Aug 10, 2014 3 min read

Chesterfield County, Va., struggled offensively Saturday morning against Hilo, Hawaii, in its opening game of the Pony League World Series. The team chased pitches out of the strike zone and made critical mistakes on defense.

Facing a Brno, Czech Republic, team that struggled in every facet in a loss Saturday against Washington was just the cure.

Chesterfield’s pitchers combined for a five-inning shutout and 12 strikeouts as the East Zone champions defeated Brno, 11-0, at Lew Hays Pony Field.

Brno is the second team to be eliminated from the tournament, while Chesterfield will play Washington today at 12:30 p.m. in an elimination game.

“We were disappointed with losing to Hawaii, but we’re used to that,” Chesterfield manager Jack Horner said. “We lost our first game in the East Zone tournament, then won four games in one day to make it here. These kids have played a lot and they’re ready to keep playing.”

Brno starting pitcher Daniel Padysak struggled, throwing 42 pitches in the first inning while allowing four runs.

Center fielder Ryan Clawson hit a lead-off double off the right-field fence in the first inning and scored two batters later on left fielder Logan Amiss’ double.

Amiss scored on first baseman Ethan Williams’ RBI single and third baseman Patrick Routsis gave Chesterfield a 4-0 lead with a two-run double.

That was more than enough runs for hard-throwing lefty Matthew Flatford. In three innings, he allowed just one hit while striking out nine and walking three.

“We wanted to come out here and have fun,” Routsis said. “It was a big boost to get those runs early since we had trouble hitting yesterday. It made us feel good, and now we have to be ready tomorrow.”

Chesterfield County wasn’t done. Amiss reached first on an error to lead off the second inning, Williams singled and catcher Chandler Riley walked to load the bases. Routsis added two more runs for Chesterfield when he doubled to score Amiss and Williams for a 6-0 lead.

Shortstop Brad Painter followed with a two-run single to left field as Chesterfield earned the right to stay in Washington for at least one more day.

Horner relieved Flatford with Painter in the third inning and the right-hander was extremely effective. He did not allow a hit in two innings and struck out three.

Chesterfield forced an early end to the game in the bottom of the fifth when right fielder Barkley Ray hit a two-run homer.

Brno was missing eight players that competed in the European Zone tournament. Key contributors, including the team’s top three pitchers, were asked to play for the national team in a tournament in Mexico this week.

“This was a great experience for us,” Brno manager David Winkler said. “The players here are much better than we’ve seen and these teams have a lot of kids to choose from when building these teams. We lost many guys and could not recover.”