Aug 11, 2022 3 min read

To reach Washington Park from Palmview, Texas, one can either choose a 25-hour bus ride or a five-hour airplane trip.

Or you can choose the way the Palmview Pony All-Stars took, win five games in the South Zone Tournament.

Palmview, the zone champion, came out of the 16-team bracket with a 5-0 record, an incredible accomplishment to reach the Pony League World Series, only a 10-team tournament that gets underway today at Lew Hays Pony Field in Washington Park.

Palmview will open the series Sunday against the winner of Saturday’s game between San Jose, Calif., champion of the West Zone, and Monterry, Mexico, champion of the Mexico Zone.

“I don’t think (16 teams) is the usual number of teams,” said Palmview manager Juan Lopez. “This was actually the first time we got this far.”

Palmview outscored its opponents 36-10 in the tournament. Not only did this team have resiliency and determination, it also had a little bit of luck.

“We set up our pitching so that we could have our best pitcher at the end,” Lopez said. “One of our best pitchers, Gilbert Rodriguez, hyperextended his thumb sliding into second base. He was trying to steal the base and the thumb got caught on the glove coming down on it. He pitched the first game and we were setting him up for the last game.”

Lopez and the doctors were worried the thumb might be broken but it turned out to be only hyperextended.

Before they knew that, Lopez used Rodriguez to get the final three outs of that divisional semifinal game. He came through, using mostly fastballs. Then, it was off to the doctors.

The team seemed to rally around each other. In the championship game, two Palmview pitchers combined for a no-hitter. Alfonso Bueno pitched the final few innings.

Lopez knows the expectations for the team are high, especially since neighboring Brownsville, Texas, is the defending world series champion with an 11-10 victory over Youngstown, Ohio, in last year’s championship. Brownsville is a hop, skip and a jump away from Palmview.

“That was a great team that was put together with hard work and determination,” said Lopez. ” I feel that our boys are just as determined because of it to bring the championship back to the South Zone. I really feel that we have the power to do something special.”

The world series kicks off today with two games: Hagerstown, Md., the East Zone champion, against Bay County, Mich., the North Zone champion, at 5:30 p.m.

The second game finds Chinese Taipei, the Asia-Pacific Zone champion, against Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean Zone champion at 8 p.m.

The Washington County All-Stars play London, United Kingdom, the European Zone champion, at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.