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Knightline ousted from PONY World Series
By charles grove
Knightline Embroidery suffered an early exit from the Pony Palomino World Series after a 9-0 defeat at the hands of San Jose, Calif.
The loss eliminates Knightline from the tournament.
While five errors were the main reason for Knightline’s 10-3 loss to Caguas, Puerto Rico the night before, walks haunted in their second defeat.
“We just couldn’t find where the umpire wanted the strike zone,” Knightline manager Tommy Otto said. “In the fourth inning things unraveled on us.”
San Jose scratched across two runs in the first inning, one in the second and another two in the third. But the fourth inning was the backbreaker when Knightline pitching walked six out of seven batters during a stretch where nothing seemed to go right. Six Knightline pitchers issued a total of nine walks.
“I’m surprised we played seven innings,” Otto said. “Things just got out of hand. This was a very uncharasteric tournament with the errors and the walks. I’m proud but disappointed.”
Jake Kaschak, Zach Campbell and Jake Gherardi each had one hit for Knightline.
Knightline was able to threaten with baserunners in each of the first three innings, but the big hit never came.
“We didn’t have the tournament we wanted to but we were humbled and honored to make it this far,” Otto said. “We’re just disappointed we didn’t play our best.”
The team graduates five players who will continue their baseball careers at the collegiate level. Hank Clegg will attend Hiram, Andy Sodergren and Kaschak will attend Lakeland Community College, Marcus Masters will attend Westminster and Gherardi will attend Ohio Northern.