Matchups set for Pony League World Series
Observer-Reporter
The field is set for the Pony League World Series.
The 10-team field was finalized over the weekend and there will be two teams from Western Pennsylvania in the tournament, along with four international qualifiers, including two from countries that have never before sent a qualifier to Washington.
Play begins Friday at Lew Hays Pony Field in Washington Park. Asia-Pacific Zone champion Chinese Taipei will play West Zone winner Simi Valley, Calif., in the opening game at 4:30 p.m.
Opening ceremonies will be held between games Friday.
The nightcap Friday has Host Area champion South Hills playing against East Zone winner The Bronx, N.Y. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.
South Hills, which is coached by former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Chris Peters, won the Host Area tournament, which was split into two brackets. South Hills won with a 7-1 record. South Hills won its opening game in a 17-0 rout, then lost 2-1 to Youngstown, Ohio. The loss put South Hills on the brink of elimination but it reeled off five consecutive wins, including two by one run. South Hills defeated Butler, 10-0, and 376 Pony League, 7-2, and followed those with a 13-3 victory over tournament host Mt. Lebanon.
In the Bracket A finals, South Hills defeated Youngstown twice, 6-5 and 13-6, and then beat Bracket B champion Johnstown, 6-5, to secure its spot in the Pony League World Series.
Washington County will play its first game at noon Saturday against Grosseto, Italy, the Francisco Cervelli Baseball Academy.
North Zone winner Bay County, Mich., will play South Zone champion Corpus Christi, Texas, at 2:30 p.m. Saturday followed by Monterrey, Mexico making its tournament debut at 5 p.m. against the winner of the Friday nightcap game.
Barranquilla, Colombia, which won the Caribbean Zone, will be the last team to play its opening game. Barranquilla will not play until Sunday at noon when it faces the winner of the Bay County-Corpus Christi game.
The series runs through Wednesday, when the championship game will be played at 7 p.m.
Ten games will be televised locally on SportsNet as well as some nationally on the NESN television platform.