ARCHIVES

ARCHIVES

Pony League drawing quite the ‘gait’

By Kenny Cress/Sports Writer/kcress@syvnews.com

Sean Rowan came through the Santa Ynez Valley Pony League baseball program. Bryce Tafelski did too.

Rowan was the Lee Central Coast Newspapers’ All-Area Baseball League MVP for 2009. Tafelski played for UCSB after red-shirting there in 2008. The two are alumni of a Pony baseball program with a long history of baseball opportunity for youngsters in the Santa Ynez Valley — and beyond.

UC Santa Barbara assistant baseball coach John Kirkgard, who’s been coaching for some 25 years, is another program alum.

“We’ve drawn kids from as far away as Santa Maria,” Todd Sparks said in a recent phone interview. Sparks just finished his eighth season of coaching in the Pony League. He has been on the league’s board of directors for two years.

Most of the league’s players “come from Santa Ynez, Solvang, Los Alamos, Buellton and so forth,” said Sparks.

Dave Kuehn has been Santa Ynez High School’s baseball coach for decades. His team won the Los Padres League last season and is consistently in the top echelon of league squads.

Kuehn was the Lee Central Coast Newspapers’ All-Area Baseball Team’s Coach of the Year in 2009. He’s quite appreciative of the Pony program.

“It’s a great feeder program for the high school,” Kuehn said. Many of his team’s alumni, including heavy-hitting infielder Skyler Ellis, an All-Area Team member who will play for Hancock College next year, are Pony League alumni as well.

The Pony League has five divisions. They are Shetland (for youngsters ages 5-6), Pinto (ages 7-8), Mustang (ages 9-10), Bronco (ages 11-12) and Pony (ages 13-14).

The league has an all-volunteer workforce. Sparks said the Santa Ynez Valley Classic alone keeps those volunteers plenty busy.

The Santa Ynez Pony League on Sunday finished hosting its fourth annual Classic. The Classic is a pre-All-Star tournament for Mustang, Pinto, Bronco and Pony League players.

Once again, most of the games were scheduled for the league’s site at Santa Ynez Elementary School. Some Bronco Division games were scheduled for the Lawrence Family Fields in another part of town.

The Santa Ynez Elementary School complex has three fields and, “It’s quite a job to keep all that stuff working,” said Sparks. “The AYSO uses the outfield grass for soccer,” when that program is in session.

Sparks said, “The tournament sells out every year, and we have to look for fields sometimes because so many teams want to come.” This year teams from Santa Barbara, Westlake, Newbury Park, Simi Valley and Bakersfield competed at the tournament.

“Basically the reason why we host the tournament is one, obviously that keeps our costs down and two, it’s a tremendous fundraiser. Obviously people who come from out of town will want to buy things.

“The teams are primarily Pony-sanctioned teams,” said Sparks. “They’re either Pony All-Star or Pony select teams. This tournament is a warm-up for district all-star tournaments.”

Sparks said most of the local league’s all-star teams will play at Newbury Park in their respective district tourneys.

“Pony teams can advance to a sectional, regional and then state tournament,” Sparks said. “I don’t believe there is a World Series in Pony League,” as there is in some other leagues.

“Last year’s (Valley Pony League) Bronco team won the regional,” said Sparks. “Our Mustang team won the sectionals. That’s as far as we got.”

Sparks said, “(A player) can play Little League, Cal Ripken, Pony, Babe Ruth — as far as what kind of baseball the league offers, you choose what you want to play as far as having leadoffs and so forth.”

Sparks said Pony rules allow baserunners in all-star games to lead off. Sparks has had some Pony League coaching success. His Bronco Division Diamondbacks “won the regular season tournament last year.”

He chuckled. “We got to the finals this year and then lost.”

July 3, 2009