Pony League

EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio - Matt Mastiano went 3-for-4, Josh Carter was 2-for-2 with a home run and Steve Weaver had a three-run homer to lead Hagerstown to a 16-1 win over West Suffolk Long Island for the title in the Pony League 13-year-old zone tournament Sunday. Mastiano was the winning pitcher, throwing a three-hitter with four strikeouts. Hagerstown went 9-0 and outscored its opponents, 96-35. The leading hitters were Carter (.630), Mastiano (.600) and Matt Allen (.444)

COLLEGE BASEBALL Duke 4, Maryland 2 COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Smithsburg graduate Gerry Spessard went 2-for-4 with a double and a triple for the Terrapins (4-7, 0-1 ACC) in a loss to the Blue Devils (5-8, 1-0) on Friday. WOMEN'S HOOPS Garrett 62, HCC 49 LARGO, Md. - Cristi Bartlett had a double-double with 11 points and 15 rebounds, but Hagerstown Community College was not able to overcome an early 18-5 deficit in a Region XX Tournament first-round loss to Garrett.

Ball careers don't have to end with Little League or Pony League, high school or college. The Washington County Senior Softball League offers athletes from Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia the opportunity to use their softball skills in friendly competition. Now in its 23rd year, the league is open to men 50 and older and women 40 and older. Prior to 2001, the league was called Washington County 50 Plus League. A four-member board of directors is gearing up for the season, in hopes of adding two teams, since players had to be turned away last year.

HAGERSTOWN -- Baseball has been a constant in Larry Hammond's life. A longtime Baltimore Orioles fan, he began his own career as a player at American Little League. That being said, Hammond considers himself a better administrator than coach and player. Recently voted as district administrator for Little League's Maryland District 1, the 1971 North Hagerstown High School graduate said he wasn't "a stellar player" when he played baseball as a boy; he just liked playing the game.

Hagerstown 'A' proved that its 9-2 win over Chambersburg 'B' in the opening round wasn't a fluke when it won again by the same 9-2 score against the same opponent Sunday night in the championship game of the PONY League 13-year-old sectional tournament at Funkhouser Park. Hagerstown 'A' went 3-0 in the tournament to advance to the region tournament in Boardman, Ohio. "We're very excited about going to Ohio," Hagerstown 'A' manager Steve Cromer said. "The kids have been working hard and they are very excited.

It was so enjoyable the first time, Christian Binford decided to give an encore performance. For the second time in three days, Binford struck out 15 Chambersburg American batters for a complete-game victory to lift Hagerstown 'A' to an 11-3 win for the PONY League sectional tournament Monday at Funkhouser Park. Hagerstown advances to the regionals, which begin Sunday in Boardman, Ohio. "During the second time that I was facing that team, they were more able to hit my pitches," Binford said.

Hagerstown was eliminated from the Pony League 13-year-old East Zone Tournament on Tuesday night, losing a 5-4 heartbreaker to Boardman (Ohio). Hagerstown finished third with a 1-2 record in the four-team, double-elimination tournament. Hagerstown lost 8-7 in eight innings to Boardman on Sunday. "I'm just proud of the way that we hung in there all night," Hagerstown manager Steve Blickenstaff said. "We tried hard and we did not give up. It was a very talented group of kids.

PONY advances to title game OONSOCKETT, R.I. - Hagerstown A defeated Rockingham, N.C. 14-1 Saturday to earn a berth in the PONY League the East Zone tournament final. If Hagerstown wins it's 11 a.m. game today, it advances to the PONY World Series next weekend in Washington, Pa. Aerik Taylor had two hits and Philip Jordan had two hits and four RBI for Hagerstown A on Saturday. Scott Keeney picked up the win with 10 strikeouts. Hagerstown defeated New Bedford, Maine, 16-9 on Friday.

keller@herald-mail.com Funkstown Post 211 baseball coach Darryl Powell is hoping a little rest and relaxation will do his team some good. Funkstown opens play in the Maryland State Legion Baseball Tournament at McCurdy Field in Frederick on Friday, more than one week since it played its last game. Given the way the season went for the team, Powell said he thinks the layoff is to their benefit. "With this team, I think it helps us," Powell said. "With the schedule we played this year, playing four or five times a week, they were beat three-quarters of the way through the season.

