MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Greater Manchester Colt Baseball League 14U All-Star Team is looking for help to get to the 2021 DICK’S Sporting Goods P.O.N.Y. League World Series, starting later this week in Pennsylvania.
Greater Manchester is the first New Hampshire-based team to ever qualify for the P.O.N.Y. World Series in its 68-year history. They swept the East Super-Regional Tournament in New Jersey with an 18-2 victory against the BBL Brooklyn Cougars and a 15-0 victory against NY Federation/Metro Brooklyn Bonnie’s on July 31, followed by 14-6 victory over NY Federation/Metro Brooklyn Bonnie’s on July 31.
This earned them a spot at the East Zone Regional Tournament in High Point, NC where they earned additional victories on Aug. 3 against Wentworth, NC (15-0), on Aug. 4 against Chesterfield, VA (11-1), 2019 P.O.N.Y. Champions Hagerstown, MD (4-3) on Aug. 6 and another win over Hagerstown on Aug. 7 (9-1).
The Greater Manchester P.O.N.Y. League in only one New Hampshire, with P.O.N.Y. League Colt Divisions like the one heading to the World Series from New Hampshire primarily focusing on 13 to 16 year-olds.
P.O.N.Y. baseball ( for Protect Our Nation’s Youth) differs from Little League by its use of a rule-set that is closer to that of Major League Baseball, also focusing on age-levels rather than skill-levels and providing leagues for age groups older than what Little League provides, going up to 23 years old.
The league plays all its games at Ray Cross Field at Sheehan-Basquil Park in Manchester, with players coming from Manchester and several nearby towns, with the team heading to the World Series consisting of the best players from all of the teams in the Greater Manchester Colt League.
Greater Manchester Colt League President Kim Lambert is aiming for $10,000 as a baseline to help defray the costs associated with getting to the World Series, noting the various expenses incurred by the team on their trips to New Jersey and North Carolina.
“We have to rent vans and due to the pandemic everything is in short supply right now,” she said. “Our goal is definitely a minimum goal, if we could raise that it’d be wonderful.”
The team’s GoFundMe page can be found here.
Manchester will play its first game in the World Series against Johnstown, PA, at 8:00 pm EST on Friday August 13 at Lew Hays P.O.N.Y. Field.
