Laredo rallies twice late
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter Washington County's Michael Parrish make it back to first base before Germany's Bryce Rearick van make the tag at the Pony League World Series on Sautrday, August 7, 2016.
A ball sits in a glove during a spring training baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds Sunday, March 27, 2016, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
It wasn’t a walk-off win, but it was close.
Guillermo Saucedo’s RBI single to left field in the top of the seventh inning cemented a 5-4 victory for Laredo, Texas, over Bay County, Mich., Saturday afternoon at Lew Hays Pony Field in Washington Park in Game 3 of the Pony League World Series.
Saucedo hit a soft liner to left field with two outs that scored Derrick Christman to put Laredo up in the top of the seventh and Christman had a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh to close it out.
Laredo, champions of the South Zone and Pony World Series champions in 2011, plays at 8 p.m., Monday. Bay County, the North Zone champion, falls into the losers’ bracket and will play at 5 p.m. today against Washington County.
The game was delayed for two hours because of the rain storms that passed through the area in the morning. The revamped schedule pushed Washington County into the 5:30 p.m. game televised by WPNT, The Point, in Pittsburgh. Chinese Taipei and Los Mochis, Mexico, originally scheduled for the televised game, played immediately after the Washington County-Paderborn, Germany, game.
This is the second consecutive time Laredo rallied to win. Laredo also did so in the finals of the South Zone tournament July 30.
“I have a tremendous confidence in my kids to come back,” said Laredo manager James Christman. “They never die. They never quit. We had a big comeback in the final of our zone tournament to get here. We went down six runs in the bottom of the second and won the game 9-8 against San Juan.”
Bay County made a two-run home run by starting pitcher Anthony Bernard stand for five innings, leading 2-1. Laredo took the lead in the top of the sixth when starting pitcher Sergio Galvan cracked a two-run home run to give the Texas team a 3-2 lead.
Just as quickly, Bay County got the lead back, scoring two runs on a single by catcher Taylor Popp off Christian.
“That’s the way it goes. If that game doesn’t excite you, you don’t have a pulse,” said Bay County manager Larry Kwapiszewski. “I thought (Bernard) was throwing good. Let’s face it. The winning hit (in the top of the seventh) wasn’t hit that hard. But hey, that’s baseball.”
Before Saucedo’s game-winner, Julio Taboada tied it with a slow grounder that was probably slowed a little more by the wet grass. He beat the throw from shortstop, allowing Jacob Alaniz, who opened the inning with a single and moved to third on a double by Derrick Christman, to score. Christman had three doubles and the two teams combined for eight.
“Winning game like this makes us believe,” said James Christman. “We know we can do it. We know that if we stay a little bit close, we can be in it.”
Kaden Kolson of Washington County won the Home Run Derby during the skills competition held Friday morning. He edged Peters Township’s John Salvitti 3-2 in a tiebreaker round. … Alan Villarreal of Laredo, Texas, won the Fastest Baserunner competition. Villarreal circled the bases in 13.74 seconds. … The Los Mochis, Mexico, team arrived in Washington after making a bus trip of more than 2,300 miles. … The umpire crews are from Washington and Allegheny counties and Youngstown, Ohio