PONY World Series tradition continues in August
One of the area's most prestigious summer athletic traditions will continue when the 2008 PONY League World Series for 13- and 14-year-olds takes place in Washington, Pa., home of PONY Baseball and Softball.
The series, an eight-team, two-division, double-elimination tournament, will begin Aug. 9 and conclude Aug. 16.
The 1 p.m. Aug. 16 championship game will be broadcast live on FSN Pittsburgh and will be offered to all FSN affiliates for live or tape-delayed broadcast.
Former KDKA-TV sports anchor and Pirates announcer John Sanders and Chris Shovlin, who works with Robert Morris football and basketball and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, will handle the broadcast duties.
Teams from all over the world compete for the honor of making the international event. The United States teams are divided into four different zones -- east, west, north and south.
Countries in the Asia-Pacific Zone include Australia, China, Guam, Hong Kong, Japan, Philippines, Russia (East), Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.
The Caribbean Zone includes Anguilla, Antigua, Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Panama, Puerto Rico, Saba, St. Croix, Sr. Eustatius, St. Martin and St. Thomas.
Teams from the European Zone include Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Russia (West), Slovokia, Spain, Sweden and St. Croix.
Other countries playing under the PONY banner are Canada, England, Ireland, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Wales.
This summer's PONY League World Series will mark the 45th time in the 57-year history that Washington will play host to this worldwide event.
Washington was host to the first 12 PONY League championships from 1952 through 1963 and also served as host of the PONY World Series from 1968-1973, 1976 and 1981-1982. The PONY League World Series has taken place every year at Washington since 1984.
Now a registered Historical Pennsylvania Landmark, the original home of PONY Baseball was built by a volunteer workforce in 1952. The first World Series played on this field was 1953. Upon the passing of founder Lew Hays in 1998, PONY Field was renamed Lew Hays PONY Field.
Last August, Trujillo Alta, Puerto Rico, won the 2007 Pony League World Series, defeating Long Beach, Calif., 8-3, in the title game. That marked the third straight year a California-based team earned runner-up honors.
Caguas, Puerto Rico, won the 2006 championship and defeated Simi Valley, Calif., in the title game by a 4-2 score. The Chinese Taipai All-Stars won the 2005 PONY League World Series by defeating San Diego Tecolote, Calif., in the championship game that went eight innings, 2-1.
Before the past three years (2005-2007), the last time a non-American team won the PONY League World Series was Ponce, Puerto Rico, in 2001. Marietta, Ga., won the 2004 PONY League title, while Lakewood and Norwalk, Calif., won the 2003 and 2002 titles respectively.
San Antonio, Texas, won the initial PONY World Series in 1952, while host Washington and Monongahela were the only Pennsylvania-based national champions in 1955 and 1954 respectively. Monterey, Mexico, was the first non-U.S. PONY champion, winning the tourney in 1972.
Seoul, South Korea, is the only team to win three consecutive PONY titles (1988-1990) and the first repeat PONY champion was Campbell-Moreland, Calif., (1978-79). The only other team to win consecutive PONY titles before Seoul's "three-peat" was West Covina, Calif., in 1981-82.
Last August, Long Beach was hoping to be the 20th team from the state of California to win the PONY League title. Puerto Rico has now produced seven PONY World Series champions, and Taiwan has five titles. Illinois teams have won the PONY League World Series four different times, and teams from Texas, Georgia and Korea (Seoul) have won three times each.
States with two-time PONY League World Series championship teams include Pennsylvania, Florida, Hawaii and North Carolina. West Virginia, Indiana, Mexico, Michigan and Massachusetts all are one-time champions.
PONY is an acronym for Protect Our Nation's Youth. The concept for the name originally came from boys at the local YMCA in Washington and stood for Protect Our Neighborhood Youth. When PONY became an international program in the early 1950s, Neighborhood was switched.
All PONY World Series tickets are general admission (no seat assignments). There are no sellouts, but seating is based on a first-come, first serve basis. Gates open at 4:30 for the 5:30 games and noon for the 1 p.m. championship game on Aug. 16. Nightly tickets purchased at the gate are good for that night's doubleheader.
