Mexico deals South Hills walk-off defeat
When a team from Mexico and South Hills meet in the Pony League World Series, it seems that it must go extra innings.
Last year it was Monterrey, this year it was Navajoa, but the result was the same for South Hills.
Heartbreak.
Jesus Valenzuela hit a walk-off single to left field to give Mexico a 4-3 win over South Hills in eight innings Saturday afternoon at Lew Hays Field.
Last year Monterrey beat South Hills, 7-6, in 10 innings.
Mexico plays Chinese Taipei at Noon Sunday, while South Hills meets West Covina, California in an elimination game at 6 p.m.
Valenzuela did not start for Mexico and entered the game at second base during a flurry of changes in the sixth inning.
It was his second at-bat of the day, and he made the most of it, lining a ball into left that scored Cesar Mendivil for the winning run.
“All of these guys have been friends since they were three years old, so they are happy to see him come through,” Mexico business manager Roel Gonzalez said.
South Hills elected to walk No. 7 hitter Santiago Almada intentionally to load the bases and face the bottom two in the order. South Hills pitcher James Snyder struck out Mauricio Aranza for the second out before Valenzuela’s walk-off hit.
“You have to tip you’re cap to the kid,” South Hills manager Joe Cuervo said. “He made a great swing.”
The loss came after South Hills rallied to tie the score in the sixth
South Hills trailed 3-1, after Mexico starter Diego Ruiz was lifted, the rally started.
Mexico reliever Ricardo Rodriguez walked Dominic Fabic and Cameron Lavey.
Mexico manager Aristeo Munoz lifted Rodriguez for Axel Mendivil, but those free passes came back to haunt them.
Declan Wicker reached on an infield single to load the bases, James Snyder brought in a run on a fielder’s choice and Mason Scheiring bounced a ball deep into the hole at shortstop for an RBI infield single that tied the game at 3-3.
Both runners that walked scored.
It was a show of mental toughness for South Hills, but ultimately it fell short.
“My heart breaks for these kids, because they are mature beyond their years and deserved a win,” Cuervo said. “In a game like this it comes down to the little things and we didn’t do some of those little things, myself included.”
Some of those little things Cuervo mentioned happened in the fourth inning.
South Hills led 1-0 entering in the frame, but a couple errors helped Mexico take the lead.
Iker Leyva singled to right field and Noe Valenzuela walked to put two runners on with one out. South Hills starter Connor Cizuskas was lifted for lefty reliever Tate Foster.
Foster got a strikeout and an intentional walk loaded the bases, but also setup a lefty, lefty matchup with Almada.
Foster induced a weak chopper to first, but the ball was bobbled by Wicker and Almada reached on an error, while Leyva crossed the plate for the tying run.
Mauricio Araza followed with a single off a diving South Hills third baseman James Snyder and Valenzuela scored to give Mexico a 2-1 lead.
Both runs were unearned.
South Hills struck in the top of the first on back-to-back singles. Cameron Lavery had a hit up the middle with one out and then stole second base. Garrett Snyder hit a chopper up the middle that bounced off second base and into the outfield. The ball took a bad bounce on Mexico Almada in centerfield, and after initially being held at third, Lavery sprinted home to make it 1-0.
That was all South Hills could muster off Ruiz, who struck out nine and allowed only three hits and a walk over five innings in a no-decision.
South Hills used five pitchers, but Cuervo said they have enough pitching for the elimination game Sunday evening.
“We’ll have some guys ready to go,” Curevo said. “We were cognizant of the pitch counts. You worry about tomorrow with a tournament like this, but now there’s no tomorrow if you don’t win. We’ll be ready to go.”
Puerto Rico, 14-1
Puerto Rico finished off Friday night’s suspended game with Bay County, Michigan by scoring 10 runs over the fourth and fifth innings to invoke the mercy rule.
On Friday night, Puerto Rico led 4-0 before lightning forced the game to be suspended.
Puerto Rico got the lead thanks to the hitting and pitching of Sergio Pagan.
Pagan dominant on the mound with five strikeouts over three innings and he belted a three-run homer.
When play resumed Saturday morning, Eiden O’Farrill belted a three-run homer to make it 7-0 and Puerto Rico added on from there, including an RBI single by Pagan that was his fifth RBI of the game.
Puerto Rico will play at 4:30 p.m. Monday, while Bay County has an elimination game against Germany 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Hagerstown, 11-1
Hagerstown kept the early theme of 10-run rule victories by beating West Covina, California in five innings.
Kason Mann had a huge day for Hagerstown, finishing a single short of the cycle. He hit a three-run homer as part of a seven-run fifth inning and had a one-out triple in the fifth before scoring the final run on a sacrifice fly by Kolston Piper.
Mann also took a no-hitter into the fifth inning before yielding two runs on a pair of hits. He struck out seven and did not walk a batter.
Ayden Sanchez had a single and a pair of RBI for West Covina.
Hagerstown will play the winner of Sunday’s game between Chinese Taipei and Mexico, 7 p.m. Monday.