Pony 13s conclude season at zone tourney

St. Mary Pony 13s finished 1-2 at the Pony 13-year-old South Zone Tournament Elite Bracket in Deer Park, Texas this weekend.
St. Mary defeated Friendswood 3-2 in extra innings in its tournament opener before falling to Laredo, 5-3, in a second-round game.
The area squad was eliminated by Friendswood, 5-4, in extra innings Saturday.
While St. Mary originally was scheduled to start tournament play Thursday night, its game was rained out, and its tournament action didn’t begin until noon Friday.
St. Mary defeated Friendswood 3-2 in extra innings Thursday.
While Friendswood took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, St. Mary responded with a run in the bottom of the frame and another in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 2.
The score remained the same until the bottom of the seventh when St. Mary plated the winning run Cruiz Crawford scored from third with two outs on an error by the Friendswood first baseman.
Crawford reached base after being hit by a pitch, moved to second when Abram Gilder was hit by a pitch and scored after a ground out by Mitchell Sanford to first base.
Luke Felterman earned the win for St. Mary. In seven innings, he surrendered two earned runs on five hits and fanned two.
Sanford led St. Mary offensively with a 2-for-3 performance with a double.
In its second game Friday, St. Mary fell to Laredo, 5-3.
While St. Mary took a 2-0 lead after three innings, Laredo scored two runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth four a 4-2 lead.
St. Mary plated a run in the bottom of the fifth via a solo home run by Seth Giroir, but the squad could get no closer.
Laredo scored a run in the top of the sixth for the final margin.
Lucas Hatch suffered the loss for St. Mary. In five innings, he surrendered four runs — two earned runs — on eight hits and fanned three.
Ian Valdez pitched an inning and surrendered an earned run on two hits and fanned one.
Giroir and Barrett Hover led St. Mary as Giror was 1-for-2 with a home run and an RBI, while Hover was 2-for-2 with an RBI.
Hatch, Rustin Ratcliff and Felterman all finished 1-for-3, too.
On Saturday, St. Mary faced a rematch with Friendswood in an elimination game and fell 5-4 in eight innings.
Friendswood took a 2-0 lead after the first inning, while St. Mary eventually took the lead in the top of the fourth to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead.
Friendswood tied the game at 3 in the fifth where it remained until the top of the eight.
St. Mary took the lead in the top of the eighth with a solo home run by Crawford before Friendswood scored the winning run in the bottom of the frame on a two-run single. Both runs were unearned.
Rustin Ratcliff suffered the loss in relief. In an inning of work, he surrendered two unearned runs on two hits, an intentional walk and fanned one.
Valdez started for St. Mary and in seven innings, he surrendered two earned runs on six hits with seven strikeouts.
Crawford led St. Mary with a 1-for-3 performance with a home run, while Ratcliff was 1-for-3 and Felterman and Sanford each were 1-for-4.