Lew Hays Field in Washington Park will host the Pony League World Series for the 32nd consecutive year.
The 2015 10-team, double elimination tournament for 13- and 14-year -olds begins Aug. 7 and concludes Aug. 12 with the 7:30 p.m. championship game.
The tourney's opening night Aug. 7 features games at 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. A home run derby and fastest runners contest will begin the festivities at 11 a.m. The opening ceremonies will be at 7:30 p.m.
Three games will take place on both Aug. 8-9 at noon, 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Another three-game slate is scheduled for Aug. 10 with Mexico facing the game 4 winner at 3 p.m. while the losers of the tourney's first two games play at 5:30 p.m. The third day concludes with the game 3 and 4 losers squaring off at 8 p.m.
A tourney-most four games will be contested Aug. 10-11 with starting times at 10 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Games contested on Aug. 12 before the title game (10 a.m. and noon) will be determined on game results.
Representatives from Pony's four United States zones, four international zones, a host area Pony team and host Washington will all vie for the world championship.
This year's event will be the 53rd time in its 64-year existence that the Pony League World Series will take place in Washington.
Washington played host to the first 12 Pony League championships —from 1952 through 1963 — and served as host of the Pony World Series from 1968-73, 1976 and 1981-82. Since 1984, the Pony League World Series has taken place every year at Washington Park.
A registered Historical Pennsylvania Landmark, the field was named in honor of Hays, the league's first commissioner, in 1998.
The team champion will receive the Roy Gillespie Trophy, which is named posthumously in honor of the former sportswriter from Illinois. Gillespie, along with Hays and Joseph Evans Brown, Pony's first-ever President, helped promote Pony League Baseball in its initial years.
At the 2014 International event, Hilo, Hawaii, won four consecutive games to win the 63rd Pony League World Series.
This gave the state of Hawaii its third Pony League championship and first since Maui won the tournament in 1980, when it was contested in Davenport, Iowa. Honolulu won the 1969 title at Washington.
Hilo's title marked the 10th time in 18 years and fifth in seven seasons that an American team has won the Pony League World Series.
The state of California has won the Pony League title a record 21 times with Long Beach being the last one in 2012. Puerto Rico (7) and Taiwan (6) have produced the most Pony champions after California.
Tickets, which can be purchased in advance at the Pony website, are $6 per day for adults and $4 per day for children ages 14 and younger. Weekly passes are $25 and $15.
For more information regarding the Pony League World Series' events, sponsorship opportunities, as well as other World Series news, visit their website at ponyworldseries.org.
All of the World Series games will be available via live streaming on the Internet through plws.org and ponyworldseries.org.
WJPA-AM Radio (1450 AM) and MSASports.net will offer complete live coverage of all Pony World Series games.
The tournament chairman since 1985 has been Bob Gregg, who handles the radio broadcasting duties with Mark Uriah. Gregg can be reached at bgregg@wjpa.com.
The championship game will again be broadcast live for the second consecutive year on WPCW-TV, a CBS affiliate.
Social media users are encouraged to like Pony World Series and Pony Baseball and Softball on Facebook, and follow both on Twitter @plws2015 and @ponybaseballinc.
Bruce Wald is a contributing writer for Trib Total Media.
