Worth the wait: San Bernardino tops Austria
San Bernardino, Calif., waited seven days after winning the West Zone tournament with a dramatic seventh-inning comeback, and the players were forced to watch nine other teams compete in the first three days of the Pony League World Series.
Their emotions ranged from anxiety to overwhelming excitement, but manager Abel Manueno had a solution – keep the players busy.
San Bernardino practiced twice at Allison Park Elementary School in Houston, and took batting practice throughout the weekend.
It was worth the wait. San Bernardino scored seven runs in the second inning and nine in the third on its way to a 19-0 win over Vienna, Austria in a five-inning game Sunday afternoon at Lew Hays Pony Field.
San Bernardino advances to face Hagerstown, Md., tonight at 8 p.m., while Vienna will try to stay alive in an elimination game today at 12:30 p.m. against Mexico.
“To tell you the truth, the boys were anxious,” Madueno said.
“We were the last team to play. We were waiting around wondering, ‘when are we going to get our opportunity?’ We were tense at first, but once we got on the field and zoned everything out, the boys just went out and did good work like they always do.”
It was a memorable debut. San Bernardino used 21 hits and took advantage of four errors, while five pitchers combined for the shutout. Tyler Bardowell, who went 2-for-2, entered in the fourth inning to hit a towering two-run homer to left field. Noah Parra went 3-for-4 with three runs and a three-run homer.
Eight different players had multi-hit games and eight drove in at least one run.
“All I saw was fastballs and I just sat back and hit it,” Parra said. “It feels good. It’s always good to get a win.”
After surrendering one run in the first inning, Vienna starting pitcher Nicholas Schadler got the first two outs of the second inning before the game spiraled out of control. He allowed seven runs while eight consecutive batters reached safely. Vienna committed two errors in the inning – one allowed a runner to advance from first to third on an infield single and led to two runs.
“We knew we were playing against one of the top teams here and we knew it was going to be tough,” Vienna manager David Korber. “Our starter made good pitches, but they found the holes and it eventually got out of hand.”
Korber turned to Angelo Thau on the mound in the third inning with the same result. Parra led off the third with a double before Joe Manialung, Eddie Aldama and Jon Carlos hit three consecutive singles to make it 10-0.
Damien Sanchez reached on a throwing error, which allowed two runs to score, and Bardowell followed with a two-run homer that was hit so hard Vienna left fielder Jakob Kainz did not move when the ball sailed over his head in the outfield.
Every non-injured player saw action for San Bernardino, which added one run in the fourth and fifth innings on RBI singles by Abel Mandueno Jr. Vienna stranded seven runners on base, left the bases loaded in the second inning and grounded into two double plays.
“Everybody plays every game. Everybody deserves to be here – from the bottom to the top,” Abel Mandueno said.
“Nobody sits. We wanted to save our pitching, but we wanted to give everyone the opportunity. That was our goal from the get go. That way, the competition doesn’t get any second looks and keeps everyone guessing.”