Ponies Ride Off Into The Sunset, Fall In Regional Semis

The Chincoteague baseball team had their historic season come to a heartbreaking end Wednesday afternoon when they fell to Rappahannock 6-3 in 11 innings. The Ponies have protested the game on the possible use of an ineligible pitcher by the Raiders, but for the time, a furious comeback of the home team came painfully short in the the 11th.

Rappahannock would strike first after working runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, and getting a RBI fielders choice by Charles Hennage that scored Jonathan Douglas. in the 5th. Chincoteague would then battle back to tie up the game in the 6th after getting a RBI double to left by Dylan Mason that scored Trevor Reed. They would have a chance to take the lead in the inning with the bases loaded and 1 out, but were unable to push the go-ahead run across, so we would head to extras.

There in the 9th, Rappahannock would go out in front again after sending a deep fly to center by Romeo Jackson that would score Brayden Clark. The Raiders would add a bases loaded walk to take a 2 run lead into the bottom of the frame. But the Ponies weren’t ready to go away. They would get a runner on first with 2 down, before Trey Fisher would pull one to the 1st base line foul pole on a 1-2 count. The ball would hop 10 feet in fair territory, and bounce over the outfield wall. The umps however, would rule a homerun, which would tie the game and keep us going in extras. The Raiders would then be the ones to respond in the 11th. After back to back hit by pitches would put runners on 1st and 2nd, Devin Sisson would turn on a pitch and blast it over the center field fence for a 3 run shot. The Ponies couldn’t push any runs across in the bottom of the frame, as they ran out of time.

Following the game, Chincoteagues head coach informed the umps they were protesting the game, due to a relief pitcher that the Raiders brought in. The Ponies believed him to have already reached his innings limit for a week in Virginia, and wasn’t to be allowed to pitch in the game. The protest is under review, and if it is upheld, the Raiders would have to forfeit the game, which would send the Ponies to state for the first time in their program history.