Four Blair County baseball players, including Tyrone’s Drew Irons, Bellwood’s Alex McCartney and Altoona’s Eric McAllister and Dante LaRocco, will compete in the 2022 Dick’s Sporting Goods PONY League World Series.
Also competing for the Blair County team are Brock Bryson and Grady Clark from Huntingdon County.
The players are part of the PittBull/Rebels Johnstown team that recently won the PONY Host-Area Zone to qualify for the 10-team double-elimination world tournament for 13- and 14-year-olds that will be held in Washington, Pa., from this Friday through Aug. 17.
“We can hit really well and our defense is pretty good,” said Irons of his Blair County teammates. “I think that could help us win a few games.”
Other teams in the field are London, U.K.; Chinese Taipei; Monterrey, Mexico; Guaynabo, Puerto Rico; San Jose, Calif.; Palmview, Texas; Bay County, Mich.; Hagerstown, Md., and Washington County, Pa.
“We have a powerful 1-9 lineup, topped with plenty of team speed,” Johnstown coach Dom Cannizzaro said. “On the defensive side, we have power arms as well as pitchers who will mix it up and hit the spots that are being called. We have a good mix of speed to cover the outfield, and arms to keep teams from getting aggressive on base paths.”
In the Host-Area tournament, Johnstown went 4-0, outscoring its opponents, 58-13. It will be the 11th time Johnstown has sent a team to the World Series.
“Our kids come from small towns where a hard work ethic is key to survival — kids from West Central PA are built differently,” Cannizzaro said.
Johnstown will play its first game in the 2022 tournament against the winner of Hagerstown and Bay County at 6 p.m. Saturday at Lew Hays PONY Field.
“I am more worried about our first game (on Saturday),” replied Irons, when asked about possibly facing teams from around the world down the road in the tournament. “We play the winner of Michigan and Maryland.”
All of the games will be livestreamed on MLB.com. Some games will be shown live on AT&T SportsNet, and the championship game will be televised live on The CW.
