Hanoi Capitals Baseball

REDS TOP CAPITALS IN VIETNAM'S FIRST PONY GAME

The Red River Reds charged to an early lead and held on to top the Hanoi Capitals in the first official PONY League baseball game in Vietnam. This Bronco (U-12) Division game was held at historic Chu Van An High School on the shores of West Lake in the capital city of Hanoi.

Tran Trung Hieu (VIP School, 5th Grade) was the winning pitcher for the Reds. CF Nguyen Kha Duy (SIS School, 5th Grade) and SS Do Quang Hieu (VIP School, 5th Grade) each scored two runs for the Reds.

Prior to the game, a congratulatory message from PONY Baseball CEO and President Abraham Key was read to to the players, parents and fans. Pony Baseball (http://www.pony.org), headquartered in Washington, PA, was founded 59 years ago. More than 450,000 youth play Pony Baseball throughout the world.

Coach Phil Rognier, Director of the First Swing Foundation (http://www.firstswingbaseball.org/) from the Seattle area threw out the first pitch to Capitals captain SS Nhu Ngoc Quoc Thinh (Nguyen Truong To Middle School, 6th Grade).

Prior to the game, a free baseball camp was held for 180 local kids by the First Swing Foundation, featuring 3 coaches (Phil Rognier, Jeff Pratt and Hans Landel) from the Klouter Tournament Team (http://www.klouter.org/) from the Seattle area and four of their youth players from the Klouter program (Chris "C.T." Tanner, Henry Pratt, Beau Turner and Jordan Landel), as well as local Hanoi Pony Baseball coaches, who taught and demonstrated baseball skills to the local kids.

The young baseball "ambassadors" from the Klouter team were named honorary Hanoi Pony players for the day, and took part in the day's Pony game. The camp was sponsored by Microsoft and the Hanoi Youth Baseball League (Hanoi Pony Baseball).

The camp also featured the first ever Pitch, Hit and Run Contest held in Vietnam. Hanoi Pony players Ben Nguyen Treutler (895 Points) and Ngo Hoang Hieu (621 Points) won Vietnam's inaugural U-12 and U-10 Pitch, Hit and Run Competitions, respectively. HYBL Player "Kevin" Nguyen Tan Nguyen Khoi (Hanoi - Amsterdam Middle School, 8th Grade) won the U-14 Division with 897 Points. Pham Tuan Ky won the U-8 Division with 300 Points.

Highlights of the game included:

* Reds SS Do Quang Hieu was the only player recording two hits with a 2-2 outing and 2 runs scored, with 4 stolen bases. Shortstop Hieu also made a fine stop of a scalding short-hopper hit off the bat of Capital 1B/P Henry "The Hammer" Pratt in the 1st.

* Tran Trung Hieu of the Reds picked up the win on an efficient outing, and threw the first strikeout in Pony history in Vietnam in the second inning. Ben Nguyen Treutler (Alfred Nobel Middle School, 6th Grade) came on in relief and continued to hold down the Capitals, before closer Beau Turner (Seattle, WA) slammed the door getting 2 K's and allowing no hits in the final frame.

* Capitals RF Nguyen Dac Quang Vinh (Hanoi Academy, 5th Grade) caught two fly balls in rightfield. The first robbed Ben of home run in the first inning. The second was a snare of a Texas Leaguer also hit by Ben in the third inning that bounced off the First Baseman and the Center Fielder before settling in Vinh's glove. It was clear that Vinh had Ben's number on this day.

* Capitals CF "Lefty" Tong Hai (SIS, 5th Grade) wowed the home crowd when he suddenly fired a frozen rope to 1st base to nail an an astonished Reds runner at first on what seemed like a routine single.

* C Jordan "JoJo" Landel (Seattle, WA) and C Pham Quoc Minh (Giang Vo Middle School, 7th Grade) played a pivotal role in the game behind the plate, as the Capitals were not able to reach 1st base on any dropped third strikes, and were controlled on the base paths. Early in the game, Quoc Minh also made a fine play in left field to cut off a sharp hit to left field by Capitals P/1B Nguyen Duc Huy (Nam Thanh Cong Middle School, 5th Grade) in the second inning preventing a sure extra base hit.

