Observer-Reporter / Holly Tonini The Youngstown PONY League World Series team waits for their awards after falling to Brownsville, TX 11-10 in the title game.

Brownsville, Texas, had allowed seven runs in five Pony League World series games coming into Wednesday night’s championship game.

The thought of it scoring nine against Youngstown, Ohio, and needing extra innings to win seemed about as likely as Charlie Sheen becoming the governor of Idaho.

Folks, sports are a strange, strange beast.

In a game that ended with 21 runs, 21 hits, nine errors, a home run, six pitching changes and a managerial ejection, Brownsville got the win, 11-10 in eight innings. It just might have been the wildest Pony League World Series final ever.

Ruben Lopez Sr. is one proud father, as his son, Ruben Jr., drove in his younger son, Alexis, to put Brownsville ahead, 10-9 in the eighth. Brownsville added another run and fought off one last Youngstown charge to bring it home.

“This is what the boys are going to remember forever,” assistant coach and acting manager Juan Garza said.

Even in defeat, there haven’t been many ballgames, if any, like this one that Youngstown manager Dom Triveri has been a part of at this level.

“It’s at the top of the list,” Triveri said, “We left everything out there. There were some things we did wrong, and there are a lot of things we did right. So, we played as a team, and they did a great job. I’m proud of my boys. I really am.”

It was Youngstown’s first championship game appearance since 1955, when Dwight Eisenhower was president and the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn. It was Brownsville’s first title game ever.

Youngstown got a break in the top of first. With one out and runners on the corners, Brownsville’s cleanup hitter, Nehemiah Garcia, hit a grounder to short. Anthony Triveri threw to second baseman Jake Rynd for one, and Garcia narrowly beat the relay to first. The play was not over. Alexis Lopez made a break for home, and Youngstown’s first baseman Hunter Garvin was ready, throwing home to catcher Maddox Yost to complete an odd double play.

Brownsville scored first when a two-out single by Carter Wilson scored Jacob Hayes.

As it has all tournament, however, Brownsville had an answer. The Texas team took the lead with four runs in the top of the second.

Youngstown got two back in the third on Wilson’s second RBI knock and a single by eighth-place hitter Jake Rynd. Wilson would finish 4-6 with two doubles and three RBI.

Enter, Ruben Lopez Jr.

With two on in the fourth, Lopez Jr. got a fat fastball down the middle and sent it into the Washington night over the left-field wall. The ball disappeared into the night, but Youngstown would not.

Brownsville still had some fight, cutting the deficit to one in the fourth. The inning’s second run came when an ugly outfield collision between left fielder Etziel Gonzalez and center fielder Jorge Garza Jr. led to an RBI double for Wilson (who finished the night 4-for-6 with two doubles and three-RBI). Two batters later, an RBI single by Dom Cubellis scored Hunter Garvin.

Brownsville got insurance in the sixth, thanks to a rare multi-error play. With two on and one out, Nehemiah Garcia hit a grounder to Wilson at third. The throw bounced over first baseman Garvin’s head, allowing Alexis Lopez to score. In trying to get Lopez at home, Jacob Hayes, now playing right field, threw wildly over catcher Yost’s head, scoring Ruben Lopez and making it 9-6.

Youngstown got out of the inning on a 2-3-2 double play. An ensuing argument led to the ejection of Lopez Sr. As a result, Lopez Sr. was not in the championship photos.

“It’s frustrating for all of us,” Garza said. “We’ve been through so much adversity to get here since day one. It just boiled over. He’s a fighter. He’s always going to protect his team just like the rest of the coaches are. And I guarantee you anybody in our situation would have done the same.”

Despite the ejection, Lopez Sr. is an especially proud father tonight. Older son Ruben Jr. went 3-5 with a homer, four RBI and three runs, and Alexis went 4-for-4 with four runs and two RBI. Although his dad wasn’t in the championship photos, Ruben Jr. knows what his father means to him.

“He helped us out with everything,” he said. “Late practices, early practices, running, pitching, batting, everything.”

In the bottom of the sixth, Youngstown roared for three runs to tie, the last two coming on a two-run single by Rynd.

With the game tied in the bottom of the seventh, Youngstown loaded the bases with nobody out. It needed a fly ball, and it got one.

Pay attention because this gets weird.

Cubellis hit a fly ball to right, and both runners failed to tag up. As a result, Brownsville’s right fielder Rudy Gomez caught the ball and turned a rare 9-6 double play.

“I tell everybody that as far as hitting it in the outfield, go back and tag,” Youngstown manager Triveri said. “We didn’t do that.”

In the bottom of the seventh, Youngstown scored a run and had runners on first and second for Wilson. He hit a shallow fly ball to center, and Jorge Garza Jr. came on to make a diving catch to end it.”

After Lopez Jr. put Brownsville ahead in the eighth, the Texas team added an insurance run. Youngstown had one more charge in it, scoring a run and having two on for Wilson.

Wilson hit a fly ball to shallow center. Jorge Garza Jr. came on to make a diving catch and ended it all. The team from the Rio Grande Valley, less than 20 minutes from the border, reached the top of the PONY baseball universe.

“That’s the one we’re always going to remember,” Juan Garza, who is not related to Jorge, said. “Regardless of how many games we won out here, that’s the way we won that game. “That’s the way we’re bringing the championship back to the valley.

Now, 20, 30, 40 years down the line, the Brownsville Boys of ’21 will talk to their sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, grandsons, granddaughters and anybody else willing to listen about what they accomplished over six nights in August.

“I’ll remember my friends, my friends that are not going to play in this tournament anymore because they’re heading off to high school,” an emotional Alexis Lopez said. “I still have one more year here.”

“Brownsville, Texas, has never, ever brought a championship home,” Juan Garza said. “This is the first time. Taking the championship back home is what the boys will always remember.”