For the first time in 21 years, the Heartwell PONY team of 14-man All-Stars is traveling to Washington, Pennsylvania for the PONY World Series. The team from Heartwell Park in Long Beach won the West Zone Tournament last week and is now one of 10 remaining teams heading to the World Series out of 5,500 PONY All-Star teams.

In a statement, manager Matt Paige said, “I have been coaching players from Little League through high school for over 30 years and this team is clearly full of talent and tenacity. We look forward to meeting and competing against teams around the world on the biggest PONY stage.”

The Heartwell boys made it through a West Zone tournament featuring the best teams from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

The Heartwell All-Stars team consists of Jacob Isaiah Brown, Anthony James Carrillo, Jefferson Yoshinori Cowles, Lucas Kapuali Ferguson, Ty Cash Gallo, Diego Antonio Gonzalez, Edgar Clarence Green IV, Marc Ethan James, Alán Mora Machado, Jordan Luke Rivers, David Sanchez, Ismael Santillan, Nicolas David Seib, Trevor Anthony Torres and Jack Thomas Walsh.

The team is coached by Matt Paige, with assistant coaches being Matthew Paige, David Montano and Cesar Penaflor.

The team will compete in the PONY World Series from August 8 to 14.

The team defeated Kauai 6-4 and Santa Cruz 8-3 to open the West Zone Tournament. After a loss to Hawaii, they came back and defeated them 7-3 to advance to the championship, where they defeated Sierra Madre 12-2 under the mercy rule.

Ismael Santillan pitched 4.1 innings and allowed just one run. Ty Gallo came on to close out the game. The team got multiple hits in the championship by Marc Ethan James, Santillan, Alan Machado and Trevor Torres. If you want to support the team and help them reach the World Series, donate here.