Hopewell Pony League Baseball
Hopewell Pony League Baseball Team Drops Season Opener to Freedom, 7-6
After a few cancellations due to weather and schedule conflicts, the Hopewell Vikings 2024 Pony League season got underway with a matchup at Freedom.
For those not familiar, Hopewell participates in the 376 Western PA Pony League which consists of 16 other teams from Blackhawk, New Brighton, Beaver, Central Valley, Freedom, South Side, Ambridge, Elwood City, Beaver Falls and Riverside. A large majority of the other teams have multiple teams from the same community. However, Hopewell fields one team and it consists of 15 players on the roster.
Last night’s opener was highly competitive but on this particular night, Freedom got the best of Hopewell, 7-6.
Here are some highlights from the game:
*Jackson Yurcina got the start for Hopewell and was really solid as he went 3 innings, allowing only 3 hits, 1 ER and striking out 5 batters.
*Camden Hoth pitched the 4th and 5th innings, allowing 5 hits and 2 ER.
*Jayvion Lindsey pitched the 7th inning and credit to Jayvion, who’s not asked to pitch a ton and he came in and did a good job.
*Defensively, Hopewell turned two double plays in the field. In the 2nd inning, second baseman Reed Budavich snared a ball to double off a runner at first. Then in the 4th inning, right fielder Noah Ciminella made a circus catch in right field and immediately threw it to second base to double off the runner.
*Offensively, Hopewell’s bats were a bit cold as they registered only 6 hits. However, when they did get on base, the Vikings were stealing bases as they swiped 15 bases (James Armstrong 6 steals, David Villanueva 2, Andrew Arzberger 1, Collin Davis 1, Camden Hoth 1, Jayvion Lindsey 1, Owen Ackerman 1, Ryan Gaguzis 1 and Luke Vukovcan 1.
*The Vikings with hits were Davis with 2, Lindsey with 1, Armstrong with 1, Gaguzis with 1 and Aiden Ritchart with 1. As far as RBIs, Ritchart came through with a hard 2-run single in the Top of the 6th inning, which tied the game at 4. Then in the 7th inning, Armstrong came through with a 2-out, 2-run single to get Hopewell within 7-6.
The Hopewell Pony League team is next in action next Monday as they’ll host Riverside.
