Colt League World Series

I totally agree that Lafayette, IN is an excellent dedicated venue for the Colt Division World Series of PONY Baseball.

From host families to designated rooters to the turnout for every game, there are few places that can top this experience for a 16 year old baseball player

http://www.coltworldseries.com/index.php

I was once the president of a 1,000+ player Pony League. I am a big Pony baseball fan.

But I don't like the direction it has taken. From community-based ball to now just another venue for travel ball. I know the coach of the CA team well...good guy. I know some of the players...good players. But they are a 'Northern CA' team (not to be confused with NorCal...different organization)...but this group, when not playing for Colt trophies, they are pure and simple a travel/tournament team.

They are not breaking any rules, so there is no reason to root against them. All good people.

But there are plenty of venues for these types of teams and the rules shoulda left them in those venues. I really wish they woulda left the rules alone and let the towns and cities put forth players from their town/city...like it used to be.

When Santa Clara (CA) won it about 10 years ago with Jared Lansford and others, they were all Santa Clara kids. When Santa Clara won it again 3 or 4 years ago, they were a South Bay Area team. Now we have a Northern CA team. Just not the way I wish it were.

It is amazing how Pony has changed direction. While living in Va, both of my boys played in the local PONY league and it was pretty darn good baseball. Most of the kids that played in the local league went on to play in middle school and high school. Little League took the back seat in Va.

Moved to Ca about a year ago and searched for the local PONY organization and to my surprise Little League is HUGE in SoCal while PONY takes the "backseat". Due in part to the Little League World Series of 2009 maybe? So I had my youngest son in LL last fall, and it just didn’t appeal to us. No lead offs, no strait steals... just confused a kid that had been playing PONY for a few years.

Fast forward to this spring season - we sought out the local PONY league and signed up. Only to my surprise that it was nothing more than a travel ball league. There were two teams made up from the local community while the remaining 6 teams were travel ball teams. Not that I am against travel ball, heck both my boys have played and play on travel ball teams. But it sure seemed to take away from the "fun" of rec ball.

Funny how the Va PONY league that we were involved in discouraged players from travel ball until the end of the PONY season. My oldest was benched for two games by his PONY coach (in Va) for missing a PONY practice to participate in a travel ball tournament. Here in SoCal, they just have the travel ball teams register with the league, complete roster - no draft. Benefits to both I guess...

Different parts of the country different "norms" for what is available. PONY baseball is nonexistent here with Little League chartering just a few leagues in the entire state. Tourn ball & scouted travel ball for older players is the norm. Does sound like a fun experience in IN for the 16 yr old teams. Good luck to teams involved.

Justbaseball,

I agree with you and wonder how big an area or population the "Puerto Rico" also draws from. If some of the teams that made it to the world series are true town teams, my hat is off to them. Unfortunately, the two teams that made it to the championship pretty much show that is not enough to win it all.

Our house has been tuned in to the Colt tournament because my son plays on the travel team that most of the Los Gatos players come from. He, however, opted for his local league all star team this summer instead, for just the reason you describe. I think he enjoyed those wins more than beating much better competition on his stacked travel team.

On a separate note, I have been very impressed with the quality of the broadcasts. Obviously they don't have all the camera angles we are used to on a major network broadcast, but it is a big step up from most Web videos, and I like the announcers.

Even though it really is just a travel tournament, it is pretty cool for them to get to play for a national championship and have it on the Web and TV.