PONY 14s win first game of tourney, 11-8

The St. Mary PONY 14-year-old All-Stars fought back from an 8-6 deficit in the seventh inning to come away with an 11-8 victory Thursday over the McAllen Team Predators in the PONY 14 South Zone Tournament’s Elite Bracket.
St. Mary advanced to the second round of the eight-team bracket and will play the Brownsville Nitro at 6 p.m. today.
St. Mary PONY 14-year-old All-Stars Coach Patrick Wiley said the team came out sluggish and not ready to play. St. Mary gave up eight walks. “We hit the ball in spurts,” Wiley said. Both teams made mistakes that the other capitalized on, Wiley said.
Going into the top of the seventh inning, St. Mary was down 8-6, but rallied to score five runs in that inning. Batters reached on a double, a triple, three hit batters and two walks, Wiley said.
Lukas Carnley started the game for St. Mary pitching 2 2/3 innings striking out two batters while allowing four hits and four walks. In relief of Carnley, Caleb Bernard pitched 3 1/3 innings giving up six hits, two walks, and striking out two batters. Kyle Pitre pitched one inning and walked two batters.
At the plate, Joel Singleton went 3-for-5 with three runs scored. Hayden Pinho was 2-for-3 with two runs scored, a two-run double, and three RBIs. Patrick Robertson was 1-for-3 with a run scored. Lukas Carnley went 1-for-3 with a triple and one RBI. Cade Thibodeaux went 1-for-3 with a run scored. Kyle Pitre was 1-for-4 with a run scored and a double. Reid Wiley went 1-for-2 with a run scored. Kyle Boudreaux was 0-for-0 reaching base on four walks and scoring two runs.
Wiley said St. Mary’s next opponent, Brownsville, is a very good hitting team, and the players on that team have made it to the zone tournament for their age group for the past four or five years.