MV Pony team survives elimination game

They’ll have a rematch with Palmview, Texas, today after rallying past Long Beach, Calif.

LIAM BELAN lbelan@yourmvi.com

After the Mon Valley Pony baseball team surrendered four runs in the third inning on five walks and two hit batsmen during Sunday’s Pony League World Series elimination game, they knew they had to rally immediately.

The squad showed its resilience with two runs in the fourth, two more in the sixth and then three winning runs in the seventh to capture a 7-4 victory over against Long Beach, Calif., and live to fight another day. Mon Valley will take on Palmview, Texas, who it lost to 6-2 to open the tournament, at 10 a.m. today “One of their best traits, besides being good ballplayers, is their resilience,” Mon Valley skipper Jason Plymire said. “They never, ever get down. They’re always cheering for each other and keeping a positive attitude. That’s definitely what’s driving them.”

Zach Plymire was the hero of Sunday’s contest, earning the win on the mound and crushing a game-winning home run. He went 4 1/3 frames in relief, surrendering just one hit and three walks but most importantly, no runs. At the plate, he went 1 for 3 with a walk and the all-important long ball.

“I was so happy and hyped up,” Zach said about the home run, mentioning that he had hit a similar longball a few weeks prior at Lew Hays Pony Field. “That was the best moment of this tournament so far for me.

“I had to work more inside pitches today rather than pitching outside like I usually do. My curveball wasn’t really on today, so I went more to my cutter and my changeup, and it was throwing their batters off a little bit.”

Mon Valley went down in order to start the action before Long Beach put pressure on right away.

After a strikeout of Kennedy Nash, Ismael Santillan earned the first hit of the game. Alan Machado drew a walk and both runners moved over on a second out, but they were stranded as Marc James grounded out to short to cap off the first.

Santillan was extremely effective early on, getting through the second inning on his 10th pitch of the game. While Mon Valley was making hard contact, they had short-lived at-bats that ended up being easy outs for Long Beach.

While it took a few more pitches, Nash also settled in during the second with a quick inning. Diego Gonzalez managed a two-out single, but he was picked off to end the frame.

Ben Lilley became the first baserunner for Mon Valley in the top of the third as he reached on an error, but Jesse Sobczak grounded into a fielder’s choice as the lineup turned over to retire the side still hitless.

California’s Jack Walsh drew a leadoff walk and Santillan also reached via the free pass to put two runners on in the bottom of the second with one out. After Machado was hit by a pitch, clean-up hitter David Sanchez had an opportunity to bring a run in, and he did as he was plunked to make it 1-0.

That ended the day for Nash as Braylon Schoch left his post at right field and took over on the mound facing three baserunners with just one out. Schoch walked James to make the score 2-0.

After Jordan Rivers drew another walk for the fourth straight free pass, Schoch left the rubber for Zach Plymire, who had a wild pitch allowing one more run but got out of the jam with the score 4-0.

The deficit sent a jolt through Mon Valley’s offense as it had 2-3-4 due up. AJ Watson opened the top of the fourth with a double down the third-base line for his squad’s first hit of the game against new pitcher Jacob Brown. Santillan posted three hitless innings with one walk on the mound.

Brown walked Plymire to put two on with no outs for Jack Crovak, but his pop out recorded the first out of the frame.

Cam Matusik ripped a single to center field to open up Mon Valley’s account at 4-1.

Nash flew out to right, but it allowed Plymire to score and cut his squad’s deficit in half at 4-2.

Long Beach, the West Zone representatives, drew another walk to open the bottom of the fourth as Brown drew four balls to take first. He managed to swipe second with one out before an interesting stretch of play.

Machado hit a weak ground ball to Nash at shortstop which would have made for a tough throw at first, so he opted to go to Crovak at third, but he couldn’t apply the tag in time. Long Beach now had Brown at third and Machado at first for Sanchez, but Plymire erased that advantage with a pickoff throw to third.

In a cartoonish rundown, Mon Valley eventually got Brown out. They were close to getting Machado out, too, as he came all the way to third and had to reach over Brown to touch third base. After all that action, Plymire forced a groundout to second as Long Beach failed to add to its 4-2 lead.

Gonzalez took the mound for Long Beach in the top of the fifth, forcing two quick outs on hard-hit balls right to California’s outfield- ers. Sobczak then drew a walk and Watson singled to put two on for Plymire. In a lengthy at-bat, Plymire ended up looking at strike three in a call he clearly disagreed with.

After a scoreless half-inning for the Westerners, Mon Valley found itself with six outs left to make up its two-run deficit. Crovak and Matusik led the sixth off by drawing walks off new pitcher Jefferson Cowles before Nash grounded into a fielder’s choice. Demaris Tolliver hit an RBI single to right to make it 4-3, then stole second to put runners on second and third for Schoch.

Schoch did his job as well with an RBI groundout to tie things up at 4-4. Anthony Carrillo entered the game on the mound, and Lilley grounded out to retire the side with the score tied.

Plymire continued to dominate in the bottom of the sixth to turn Mon Valley over to the plate in the top of the seventh. Sobczak hit a leadoff single off Carrillo and stole second to set up Watson, who was 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI.

He thought he saw ball four, but instead watched strike three for the first out of the inning, which ended Carrillo’s day. California opted for right-handed Ty Gallo with a runner on second and one out.

Plymire stole the show with a hard-hit homer to left center to finally give Mon Valley a lead at 6-4. Crovak followed with a dinger to left field to finish the scoring at 7-4.

In the bottom of the seventh, Plymire continued to deal, collecting three quick outs to win the game for Mon Valley.

Now, they’ll hope to avoid their second loss to Palmview in another elimination game.

“It’s going to be tough, but every game is,” Jason Plymire said. “We’re going to see Texas again, so maybe we can get some revenge. It’s going to be tough because they have really strong pitching, but now our boys have seen it. Hopefully that will help us.”