Mamma, mia! Pony Series will have teams from Italy, Colombia
The Pony League World Series will have some new international flavor this year and one of the teams has a former Pittsburgh Pirates catcher attached to it.
For the first time, Italy and Colombia will be represented in the Pony League World Series and the Italian team is from the Francisco Cervelli Baseball Academy.
The new teams were revealed at the annual Pony League World Series media day Tuesday.
This year’s World Series is August 8-13 at Lew Hays Pony Field in Washington Park.
The Italian team won the European Zone championship over a team from Germany to earn a spot in the World Series. The Francisco Cervelli Baseball Academy was founded last year in Grosetto, Italy.
Cervelli played for the Pirates from 2015-19 and played in the major leagues for 13 seasons. He’s currently the manager of the Italian national team, which will play in the 2026 World Baseball Classic in March.
PONY Baseball/Softball president Abe Key is excited to have two international teams making their debut and the Italian team is already garnering local support.
“We have a pretty robust Italian-American community in Washington County,” Key said. “We’ve met with the Charleroi Italian community and the Washington Italian community and they’re very excited to be able to welcome kids from Italy for the very first time.”
The Colombian team that will make its first trip to Washington is from Barranquilla. It won the Caribbean Zone.
Barranquilla is in the northern part of Colombia along the Caribbean Sea.
“Any time we get a new country, we’re very excited for them and their kids,” Key said. “Barranquilla is a very big baseball community that’s hosted a lot of events for Pony over the course of the last 10 years.”
Taichung will represent Chinese Taipei as the Asia-Pacific Zone winner and Monterrey won the Mexico championship.
The five American teams that will join the local Washington County team are still to be determined.
The host area field has grown this year with Pittsburgh City League coming in for the first time. There will be a 12-team tournament in Mt. Lebanon to decide who goes to the World Series.
A streaming service, PLWS.tv, will broadcast every game over the internet and 10 games will be televised locally on SportsNet as well as some nationally on the NESN television platform.
Former Pirates broadcaster Lanny Frattare will continue to be the play-by-play announcer for the games on television. He’s been calling games at the Pony League World Series for more than a decade.
“If you grew up a Pirates fan you listened to him as a kid,” Key said. “He brings a lot of professionalism and credibility to the broadcast.”
WVRC Media is the company producing the streaming service, which will feature the radio broadcast feed from WJPA.
Printscape returns for a second season as the title sponsor of the Pony League World Series. Dicks Sporting Goods is back after a one year absence and is one of the presenting sponsors as well as the official Sporting Goods Retailer.
World Series Tournaments Inc. president Nathan Voytek said having two major corporate backers, as well as many other sponsors, has helped enhance the event.
“Every penny we raise goes back into the event,” Voytek said.. “The TV and streaming is an expensive piece that we can provide, thanks to the sponsors. It enables the families back home from the different countries to be able to watch their kids play. It’s awesome to be able to help the event grow and get better every year.”
Longtime head groundskeeper Mark Murphy retired after last season. Fairfield Landscaping of Canonsburg has stepped in to help maintain the field.
With only 30 days remaining until the first pitch of this year’s World Series, final preparations are underway. It’s a year-long process for a six-day event.
“A 10-team event in a six-day period is a lot of baseball,” Key said. “The weather has to cooperate. There’s a lot of factors we can’t control, but our responsibility is to make sure that the experience for these kids from all over the world and the United States is a good one.”