Youth baseball’s Pony World Series is back in Modesto. Here’s what you should know
Hundreds of youth baseball players and their families from around the world will flock to Modesto this week for the return of the Pony 13U World Series at the Bel Passi Fields.
Bel Passi will host the five-day event for the third season after being granted its first opportunity in 2021. Whittier, which began hosting the tournament in 2014, backed out because of the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 and access to a field.
Pony Baseball, which has been around since 1951, turned to Northern California in search of a new host site. When Vacaville couldn’t access its city-run fields due to COVID-19, Bel Passi, whose facilities are privately owned, jumped at the opportunity to bring some of the best talent in the world to Modesto.
Bel Passi hosted the 9U and 13U World Series in 2021, and this year will be the second year it will host just the 13U double-elimination competition. All games will be played on Bel Passi’s Field 1 on July 21-24.
Entry fees are $10 for attendees 12 and up, $5 for youth ages 6 to 11 and free for children 5 and under.
“We tried to make it a really fun big community event,” said Jenifer Sauls, Bel Passi second vice president. “How often do you get to watch kids come and play from Mexico and Australia and Puerto Rico? And it’s the highest competition level of baseball in our area that you can go and watch.”
Past winners of the Pony-13 World Series include Alton, Texas; San Jose Police Activities League; Hilo, Hawaii; and two-time champion Seoul, South Korea.
Prior to four days of tournament play, there will be an opening ceremony Thursday, July 20, at 6 p.m. Teams will attend in their uniforms and festivities will include a Stanislaus County Air Support appearance; food, baseball and personalized T-shirt vendors; and catering by No Meat Left Behind barbecue and others. The opening ceremony also will feature a home run derby and skills competition.
As the host site, Bel Passi’s team automatically qualifies for the World Series. The Bel Passi All-Stars will compete for a championship against teams from the East, North, South, and West Zones of the United States, Australia, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
Competition July 21 begins at 10 a.m. and the final game will end at 4 p.m. The tournament will follow the same schedule until the final day, July 24, when Game 1 will start at noon, Game 2 at 3 p.m. and the championship at 6 p.m.
“The kids who are coming to the World Series have played spring ball, a lot of them go on to all-star teams and then they play through all the different tournaments to get to this point,” Sauls said. “By the time they get to this point, they’ve worked really hard … and put in a lot of time and effort.”
Pony-13 World Series Day 1 Schedule
Game 1 — 10 a.m.: West Zone vs North Zone
Game 2 — 1 p.m.: South Zone vs Sydney, Australia
Game 3 — 4 p.m.: Monterrey, Mexico vs Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
Game 4 — 7 p.m.: Bel Passi, CA vs East Zone
