Irons leads Johnstown over Chinese Taipei with 4-2 victory and into bracket championship at Pony WS

Aug. 16—WASHINGTON, Pa. — Drew Irons was "Ironman" — or "Ironsman" — for Johnstown Monday night at Lew Hays Pony Field.

Irons pitched 62/3 innings, one out shy of a complete game, hit a home run and led his team to a 4-2 victory over Asia-Pacific Zone champion New Taipei City in Game 11 of this year's Pony League World Series.

Irons channeled Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani, and his coach, Bugsy Roberts, wasn't surprised.

"Drew's a gamer," Roberts said. "That's why he pitched this game. I had faith in Drew from the beginning of the game. I knew he would give me this kind of performance."

Irons credited his success to his two best pitches — his curveball and fastball — being on point. The Tyrone native finished the day allowing two runs, one earned, on four hits, walking two and striking out three.

"Drew lives around the strike zone," Roberts said. "He lives low. He lives in the strike zone. He makes batters beat him."

Johnstown made a statement in a big way thanks to its first batter, Dante LaRocco, in the bottom of the first inning. LaRocco drove a 3-2 pitch deep to left field. The ball tucked just inside the foul pole for a home run that gave Johnstown a 1-0 lead.

Johnstown doubled its lead in the bottom of the third when a single by Brock Bryson scored Charlie Manzi to make it 2-0.

PittBull/Rebels added another in the bottom of the fourth on Irons' solo home run that hit the right-field foul pole.

This homer surprised Irons for a couple of reasons.

"I thought it was going to go foul," Irons said, "so I was just jogging down to first, and then it bounced off the foul pole, so I'm like, 'OK, I guess it's fair, then.'

"I was pretty surprised that it hit the foul pole because I had never done that in my life."

Bryson drove in his second run of the night in the bottom of the fifth, scoring LaRocco with a single.

Chinese Taipei broke the shutout in its last at-bat when Sun Kai-You scored on an error by the Johnstown first baseman. It added another later in the inning on a two-out single by Wei Zhe-Hong that brought home Chiu Sheng-Hung Gao.

Irons left the game with two outs and 98 pitches, three above the limit of 95.

Eric McAllister got the last out, and Johnstown finished off the victory.

Next up, Johnstown faces the winner of the Taipei-Bay County (Michigan) game — scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday — at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. The loser of the morning game will be eliminated.

Chinese Taipei declined to comment after the game.

For Roberts, the key to Johnstown keeping its momentum is simple: pitching.

He's confident that big things could be ahead.

"We have a really good team," Roberts said. "I think we're going to do something here."