the final. Caguas, Puerto Rico, defeated Simi Valley, Calif., 4-2, in last year's title game.

"We have been playing very well and we came into the game very confident," Long Beach manager Rick Romo said. "We hit the ball well the game before and we just emphasized to the kids to put the ball in play and something will happen."

Kingwood took an early 1-0 lead when Jared Pinson walked, moved to second on a Sam Gee single and scored after two wild pitches in the top of the first.

From there, things didn't go well for Kingwood.

The South Zone champion had a chance to add to its lead in the second with runners on first and second and one out. Long Beach, however, used a cleanly turned double play to end the inning.

Kingwood hit into three double plays, committed three errors, hit a batter and walked four. It also had a runner thrown out trying to score on a wild pitch and another trying to score from second base on a single, one picked off at first base and one caught stealing.

"The team that makes the least amount of mistakes usually wins. That's what happened here," Kingwood manager Rusty Odom said. "We had mistakes on the basepaths and in the field and they outhit us."

Long Beach went ahead for good in the bottom of the second when Taylor Sparks led off and belted a long solo home run to left center field. Dylan Romo then reached on an error, was sacrificed to second and scored on Pat Merola's double. Merola was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a triple.

The West Zone champions added four more runs in the third to make the score 6-1. The inning proved to be Kingwood's undoing.

Sean Buckle doubled and scored on an error, Chris Hubbard came across on a wild pitch with the bases loaded and Preston Allred had a two-run double as Long Beach sent nine batters to the plate.

Long Beach loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the fourth, but Kingwood worked out of the jam as catcher Greg Williamson picked a runner off at first base and Trevor Odom struck out Sparks.

Long Beach, though, made it 7-1 in the fifth on Dylan Romo's home run to center field.

It was a much different game than the teams played in the first round when Long Beach escaped with a 7-6 win in nine innings.

"It's tough to come through the losers' bracket," Rick Romo said. "I think we just caught them when they were a little tired."

Hubbard pitched six innings to earn the win for Long Beach. He struck out five batters, and though he walked seven, got support from his defense when Kingwood hitters reached base.

"We knew we had Chris Hubbard, our ace, fresh," Romo said. "He's been our main person we've pitched, but we've had different people stepping up. That's why we were confident. We weren't relying on just one or two guys."

Long Beach added its final two runs in the sixth when Hubbard blasted a two-run home run to right-center field.

Notes

Buckle was 2-for-2 with two doubles and a walk before being replaced by a pinch hitter in the fifth inning. ... Erin Yevins was named Pony Princess. Yevins will be a freshman at Trinity High School.

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