Washington County’s Pony run was ‘great ride’
About an hour after the final out of the Pony League World Series, the players from the Washington County team were still milling around on the field.
They were sharing hugs, handshakes and some tears, seemingly trying to soak up every last moment they could before the lights went out Wednesday night on Lew Hays Pony Field.
Though they had just endured a heart-wrenching 6-4 defeat to Chinese Taipei in the championship game, there were plenty of fond memories they’ll have from the few short days they spent together as teammates.
“I wouldn’t have wanted to do this with anyone else,” Washington County outfielder Carson Simmers said. “I hope to keep in touch with everybody. It was a great ride.”
Washington County played in front of big crowds in all four of their games and gave those who attended plenty to cheer about.
There were home runs, diving catches, and excellent pitching performances and losing in the championship game won’t whitewash those moments.
“They did the county very proud,” Washington County manager John Przybylinski said. “What I told them after the game is to be proud of what they’ve done but never settle for runner-up. Always strive to be No. 1.”
Chinese Taipei put forth an impressive run through the loser’s bracket after dropping its first game to Simi Valley, Calif. They won six elimination games, and four over the last two days of the tournament.
Though this year’s Washington County team fell short of becoming the first team from the county to win the Pony League World Series in 70 years, it produced plenty of thrilling moments.
In their first three games they scored 10 or more runs and won by mercy rule twice. They beat Italy in their first game and Corpus Christi, Texas twice.
Kaden Harkins and Lucas Daniels hit two home runs each. Harkins hit one in the championship game and had a walk-off homer in the win over Italy. Both of his homers were opposite-field shots over the right-field fence. Daniels hit two majestic homers out to left field.
Clint Havanis pitched a one-hitter in the second win over Corpus Christi, which clinched a spot in the championship game. Braxten Thompson started the game against Italy and the championship game and finished the tournament with 10 strikeouts.
All of the players signed many autographs for young kids and did not take for granted the atmosphere around them.
“I loved it,” Simmers said. “I’ll never forget this. It was awesome.”
Big week for PONY
For the Pony League World Series in general, it would’ve been hard to script a better tournament.
The weather was perfect aside from a short rain delay Wednesday morning when Chinese Taipei played Simi Valley in an elimination game to advance to the championship that night.
Washington County being in the title game also provided a boost.
“Having good weather and the Washington (County) team in the championship are the two successful ingredients to have a great week,” PONY Baseball president Abe Key said. “That being said, I have to tip my cap to Tournaments Incorporated, the sponsoring organization, and the grounds crew for having the field in great shape all week. We have 400 to 500 volunteers throughout the course of the week to pull this off and they did a splendid job.”
Having South Hills as the Host Area champion helped with crowds too. The South Hills team had four players from Peters Township and was coached by Peters Township grad and former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Chris Peters. South Hills won its first game against The Bronx, N.Y., but lost two straight games after that and was eliminated Monday.
“When you count those four from South Hills, we had 19 kids from Washington County that participated in the World Series and that’s really special,” Key said. “South Hills brought a lot of great fans, and they had a good team that made a great run.”
Award winners
Simmers won the Voytek Award that is given to the Washington County player with the best batting average. He hit .500 (7-for-14) with two doubles and an RBI. Voytek was featured on ESPN’S SportsCenter top 10 plays three days in a row.
Corpus Christi’s J.J. De Los Santos won the overall batting title, hitting .667 with three doubles. He tied a Pony League World Series record with nine consecutive hits. South Hills’ Jonah Koontz was the top pitcher. He did not allow a run over 6 1/3 innings and had 10 strikeouts to four walks.
South Hills’ Gavin Stock had the most stolen bases with six.