Pony League Baseball
by Keith Antigiovanni

Baseball is back in Ramona with opening ceremonies for the Ramona Pony League on Saturday, March 13 at Wellfield Park.

The event will include an official welcome and speech by league president Mary Schoepp, an introduction of the 14-member board that governs the Pony League and an introduction of the rosters of all the teams.

County Supervisor Dianne Jacobs will throw out the first pitch.

"She’s been very supportive in helping provide county funds to fix up our baseball fields for the Pony League," Schoepp said.

Pony League in San Diego County consists of five sections; the Ramona Pony League is in section four, along with Mira Mesa.

Pony League differs from Little League, in part, because it is played on a bigger field.

"Our 9- to 10-year-olds play on the same size field as 11- to 12-year-olds in Little League," Schoepp said.

Stealing bases and balks are allowed in Pony League but not in Little League. Each game has a two-hour, 15 minute time span unless one team is leading by 10 runs after four innings, when the "Mercy Rule" is used.

The Pony League age span is 5 to 14 and broken down into the following age divisions: (5-6) Shetland, (7-8) Pinto, (9-10) Mustang, (11-12) Bronco, (13-14) Pony, and in some cases, (15-16) Colt and (17-18) Palomino.

"Since the Palomino division is high-school age, the team will travel and play other Palomino teams, but there aren’t too many of them since most kids that age are playing high-school baseball," Schoepp said. "The uniforms are bidded on by two sports shops in town then the board votes on which store to use. The teams all use Major League team names with the exception of Shetland Division, which uses Minor League names."

Games are held at 8 and 10:30 a.m. and 1 and 3:30 p.m. on Saturdays until Daylight Saving Time starts, and then at 5 p.m. on weekdays.