Pony tales

With the Pony League World Series being held this week in Washington, I thought it was a good time for a PONY-related post. I was going through a stack of old scorebooks in my basement last week and flipping through the pages in several of the old Wilson books. One page I turned to was a game from the 1997 Pony World Series involving a team from Hamilton, Ohio. What made me stop on this page was the name Jason Bowlin seemed to jump out at me. I wondered if this was the same Jason Bowlin who is a relief pitcher for the Florence Freedom.

It turns it that it's indeed the same Jason Bowlin. As a 14-year-old for Hamilton in 1997, Bowlin pitched his team to a victory over Seoul, Korea, in its first game and pitched in relief in a win over Carolina, P.R. Carolina, by the way, had a second baseman named Ruben Gotay, who is now a backup infielder for the New York Mets.

Hamilton lost to North Allegheny in its third game but had already wrapped up its division title and spot in the championship game. Bowlin got the start on the mound against Danville, Calif., in the final but was victimized by four unearned runs in the fourth inning. Danville won 7-0.

Danville, oddly enough, also lost its third game in the World Series, to a future Frontier League pitcher. Patrick Sadler had the best performance by a Washington pitcher that I've seen in the World Series when he threw a two-hit shutout with two walks (both in the last inning) and 16 strikeouts in a 3-0 win for the host team. When people asked me over the years if I thought Sadler was a better position player or pitcher, this game always came to mind. You don't throw a two-hit shutout with 16 strikeouts against the Pony World Series champions if you're not a pitcher.

Another player currently on a Frontier League roster who participated in the Pony League World Series is Traverse City catcher Matt Rademacher, who played for Bay City, Mich., in 1998 - the year former Wild Things infielder Justin Gregula pitched Washington to the championship game.