Eight straight wins it for Seoul
Mexico’s Kevin Armenta attempts to turn a double play Saturday afternoon as Korea’s Yung-Jun Lee runs toward second base during the Pony League World Series at Lew Hays Pony Field in Washington.
Mexico’s Kevin Armenta runs toward first base as Korea’s Woo-In Choi awaits a throw Saturday during a Pony League World Series game at Lew Hays Pony Field.
Korea’s Yung-Jun Lee pitches Saturday against Mexico during the Pony League World Series at Lew Hays Pony Field in Washington.
Korea’s Kyu-Teak Cho hits a double against Mexico Saturday during a Pony League World Series game at Lew Hays Pony Field in Washington.
After one inning, Guasave, Mexico, seemed to have cracked the code.
The Mexican team built a three-run lead off pitcher Yung-Jun Lee. Pretty heady stuff for the Mexico Zone champions, and a great way to start Saturday afternoon’s game in the Pony League World Series at Lew Hays Field in Washington Park.
Seoul, Korea, did not become the Asia-Pacific Zone champions by playing a bunch of weak-kneed teams. Entries into the Pony League World Series from the Asia-Pacific Zone have made it to the championship game nine consecutive years.
The way Korea roared back, it has to seem like a 10th trip is within reach. Seoul scored eight unanswered runs and came away with an 8-4 victory over Mexico.
The win pushes Seoul to Monday’s round and a 5:30 p.m. start against Hagerstown, Md., which disposed of Youngstown, Ohio, 6-1, in a late Friday game. Mexico, which defeated Levittown, Puerto Rico, 4-1, in the first game of the world series Friday, plays an elimination game Monday against a team to be determined.
“We have really good hitters and a good second pitcher (if needed),” said Seoul manager Chul-Hung Park. “I was not concerned about the first inning.”
Seoul has a stable of hard-throwing pitchers and Yong-Jun Lee is one of the better ones. But Mexico knocked him around in the first inning for three runs. Second baseman Nomar Valdez hit a one-out single to right and first baseman Vidal Sotelo followed with a single to left.
“Lee wasn’t nervous. He’s pitched real well this year,” Park said.
Lee appeared ready to escape damage after striking out catcher Pedro Cervantes, one of 12 in the game, but opposing pitcher Joel Sanchez launched a three-run home run that came to rest over the left-field fence, his first of the series.
“I felt good being ahead but I wasn’t confident we would win the game,” said Mexico manager Genera Armenta. “I still think we can get to the finals because we are a good team.”
Seoul took advantage of two errors by Sanchez to get back in the game. The first came in the second inning, when Sanchez fired a pickoff attempt past Sotelo that allowed third baseman Kyu-Tae Yang to get to second base after an inning-opening walk. Two groundouts later, it was 3-1.
Seoul took control of the game with a four-run fourth. Seoul pounded out five hits in the inning and took advantage of Sanchez’s second error. Yang had an RBI single, catcher Geong-Yul Kim knocked in a run with a groundout, right fielder Han-Ju Bae produced another with an infield hit and second baseman Sung-Min Kim finished it with an RBI-double.
“The players might have been nervous because it was our first game,” said Park. “But they did really well later in the game.”
South Korea got one RBI each from seven batters – Nos. 2 through 8 – and had 11 hits, including solo home runs by Kim and Woo-In Choi.
Pinch-hitter Pabel Navarro hit a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh.