The Devine Rangers 12U Baseball Team brings home the championship hardware for a 4th consecutive tournament. They took runner-up in the Pony All Star – State Regional Tournament at Southwest Pony League in San Antonio, Texas. As runner-up, the Devine Rangers qualify to play in the U.S. Pony Zone Tournament in Tampa, Florida July 26 – 30th for a chance to compete in the 2017 PONY LEAGUE WORLD SERIES to be held in Los Alamitos, California.
This past weekend, the Devine Rangers really came out “TOGETHER” to focus on the goal of getting to the next tournament round. “At this level of play, the competition really started getting very competitive”, said Manager Andrew Zapata. “It was a great experience for our local Devine Boys to play teams of this caliber, now we get to go and take on other southern states at Tampa.” Coach Sam Guardiola stated, “Our team really stepped up their ball game with some impressive defensive play, solid pitching, smart base running and live bats that proved to be a huge part of our team’s success.” The Rangers went 4 – 2 this past week to take the Runner-up spot and extend their impressive record to 28 W and 3 L. “This weekend was really crazy and emotional for our team”, stated Coach Chad Friesenhahn. “One day we are undefeated in Championship round, and then we lose 2 games and have to fight for the last spot to qualify for Tampa.” Regardless of how it all unfolded, our Devine Boys really showed some character in some tough situations and got the job done! On the way to winning this week’s tournament, the Rangers defeated:
– S.A. Normoyle, Missions 7 to 11
– S.A. Southwest, Bullies 4 to 15
– S.A. Buffalo Valley, Bombers 6 to 13
– S.A. Normoyle, Missions 15 to 4 (Lost)
– S.A. Normoyle, Missions 6 to 1(Lost)
– Medina Valley, Panthers 9 to 13
Congratulations goes out to players Aiden Zapata, Gerardo Colchado, Sam Guardiola, Hadyn Brumage, Luke Friesenhahn, Jathan Razo, Caden Hanson, Jaieden Burford, Gabriel Esquibel, Aaron Saenz, Brandon Jasso, Manager Andrew Zapata, Coach Sam Guardiola, and Coach Chad Friesenhahn.
The Rangers will get a couple of weeks off to prepare for their next level of play at the Pony All Star – Zone Tournament at Tampa, Florida. Sixteen teams from all over the Southern United States will be competing. The Devine Rangers will be scheduled to play in a four team round robin. The first 3 games have Devine playing teams from Louisiana, Houston and Florida.
DEVINE RANGER FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN
Our Devine team consists of local Devine players that played in Medina Valley Pony League. This team has some amazing young men that excel in their baseball skills, sportsmanship, and comradery. They will inevitably make our communities proud for years to come! Please help us send our well-deserving players to compete in the South Zone Championship Tournament in Tampa, Florida.
The turnaround time for this event is very short for our fundraising efforts, as we are heading out in less than 2 weeks. If you are an individual that loves youth sports or a business wanting to make a tax deductible donation, please contact Andrew Zapata at 210-845-2689 for details. We have also set up a GoFundMe.com account, our team link is gofundme.com/2017-devine-ranger-baseball-team. You can also go to their web site and search “2017 Devine Ranger Baseball Team”. Fundraising efforts will also be planned immediately and team representatives will be reaching out to our community for donations.
Your donations will go towards tournament entry fees, travel, food, and lodging expenses for team and possibly family. No donation is too small, and all donations are sincerely appreciated. Due to the short turnaround between tournaments, practices, and other events, we are hopeful that our community will help us reach our challenging goal.