In the penultimate weekend of Pony League baseball action, the teams battled to decide who would advance to this weekend’s championship game.
Regular season champions team HSBC secured their spot in the final in convincing manner by overwhelming team Yellow Pages by the score of 12-1. HSBC wasted no time in asserted their dominance as they came swinging in the first inning with bombs from Alejandro Holness, Jaeden Pouchie and birthday boy Jomo Fearon, as they quickly put seven runs on the board.
Team Yellow Pages fought hard but could not reproduce their heroics from the previous weekend. They have nothing to be ashamed of however, with excellent performances once again from William Dyer and Jake Booker keeping them in it. HSBC ultimately showed the all round class which has made them the favourites all season long and further great hitting from Tristan Hall, Renee Serrant and Tommy McGregor tacked on further runs. Team HSBC will be high on confidence as they look to secure the 2012 championship.
The second semi-final was agonisingly close and went down to the final at bat as the Cross-Fit Seven Milers faced off against the formidable Team Vigoro. Crossfit took to the offensive early with quick hits by Andrew Weber and David Harris, followed by RBI singles by Gabriel Fisher, Dre McField and Brandon Eden. Only some good fielding from Vigoro’s Brandon Jackson and Jahziah Johnson held the Seven Milers to three runs. Vigoro responded with a pounding, scoring seven runs.
Notwithstanding good fielding from the Seven Milers’ Nathanael Roberts, Josh Levy hammered a grand slam, clearing the bases for a 7-3 lead to Vigoro after one inning. Crossfit came back strong in the second and a solo home run from Sam McLaughlin was followed by nifty singles from Raina Myles and Andrew Weber. Slugger David Harris then tied the game at seven by belting a three-run home run. Vigoro responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the second to retake the lead, with only a diving stop from Dre McField, who threw to Gabriel Fisher for a stunning out, keeping the Vigoro lead to just two runs entering the third and final inning.
After Katherine Corkish’s lead off single, Sam McLaughlin’s second home run of the game tied things up once again and the Seven Milers pulled into the lead with RBI singles from the three Crossfit All-Star representatives, David, Gabriel and Dre, whom combined for nine hits and eight RBIs on the day.
Going into their last at bat, Vigoro narrowed the deficit to just one with a clutch two-run single from Rachel Pascal. Then, with two outs, and down to their final strike, perennial all star Nathan Balon sent the ball past the drawn in fielders for the walk-off game-winning home run, 12-11 to Team Vigoro.
The Pony championship game will be contested by the two heavyweight teams from 2012, HSBC and Vigoro, in what promises to be a fascinating clash. With the narrowly defeated Crossfit playing Yellow Pages and Team Logic playing Bodden Beverages to determine final standings, it promises to be a day to remember at the Field of Dreams. The awards ceremony follows the championship game.
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