West Hills Bronco Team on Brink of PONY League World Title

Comprised of players from Calabasas, West Hills’ PONY baseball team is closing in on a World Series championship in Monterey.

The 11- and 12-year-olds took a big step Monday night in the Bronco division by defeating host Monterey 11-1 to improve to 3-0 in pool competition heading into the final round-robin matchup today at 5 p.m. against Virginia (2-1).

West Hills needs to either win or lose by fewer than 15 runs today to stay alive by clinching a berth in the semifinals.

“The kids are having the time of their lives, staying in a hotel and spending the days going to the jacuzzi or walking on the beach,” West Hills assistant coach Brian West said. “We’ve practiced just once since we’ve been here. We’re trying to keep the kids loose.”

Since all-star competition started, West Hills has won three tournaments and 19 of 20 games overall. In the win Monday over Monterey, West Hills’ Jake Selco gave up a home run on the first pitch, but from that point forward Monterey managed just one runner past second base, as the game was shortened to five innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.

“When Jake came back to the dugout, I joked with him that he was going to be an answer to a trivia question one day – who gave up a home run on the first pitch of the PONY World Series?” West said. “I want to lighten things up for him so he wouldn’t get stressed out about it.”

Selco pitched three innings to earn the win, and relievers Reece Weinberg and Grant Nechak both pitched one inning.

Nechak added a 255-foot home run over the center-field fence.

“For us, it’s always been about pitching and defense, but we’re seeing the bats do very well, too,” West said.

No West Hills pitcher has thrown more than four innings in a game, and that’s important because in PONY, if you go more than four, you have to wait 40 hours to pitch again.

“We’ve saved all of our arms so far,” West said.

The tournament consists of two five-team pools, and the only other team that’s undefeated is Chinese Taipei in the opposite pool.

Once the tournament is down to two teams, the championship game is Sunday at 7 p.m.

Chinese Taipei has completed pool competition with a 4-0 record, clinching the top seed in their semifinal game.

“Chinese Taipei is the only team that I’ve seen practicing every day, and they’re very disciplined,” West said. “They all march down the street, one behind the other, to the practice field.”

The West Hills manager is Kelly Hankin, and the assistants are West and Bo Weinberg.

The other players are Matt Cassin, Dylan Schlopy, Dane Reed, Jeremy Polon. Charley Kuizin-Ingelson, Andrew Pang, Andrew West, Chris Dehn and Danny Greenfield.