Aug 14, 2021 3 min read

Nothing calms the nerves or relaxes the soul better than a three-run first inning.

And when you can score five runs in the sixth inning, well it’s time to celebrate.

That’s what happened to Johnstown in its first game of the Pony League World Series Saturday at Lew Hays Pony field in Washington Park.

Johnstown added runs in the third and fourth innings in ripping Manchester, N.H., 10-3.

The victory sends Johnstown against Brownsville, Texas, at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Brownsville won an unusual 1-0 victory over San Jose, Calif., in a 10-inning game in Friday’s series opener. San Jose takes on Manchester, making its first appearance ever in the Pony League World Series, at noon, Sunday.

Johnstown, which made the tournament field by winning the Host Tournament, smacked nine hits in the game.

“It takes a load off,” said Johnstown manager Brian Oleska of the three-run first inning. “When you get three runs, now our pitcher is calmed down. It takes the nerves out of the ballgame.”

Johnstown jumped on Manchester starter Logan Whitney for those three runs. Aaron Smearman started it with a double to right-centerfield, followed by a double to left field by Ben Kormanski that drove in Smearman. 

Aaron Bowers walked and Lucas Oleksa, the manager’s son, doubled to right field to knock in Kormanski and Bowers, who was running on the play.

“They got us thinking,” said Manchester manager Micah Durham of Johnstown’s big first inning. “That’s a tough way to start.”

It got worse for Manchester.

Johnstown pushed across a run in the third on an error and a run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly for a 5-0 lead.

“We left a lot of guys on the pond,” said Oleksa. “We had guys who let strike three go by. But that’s all right because a lot of them have come through for us in the past.”

Manchester, which walked eight batters and hit three more, broke through for a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth to cut the lead to 5-3.

The big hit was a two-run single the centerfield that drove in Ryan Dutton, who got on via being hit by a pitch, and Henry Dubois, who walked to open the inning.

But Johnstown exploded for five runs in the sixth. Smearman and Kormanski scored on a single to left by Connor Jones. Lucas Oleksa brought in another run when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Colin Dinyar walked with the bases loaded to bring home Oleksa.

Johnstown had this game moved from Friday night because the opener between Brownsville, Texas, and San Jose, Calif., not only went 10 innings but was stopped two times for a lightning delay.

“We were ready to go last night, too,” said Brian Oleksa. “They were hungry to play baseball. So it was all good.”