* Seattle-area fireballer Henry Pratt struck out 4 Reds in one inning after coming on in relief for the Capitals, a rare feat at any level. Two of the four players struck out reached first on a dropped third strike. "The Hammer" also made a number of fine plays at first base, including spearing a scorching line shot in the final frame.

* Capitals SS "The Rabbit" Nhu Ngoc Quoc Thinh made an outstanding play in the 1st when he back-hand speared a line shot off the bat of JoJo Landel in the 1st and ran to third to astutely double off a Reds runner.

* Reds CF/SS Nguyen Kha Duy scored two runs and had three stolen bases. Duy recorded the first hit in the history of Pony Baseball in Vietnam with a leadoff single off Nguyen Duc Huy in the first inning. Duy also recorded the first stolen base and first run in the history of Pony Baseball in Vietnam.

* Capitals 3B Nguyen Viet Anh (Chu Van An Middle School, 7th Grade) recorded a triple, and CF Tong Hai had a double for the Capitals.

* 3B Nguyen Tuan Anh (SIS, 5th Grade) subbing for another player of, coincidentally, the exact same name, Nguyen Tuan Anh (Alfred Nobel Middele School, 6th Grade)who was out ill, was Johnny on the Spot, got around on a Nguyen Duc Huy fastball and drilled a worm-burner that hugged the left field foul line and rolled all they way to the fence abutting West Lake to record the first home run in the history of Pony Baseball in Vietnam. The two run inside the park homer was a key turning point in the game.

* Capital Tran Gia Bach (Doan Thi Diem Middle School, 6th Grade), hit a home run to center field.

*Honorary Hanoi Pony players Jordan Landel, Beau Turner and Henry Pratt each recorded one hit in the first Pony game in Vietnam on the field which was 6,840 miles from their homes in the Seattle area! They traveled 18 hours by air to take part in the events.

*Honorary coaches included for Red River Reds: Head Coach Phil Rognier (Seattle Klouters), Asst. Coaches Hans Landel and Chris "C.T." Tanner (Seattle Klouters); for Capitals (Jeff Pratt (Seattle Klouters). Honorary team mom was Carolyn Landel (Seattle Klouters).

* Regular Coaches: Reds (Tom Treutler); Capitals (Pham Ngoc Phu).

* Coach Phil Rognier presented awards of thanks before the game to Hanoi Youth Baseball team moms Mrs. Giang, Ms. Thuy and Ms. Huong, as well as Hanoi Pony Baseball Director Nguyen Ngoc Thuy.

* The "Accidental Umpire": In a surprising coincidence, veteran umpire from Australia Mr. Lloyd was visiting from Australia and arrived in Vietnam the day before the game. He ran into the Seattle area players as they ate breakfast at their hotel prior to the game. The sight of four youth baseball players in uniform in Hanoi surprised Mr. Lloyd, and he followed the Seattle contingent to the game, where to his own surprise, he became the first umpire in Pony Baseball history in Vietnam, sparing Red River coach Tom Treutler of his usual "double duty" of being both coach and umpire. All coaches agreed that Mr. Lloyd called a great game.

* Many area coaches took part in the events of the day and helped in the camp and the game, including Mr. Arthur Graham of Hanoi Academy, Coaches Bui Hai and Nguyen Thanh Hoa of the Hanoi Baseball Club, as well as members of the FISHANU Baseball Club (Mr. Hung, Yen, Vickie and Nhung).

* The event was covered by many members of the press, and was featured on the 11 PM sports report on national TV.

* In July, 2010, Hanoi Pony Baseball will send a team to the Pony Baseball Asia-Pacific Zone Championships in Taiwan, where it will compete against teams from Japan, Korea, Philippines, Taiwan, China, Indonesia, Russia and Singapore. Today's game was the first game of the eight game 2010 Pony Baseball Spring Season in Vietnam.

Date: April 4, 2010     Time: 9:30am      Venue: CHU VAN AN HIGH SCHOOL