KC Dodgers

NASA won the PONY-13 Zone Tournament just minutes before the clock struck midnight to conclude a most memorable night of Kyle Chapman baseball and a most memorable PONY-13 Zone Tournament. In the first game of the night, Pasadena and Tampa Wellswood faced off in a battle of the pitchers and defense. What follows is a summary of the scoring through seven innings of play: That's right. There was none. In fact, the game did not see it's first run until James Malley hit a walk-off solo blast to right-centerfield with one out in the bottom of the TENTH inning, to eliminate a very determined and talented Pasadena team and advance to the championship game against NASA. Pasadena pitcher Dylan Adamek and Tampa pitcher Mychal Givens traded goose eggs for the maximum allowable seven innings each before giving way to Shane Hamaker and Anthony Ferrara, respectively. Ferrara continued to blank Pasadena, registering scoreless innings in the 8th, 9th and 10th. Hamaker was on track to do the same until James Malley ended the game with his dramatic, really loooooong walkoff home run. Soooooo, after almost 3 hours of baseball, Tampa eliminated Pasadena and had about 30 minutes to prepare for NASA. Any thoughts that the second game of the night might be just like the first were quickly disspelled when Tampa held a 6-5 lead after ONE inning of play. The big blast of that inning was a grand salami by Tampa right fielder Ryan Fleming (who helped eliminate the K.C. 13's the previous night by hitting a 3 run homer to drive in the winning run in the 4-1 victory), to tie the game at 5-all. NASA nudged ahead with 2 runs in the second inning to make it 7-6 in favor of NASA. NASA added a run in the third inning with a solo blast by left fielder Casey Jennings. After 3 innings, it was 8-6 in favor of NASA. After NASA added a run in the top of the 4th to make it 9-6, Tampa struck back in the bottom of the 4th with 4 big runs (3 of them courtesy of James Malley's second home run of the night) to make the score Tampa 10, NASA 9. NASA and Tampa both posted 2-spots in the 5th inning to make the score 12-11 in favor of NASA. K.C. parents and volunteers nervously looked at their watches as the prospect of extra innings after midnight reared its ugly head. But it was not to be. NASA scored 2 runs in the top of the 6th inning to take a 13-12 lead on a dropped third strike, two walks, a single and a bases loaded walk to score what proved to be the winning run. Tampa did not score in the bottom of the 6th, and NASA did not score in the top of the 7th. In the bottom of the 7th inning, Tyler David, the NASA relief pitcher, picked off a Tampa runner from second, then struck out two Tampa batters to end the game and secure the victory. Congratulations to NASA on its PONY-13 Zone championship. Congratulations to Pasadena on an incredible effort in their elimination game with Tampa. Congratulations to Tampa for playing such an incredible game against Pasadena, then turning around and playing another against NASA. To all our new friends from Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana, as well as our old friends from Clear Lake-NASA and Pasadena, we hope that Kyle Chapman provided you a comfortable, pleasant, place to play the Zone Tournament, and we hope that you will return home with good feelings about your Kyle Chapman experience. To all the hardworking parents, PONY administrators and other volunteers who helped to bring this tournament to a successful conclusion, a well-said BRAVO. To Fred Chan, tournament director par excellance, and photographer to the stars, thank you for all of your hard work and dozens and dozens of hours of effort in bringing this tournament together. To Dave Carney, Brent Patterson, Ted Harris and all the other caring, hard working individuals who have built Kyle Chapman Pony League into the well-respected institution that it has become, a very sincere thank you for your years of toil and sweat.