Runner-up finish raises bar for Washington County Pony team
Not since 1998 had the host team reached the championship game of the Pony World Series before this year’s Washington County team did so.
It was a monumental shift for manager Anthony Wuenstel and his team. They have raised the bar for the host team.
For many years, the goal for players was to make the team and play in the World Series. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
The final year before the Founders League was conceived and created, when the team was composed solely from players from Washington Youth Baseball, it was a struggle just to get enough players to fill out the roster.
Not everyone wanted to give up a healthy portion of their summer to be a sacrificial lamb in the World Series. Maybe you could win a game. But when competing against organizations choosing from hundreds – if not thousands – of players when your pool is dozens doesn’t lend itself to success.
The players knew it. The fans knew it.
So, both stayed away.
But the Founders League and its success in the tournament have re-energized interest in the tournament both from players and from fans. It’s a great thing for Washington County and this year’s team upped the stakes.
While they finished with a 3-2 record as some previous Washington County teams had done, they took things one step further.
Previous entries had reached the bracket semifinals. This one reached the championship game and was down just 2-1 entering the seventh inning of that contest before things went awry.
This team competed on the world stage and competed well, showing the world that baseball is alive and well in Washington County.
And with the Founders League continuing to grow, it’s exciting to think about what the future holds.
Now we don’t have to hope to have a team make the championship once every two decades. The goal is to win the tournament each and every year. And it’s a goal that’s readily in sight.
n OK, so it was only one series and it came against players who are mostly backups for what promises to be a bad football team, but that does not discount what the Steelers’ first-team offense did last week in Tampa.
Kenny Pickett and company diced up Tampa Bay, going 83 yards for a touchdown in their only possession, with Pickett completing 6 of 7 passes for 70 yards and a touchdown.
They did that essentially running the same offensive plays they ran last season. They just ran them better.
That’s what has the Steelers and offensive coordinator Matt Canada so optimistic about where this team is going.
“I think we can be really good,” Canada said. “We’re going to keep quietly moving forward and doing one thing at a time but consistently getting better. We did all the things we did last year with our (starters), but it was clean, it was sharper. The execution was better. That’s the thing we’ve been talking about for a long time. I’m really excited about where we’re at and where we’re going.”
Another reason Canada is so excited is because the things the Steelers did at Raymond James Stadium didn’t include any of the tweaks and adjustments made this offseason.
Training camp at Saint Vincent College has now wrapped up, but for those who have been there on a daily basis watching this offense, what the Steelers did against the Buccaneers didn’t include a lot of what we’ve seen there.
There wasn’t a lot of pre-snap movement – something that’s been a staple of training camp practices. No. 3 receiver Allen Robinson, who has been really good in camp, didn’t get a pass thrown his way during that drive. Connor Heyward and Calvin Austin III, who also factor into what the offense will do, also weren’t used with the first unit.
And the Steelers really didn’t run the ball much, something that was a staple of the offense during the second half of last season.
The Steelers’ agenda in that game was to get Pickett some throws against an opposing defense. And he largely put the ball where it needed to go.
That’s what those expecting a big jump from the second-year quarterback in 2023 wanted to see.
n Rookie nose tackle Keeanu Benton was the Steelers’ third pick in this year’s draft, even though he was taken in the second round.
Though everyone has been keeping a close eye on first-round pick Broderick Jones at left tackle and cornerback Joey Porter Jr., the first pick of the second round, throughout the offseason and in training camp, it was Benton who was the most impressive in the preseason opener.
Benton, who played at Wisconsin, spent a healthy portion of his night in Tampa Bay’s backfield, disrupting running plays and making life tough on the Bucs.
He left the game in the second half with a slight ankle injury.
By the same token, Nick Herbig, Benton’s former teammate at Wisconsin and a fourth-round pick, was equally impressive, recording 1.5 sacks.
Wisconsin must be doing something right.