Ball careers don't have to end with Little League or Pony League, high school or college. The Washington County Senior Softball League offers athletes from Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia the opportunity to use their softball skills in friendly competition. Now in its 23rd year, the league is open to men 50 and older and women 40 and older. Prior to 2001, the league was called Washington County 50 Plus League. A four-member board of directors is gearing up for the season, in hopes of adding two teams, since players had to be turned away last year.

The mother of a 14-year-old boy obtained a peace order for her son against a Hagerstown PONY League baseball coach after telling a Washington County District Court judge Monday that the man made an inappropriate comment to the youth on April 15. Judge Dana Moylan Wright granted the peace order against Russell Wayne Robinson Sr., 68, of Falling Waters, W.Va. The civil order states that Robinson shall not abuse or contact the boy, or go to his residence or school, court records show.

HAGERSTOWN -- Baseball has been a constant in Larry Hammond's life. A longtime Baltimore Orioles fan, he began his own career as a player at American Little League. That being said, Hammond considers himself a better administrator than coach and player. Recently voted as district administrator for Little League's Maryland District 1, the 1971 North Hagerstown High School graduate said he wasn't "a stellar player" when he played baseball as a boy; he just liked playing the game.

HAGERSTOWN -- The memory of local baseball standout Nick Adenhart weighed heavily on the minds of those attending the opening ceremony Sunday for the Hagerstown PONY League. Adenhart, the Williamsport High School graduate and Los Angeles Angels player who died April 9, 2009, in a car crash in Fullerton, Calif., played in the Hagerstown PONY League in 2000 and 2001. People who coached Adenhart, and those who were friends with Adenhart and his family took turns on the Hagerstown PONY League field along Jefferson Street remembering the pitcher who was called a "dream" to coach.

"I'd like to take this time to dedicate a song to the commissioner of corrections and the warden of MCTC, Warden Horning. The title of that song is 'What was I thinking?'" - Hagerstown "'We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works'. - Thomas Jefferson. According to Parade last year, Sen. Byrd of W.Va. was 90, and Byrd was just one of 42 senators 65 or over. Parade also said 13 senators were born after 1955. My mother-in-law is 92, and she can match wits with anyone.

One of our national pastimes is sitting in our living rooms watching and reading about national sporting events. And it usually involves other parts of the country. This time it was our boys. In a summer that has featured the Olympics in China, we had our own games. When the Hagerstown PONY League All-Stars and Federal Little League All-Stars made it to the World Series in their respective age divisions, in the same season, it was like hitting the lottery. You couldn't have predicted it. But it happened.

HAGERSTOWN -- For more than 30 years, Doris "Dottie" Robinson was a fixture at the Hagerstown Pony League's Funkhouser Park baseball field. Long after her own son stopped playing there, Robinson went out to the park at 4:30 p.m. and stayed until 11 p.m., opening and closing the concession stand, ordering and picking up the food, and cleaning up before and after each baseball season, Hagerstown Pony League president Jack Miller said. Even after Robinson lost her eyesight to diabetes and began dialysis, she continued working at the concession stand with help from her family, said her husband, Russ.

The Red Men put together a 24-8 record and went 2-0 in the playoffs to win the Hagerstown PONY League title. Front row: Ryan Hartsock and Andrew Barnhart. Middle row: Kris Burdick, Devon Redman, Dustin Gregory, Derek Black, Shayne Combs and Dustin Price. Back Row: Coach Bill Proctor, coach Greg Eversole, Chaney Lum, Jake Bachtell, Zack Sauble, Christian Binford, Jacob Mann, Corey Ballard, Stephen Coccodrilli, Moe Price, coach Bob Hershman and manager Ed Kipe.

It was so enjoyable the first time, Christian Binford decided to give an encore performance. For the second time in three days, Binford struck out 15 Chambersburg American batters for a complete-game victory to lift Hagerstown 'A' to an 11-3 win for the PONY League sectional tournament Monday at Funkhouser Park. Hagerstown advances to the regionals, which begin Sunday in Boardman, Ohio. "During the second time that I was facing that team, they were more able to hit my pitches," Binford said.

Hagerstown was eliminated from the Pony League 13-year-old East Zone Tournament on Tuesday night, losing a 5-4 heartbreaker to Boardman (Ohio). Hagerstown finished third with a 1-2 record in the four-team, double-elimination tournament. Hagerstown lost 8-7 in eight innings to Boardman on Sunday. "I'm just proud of the way that we hung in there all night," Hagerstown manager Steve Blickenstaff said. "We tried hard and we did not give up. It was a very talented group of kids.