PONY Baseball and the PONY European Zone would like to send their congratulations to four PONY players who are taking their games to the next level. Daniel Padysak (Czech Republic-18), Denzel Bryson (Netherlands-18), Jiorgeny Casmiri (Netherlands-17) and Ruendrick Piternella (Netherlands-17) were recently selected to Major League Baseball's World Select Team, which will participate in the Arizona Universal Fall Classic on October 25-28 in Peoria, Arizona.
In 2014, Padysak was a member of the first-ever team from Czech Republic (Brno) to participate in the Pony League World Series. He was one of the team's leaders, both at the plate and on the mound, despite Brno's 0-2 run.
Bryson, Casmiri and Piternella were all members of the 2017 Colt World Series championship-winning Netherlands team that brought home the first PONY World Series event title in not only Dutch history, but on behalf of Europe entirely. After being one of the tournament's offensive leaders at the 2017 PONY European Zone Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, Bryson went on to start in each of the Netherlands' four games en-route to the title. He recorded two hits and an RBI, while recording three runs scored, after being hit by pitches twice and walked once, during his tournament run. Casmiri recorded the final out for the Netherlands in their championship game victory over Upland, California, after relieving starter Luke ter Beek. He recorded a win for his efforts on the mound in the Netherlands' defeat of Seoul, Korea. Casmiri finished the Colt World Series with a 0.00 ERA over 4.2 innings pitched.
Piternella has been in the heart of the Netherlands' lineups during the team's back-to-back PONY European Zone Championships victories in 2017-18, as well as its appearances in the 2017-18 Colt World Series. In 2017, Piternella went 5-for-11 with three doubles, a triple, five RBI and four runs scored, during his time at in Lafayette, Indiana. He was 2-for-3 with two doubles, an RBI and a run scored in the Colt World Series' championship game. In 2018, Piternella finished 3-for-8 with two triples, four RBI and three runs scored, while being walked four times, during the Dutch's 2018 run at the Colt World Series in Marion, Illinois.
View the complete roster below:
For more information about the Arizona Fall Classic, go here.