Washington County and Simi Valley are in control of divisional play at the 73rd PONY League World Series after Monday night victories in the winners’ brackets. Six teams remain in the field, with a pair of elimination games opening Tuesday’s schedule, setting the tournament’s final four. The Division Finals are Tuesday night, If Necessary games during the day Wednesday and the championship game is planned for Wednesday night. Hear all of the action on WJPA-AM (1450) and online LISTEN HERE!
Monday, Aug. 11 — Bracket
Chinese Taipei 21, Colombia 0 (4 inn.) (Colombia eliminated) Two batters in, Chinese had all it needed to eliminate Colombia and rolled on to the third widest margin of victory in World Series history. The Asia-Pacific champions scored five runs in that first inning, four more in the third before exploding for 12 runs in their final frame. Four player drove in three runs as CT stayed alive in the elimination bracket. Colombia had just one hit and was held to the minimum 12 batters in the run-rule loss.
Bay County 6, South Hills 5 (South Hills eliminated) Brody Kuhn tossed 6/1 innings of relief and Jack Melick drove in a pair of runs, including the game-winner as the North Zone champions stayed alive in the tournament. BayCo took a 2-0 first-inning lead with a single, a walk and four wild pitches. Drew Opferman put South Hills in front in the bottom of the frame with a towering three-run home run. Melick’s first RBI, a solo homer in the second tied the game in the second. Opferman stroked a solo shot of hit own to give the Host Area champs their last lead of the day. The winners tied the game in the fourth with an unearned run, then added another unearned marker in the sixth. In the bottom of the inning, Brodie Curry singled with two out, then scored on Brody Cole’s double. Melick’s two-out single in the top of the seventh scored Mason Krager with the winning run. Kuhn allowed two runs and four hits while striking out four to get the win.
Simi Valley, CA 4, Monterrey 1 Kade Monica singled in a pair of runs in the second and Riely Loggins held the Mexico champions to just four hits as the West Zone champions advanced to the Division Finals. Nate Griswold and Wyatt Ruiz singled and Ean Devine walked to load the bases, setting the stage for Monica’s base hit. Devine then scored on a dropped tag at the plate. Monterrey got on the board with with Abdiel Zavala scoring on the back end of a double steal. RJ Terp singled with one out in the fifth, scoring Trenton Nelson, setting the final score. Loggins left the mound one out shy of a complete game having reached PONY’s daily pitch limit. He allowed just one run, four hits and three walks while striking out eight.
Washington County 10, Corpus Christi 5 The Hosts used a six-run fourth inning, keyed by Braxten Thompson’s pinch-hit grand slam, to drop Corpus Christi into the elimination bracket. The teams traded the lead early on. Carson Simmers put Washington County in front with a double, a fly out and an infield error in the first. Corpus used a hit-batter, singles by Josh Garcia and JJ de los Santos and a wild pitch to go up, 2-1, in the bottom of the inning. Lucas Daniels stoked a two-run home run to left, putting the locals in front, 3-2. A wild pitch later in the inning allowed another run to score. In the decisive fourth, six straight Washington County batters reached base, all eventually scoring. Simmers singled, moved up on a wild pitch and scored on Niko Vitale’s base hit. Kaden Harkins doubled to score Vitale. Ryan Lukas walked and Ethan Amos singled to load the bases. Thompson came off the bench and blasted the second grand slam in this year’s tournament, and the second all-time for the local program, the first since 1997 (Patrick Sadler). Corpus Christi chipped away, scoring twice in the fourth and again in the fifth, but stranded five runners over the final three innings. Lucas got the win, with Vitale and Keegan Widenhofer combining to hold the Texans to one run over the final three innings. Simmers had three hits for the winners. Andrew Irwin added a pair.
Tuesday, Aug. 12
10:00 am Elimination Chinese Taipei vs. Monterrey, Mexico
12:30 pm Elimination Corpus Christi vs. Bay County
4:30 pm Division Final CT/Mex winner vs. Simi Valley, CA
7:00 pm Division Final Washington County vs. Corpus/BayCo winner
Wednesday, Aug. 13
10:00 am IF Necessary game
12:30 pm IF Necessary game
7:00 pm PONY World Series Championship