Clearing up issue about Pony team
I would like to answer a few questions regarding the Washington Pony League World Series team and the way it is picked. Please note that this is the Host Team for the tournament. The host organization is the Founders League. The Founders League is made up of Washington Youth Baseball and Canon-Mac Youth Baseball. The boundaries for these leagues are Trinity, Washington and Canon-McMillan school districts. The requirements for eligibility for the Washington Pony All-Star World Series Team are as follows:
• You must live within the boundaries of the Founders League.
• You must play regular-season baseball in one of the two organizations that make up the Founders League.
• You must play in 75 percent of your recreational league regular-season games and 100 percent of the playoff games.
There also were questions in the letter, that appeared in the July 23 edition of the Observer-Reporter, as to how the team is picked. There were 26 players who tried out for the team. A two-day tryout was held. Doing the evaluations were:
• The head coach of the team, which has no affiliation to either Washington Youth Baseball or Canon-Mac Baseball.
• An independent evaluator of the head coach’s choice – also with no affiliation.
• The Washington Youth Baseball Pony president.
• A coach from Washington Youth Baseball who was voted on by all Pony regular season head coaches.
• The Canon-Mac Youth Baseball Pony Baseball president, who serves as the Canon-Mac representative.
At the end of the tryout, the head coach compiled all notes from the evaluators. He and the Washington Youth Baseball Pony president picked the team based on ability and strength of their tryout. Even the coach reps were not in the room. I would like for someone to challenge the fact that the 15 players on the team were not the best 15 players at the tryout.
Yes, the team was beaten two times by a team that was sponsored by ARH, and the scores in the letter were correct. Team ARH was made up mostly of McGuffey players, two or whom played recreational baseball with Washington Youth Baseball.
These two players chose to play Washington Youth Baseball, knowing that they are not eligible to play Pony-sanctioned tournament baseball. McGuffey does have a Pony organization they can play for, and possibly play into the Pony World Series. These two players, and the rest of the McGuffey players, left their community to play either in Washington or on various travel teams around the Pittsburgh area.
What the letter failed to mention is that in addition to the seven McGuffey players, and the one Chartiers-Houston player, there were two players who are not from Washington County on Team ARH. One isn’t even from Pennsylvania. Both happen to be starting pitchers and heavy contributors to wins in each of the games played against Washington.
Is the Founders League saying that the 15 players on this all-star team are the best in Washington County? No. These are simply the best 15 players from the host organization, which has the bid to the World Series.
Shawn Cole
Washington