Johnstown, Pennsylvania (USA) narrowly escaped day one of the Pony-13 World Series with a 3-2 extra inning win over San Diego, California (USA). Mason Pfeil got hold of a ball and drove it down the third base line, bringing in the winning run for Johnstown.

The first two innings of the Johnstown-San Diego game went by quickly at York Field. Neither team was able to get any momentum going on offense.

Johnstown’s Easton Semelsberger scored the first run in the game following a triple from Connor Yoder in the third inning. Semelsberger did his part by getting on base, and then stealing second to put himself in scoring position.

Nathan Moulton and Jacob Lanza both singled in the top of the sixth for San Diego. Zackery Petree was able to hold the runners on, though, and San Diego went another inning scoreless.

Ethan Janidlo singled in the bottom half of the sixth inning and brought around Yoder to score. Janidlo’s RBI single increased the Johnstown lead to 2-0.

San Diego’s bats didn’t wake up until the seventh inning when Petree was taken out of the game due to the pitch limit. A walk got Brooks Harwell on base, then Mace Wheeler smacked a ball to left field for an RBI triple, decreasing Johnstown’s lead to one.

The next batter, Colton Stinkeoway perfectly laid down a sacrifice bunt and brought in Wheeler for the tying run. Johnstown had nothing going in the bottom half of the seventh, and the game went to extra innings.

It wasn’t until the bottom of the ninth inning that Johnstown was able to close the game. Mason Pfeil slapped a ball passed the third baseman and brought around Ben Ryan for the game-winning, walk-off run.