Pony World Series overcomes the hurdles
Maui’s Roy Meinen tags Chinese Taipei’s Heng-Yu Ho at second base during the Pony League World Series championship game Wednesday at Lew Hays Pony Field.
Ground crew members remove a tarp from the field after a rain delay Wednesday at Lew Hays Pony Field.
Ever since Bob Gregg began overseeing the Pony League World Series in his role as chairman of World Series Tournaments Inc., in 1985, the tournament has taken place at Lew Hays Pony Field. And Gregg said that won’t change anytime soon.
Speaking as this year’s title game took place Wednesday night between defending champion Chinese Taipei and West Zone Champion Maui, Hawaii after a lightning delay pushed first pitch back an hour, Gregg addressed questions he said people have brought to him about moving the annual tournament across town to Consol Energy Park, the Santo Domingo Visa issues, problems with the sprinkler system, increased involvement by the Pirates and more.
“It went well. This a great event,” Gregg said of this year’s competition. “This is part of who we are here in Washington County. It’s part of the fabric of Pony Baseball.”
Inclement weather affected play throughout the six-day tournament, causing numerous delays, but fans still could be seen filling the bleachers, walking the concourse and perched atop the hills lining the playing field Wednesday night.
The championship game did not end in time for this edition.
“We had our hiccups,” Gregg said. “Some of them were things we could do something about and made mistakes, some of them were things that they just happened.”
Gregg described the crowds as great, crediting having two local teams in the field. Washington County and Peters Township brought large crowds on gameday. The championship game was well attended despite the rain.
Gregg said he couldn’t comment on how this year’s turnout statistically compared to past years as his organization tracks attendance by estimates based on revenue, not by headcount at the gates.
Some of the problems Gregg referenced happening included a major one a week or so before the start of the event when Caribbean Zone champion Santo Domingo of the Dominican Republic was unable to make the trip because of visa problems. Gregg learned of that issue on Thursday, July 29, with the tournament scheduled to begin on Aug. 5.
“Really, there was very little that could be done other than how can we make the decision to have the host team that can get here,” Gregg said. “And Peters (Township) was the natural choice.”
In its debut appearance at the World Series, the all-star team from Peters Township went 1-2, defeating Johnstown 6-5 in a come-from-behind victory Sunday.
Gregg said that in his time running the world series, the only comparable occurrence came in the 1980s or early 90s, when H5N1 bird flu had broken out and Asian Zone administrators decided in May, months prior to the world series, not to send its regional championship as a health and safety precaution.
Washington hosted the series that year and Pony rules dictated that the host in this case (East) Zone just invite an additional team from its area to compete.
Another unexpected challenge that affected this summer’s tournament was sprinkler problems on multiple days.
Early Saturday morning, rainstorms and the rotating sprinkler system combined to cause flooding along the warning track on the third base side when a sprinkler valve became stuck and didn’t shut down as scheduled.
“We got a call from the parks people that Pony Field was a lake,” Gregg said.
Prior to Monday’s games, the grounds crew miscalculated the amount of water needed to rejuvenate and keep the field fresh with dry, hot weather expected. More flooding occurred, causing the cancellation of the Champions League special needs game that morning and the delay of the two world series games scheduled afterward.