Michael Brunick races down the third baseline to score off Kolby Redenback’s RBI triple. Brunick led the Norwich “A” team as he went 2-for-3 at the plate in the 13-2 victory. (Photo by Morgan Golliver)

NORWICH – The 2023 Otsenango Pony League season is underway and the Norwich Purple Tornado have two teams representing them this summer. One team is in the A division with Sherburne, Whitney Point, Bainbridge-Guilford, and Oxford. The other team is in the C division with Oneonta, Sidney, Delhi, Unatego, and Walton.

The “A” team earned a big 13-2 victory over Whitney Point while the “B” team suffered a 12-2 loss on the road against Oneonta. The A team is nicknamed JV while the B team is named modified on the GameChanger online scoring software.

A

Paving the way for the JV pony team was Michael Brunick who went 2-for-3 at the plate with one RBI. Norwich got on the board with three runs in the first inning as Zack Parker led off with a triple and came in to score on a mishap by Whitney Point during Owen Olds’ at-bat.

Olds scored during Kaden Downey’s at-bat as he stole second, reached third on an error, and then advanced home on another error made. Kaden stole second and third and came in to score on Zac Turner’s groundout. Kaden led Norwich with three stolen bases.

Norwich scored in each inning, putting up a game-high of five runs in the second, three in the third, and one run each in the final two innings off nine hits.

Zack Parker earned the victory on the mound, going three and a third, allowing one earned run on one hit, walked two, and struck out nine batters. Carmine Pastore filled in relief after Parker reached 70 pitches and allowed an unearned run to score in the fifth inning while walking two and striking out four batters.

Box Score:

Runs by Inning: R H E

WP:

0-0-0-1-1-X 2 1 8

NO:

3-5-3-1-1-X 13 9 0

B

In the loss, Norwich scored two runs in the second and fourth innings. Pierce Sherman came in to score the first run as he stole second, third, and home. Ryan Evans drove in a run on an RBI single in the fourth inning. Evans and Noah Eddy had the only two hits for Norwich.

Bo Brown, Ethan Willis, and Eddy all made an appearance on the mound. Bo Brown struck out two batters while Eddy struck out four in the loss.

Box Score:

Runs by Inning: R H E

NO:

0-1-0-1-0-X 2 2 2

ON:

3-0-0-1-8-X 12 8 0

UP NEXT:

The Norwich teams will both be in action next week as the “A” team travels to Sherburne on Monday and the “B” team hosts Sidney on Tuesday. Both games will begin at 6 p.m.

Further information can be found on leaguelineup.com under Otsenango pony. Pony League is a summer baseball program that features players 16 years old and under.