LONDON WINS PONY EUROPEAN ZONE

WASHINGTON, PA (June 15, 2022) - PONY Baseball’s European Zone representative in the 2022 DICK’S Sporting Goods PONY League World Series will be London, UK.

The European Zone championship tournament was held in May of 2022. London faced stiff competition in this year’s qualifying tournament, as a total of 12 countries competed to punch a ticket to Washington, PA.

Although many members of the team have traveled to the United States before, they are very excited to come to the U.S. to play on the world's largest stage for 13- and 14-year-old baseball.

London’s team is very strong offensively and consists of many good contact hitters with minimal strikeouts. The team also has strong pitching with limited walks, and threw countless strikeouts. London’s pitching was led by its ace Mac Menzer, who was awarded “Best Pitcher” for the tournament.

London’s coach, Scott Bourgeois, has big expectations for the World Series after his team’s performance in the European Zone

“We want to be competitive and play our best, but this is a unique and special opportunity for our players to experience baseball at the highest level,” Bourgeois said.

In the Colt (16U) age division of the European Zone tournament, the London Archer’s 16U team was scheduled to play Ukraine’s 16U team, but the game got rained out. For Ukraine’s other games, the London 14U team went to watch and support the Ukraine team. Members of London’s 16U team went and spent the day with the Ukraine team at a local gymnasium where they were staying, and they purchased some baseball gear for them. 

“It’s such a tragic situation and hopefully the Ukrainian players were able to have an enjoyable experience, and have a sense of normalcy for a short period of time,” Bourgeois said. 

The London Archers will play their first game against Washington County, PA, at 3:30 PM/ET on Saturday August 13, at Lew Hays PONY Field in Washington, PA.

DICK’S Sporting Goods PONY League World Series The DICK'S Sporting Goods PONY League World Series is an international youth baseball tournament played annually at Lew Hays PONY Field in Washington, PA. The World Series annually attracts 25,000 fans and contributes over $4 million to the regional economy, with all games livestreamed internationally via MLB.com. The tournament represents PONY Baseball's 13- and 14-year-old age division. PONY has over 500,000 players ages 3-23 in more than 50 countries.