CRANBERRY TWP — Cranberry Township's Bronco Division baseball team turned its long shot into a long trip.

The 12-year old squad won the East Zone championship on Sunday and is headed to the PONY Bronco Division World Series, which begins in Los Alamitos, Calif. on Friday.

“I don't know how many people gave us a shot, but instead of the kids putting all of their baseball stuff away, they're hopping on a plane and flying to California. It's awesome.”

Cranberry competed in the zone tournament because it hosted the event, but proved more than worthy by going 5-1 at the three-day, double-elimination event.

“PONY baseball went through some major changes this year,” said Cranberry assistant coach Greg Parrotto. “They changed the birthday deadline to be eligible from May to August. That made a lot of kids ineligible once the postseason tournaments started.

“We had two teams during the season and had to combine players from both teams so we could participate at zones.”

Cranberry defeated teams from Ohio, New York and North Carolina. But a second-round loss to Center Township forced it to navigate its way through the loser's bracket, which it did successfully.

Cranberry will open World Series play Friday against a team from Hawaii. Six other teams are involved, including international squads from Taiwan, Dominican Republic and Mexico.