Day 1.
Today was a very long day. Arriving at Brisbane Airport at 7.30am for our flight to New York with our little league team. 12 1/2 hours to Los Angeles then we had 2 hours to clear immigration and be ready to board the connecting flight. We made it in time then it was another 41/2 hours to JFK. Once we collected our bags in New York, it was on the bus then into New York traffic for our drive to the hotel. We checked in pretty quickly, had a shower and walked down to Bubba Gump ...Shrimp in Time Square for dinner. There is nothing like arriving at the restaurant at 9pm and being told there was a 25 minute wait ........... really... we finally got seated not before Mick had to take a photo of the naked singing cowboy! Dinner was a hit, didn't have time for M&M World tonight, will come back later in the tour. Back at the hotel for a well earned sleep.
Day 2.
After a good night sleep, we headed down to breakfast at 8am to be greeted by light rain and heavy fog. Not what we wanted for our day of sightseeing but we pressed on anyway. We started off with a casual walk around Manhattan visiting the UN Building, Public Library and Chrysler Building before heading to Grand Central Station to get out to the Bronx. Next stop, Yankee Stadium tour. What an experience for the boys on this tour, we started in the Yankee museum where th...e guide spoke everything Yankee before we moved down to Monument Park and then in to the Yankee dugout where we took a team photo with the scoreboard in the background. Lunch across the road at Maccas then down to "old Yankee Stadium to check out the park and baseball fields then it was back on the subway and back to the hotel to shower before the mets game, Back on the subway and headed to Flushing and City Field, The game was great with a 1-1 score after 9 innings. The Mets wished Jaiden a happy 13th birthday via the scoreboard in the 4th inning. Some of our players were struggling to stay awake so we ended up leaving after 9 innings. We have the rockafella centre tomorrow before we get on the bus to Coopersfield. Boys look good. Talk to you tomorrow
Day 3.
After a 7.30 wake up call it was down to breakfast before we headed out for the rockafella centre. For the second straight day there was light rain and fog all morning. We were scheduled to go up to the 70th floor to the observation deck but with zero visibility we decided to postpone it until we get back to the city. We walked down to M&M world and the Disney store. The rain came down all morning and made us change our plans. Was back to the hotel to pack then we checked out of the hotel and boarded the bus for Cooperstown. A 4 hr bus ride into the country and we arrived at all star village where we found our bunkhouse and settled in. The players jaws dropped when they saw the fields we will be playing on. A brief tour around the complex then we headed off to dinner at a local steakhouse. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Back to the dorm for an early night before check in tomorrow.
Day 4.
Cooperstown All Star Village kitchen was not open today so we caught a cab to Denny's before going across the road to Dicks sports store. The boys did plenty of shopping then it was back to the dorm for team check ins. We had a tour of the complex before lunch and this place is amazing! Photos to follow. They built a full astro turf field last year which cost $600,000 to complete. A quick coaches meeting then it was off to the skills contests. First up was the team ro...und the horn fielding skill and our boys were a bit nervous. We made a few mistakes and finished well out of the final round. Next up was our double play skill. Not a bad effort here with JD picking the ball out of the dirt at first base but again we didn't advance. Tyreece took on the base running home to
Home challenge and was fast but still not quite quick enough to advance. One last event was the home run derby and Jaiden was successful at keeping our homer less streak going as we finished the day will 0. After watching the championship finals it was time go dinner then back to the dorm for a shower and a sleep. Tournament starts tomorrow. Tyreece has the ball for game 1. Lets see what happens.
Day 5.
Was just like any other day except it was game day! We let the boys sleep in until 7.30am with an 8am breakfast time. Once breakfast was over it was back to the bunkhouse to relax for an hour before we got ready to play. Our first game was at 11.30am against the Brentwood Blast from California. We got to the diamond and took batting practice then did our warm up and throw program before putting on our shirts and hitting the field. Tyreece was our starting pitcher and he... threw the ball exceptionally well. We gave up 2 x 2 run home runs in the first inning but he stayed composed and we were out of the inning without any more damage. In our first at bat, we swung the bats well and Jaiden Holly hit a 2 run shot over the green monster in left centre to bring it back to a 2 run game however that was the only offensive highlight of the game for us. We have up another home run in the 2nd and 3rd and at the end of 4 it was 10-2. The wheels fell apart in the 5th and we made some critical mistakes which led to another 10 runs crossing the plate to end the game 20-2 Mercy rule. The boys didn't play that bad and the score doesn't reflect the game as we were competitive through 4 innings and let it slip away. We made some great defensive plays including a double play with a catch in centre field then getting the runner out at second. Some good catches in right by Ethan and Locky was solid at shortstop. We had a few nerves but it was a great job considering this team plays together year round in Cali and have been together 4 years. Up to lunch then it was free time until 5 when we had to get ready for our second game. Some of the parents took their kids into town and the others just relaxed I'm the room. Come 5pm and it was time to get dressed. Out to the diamond and we were playing Evanston Orange Cats from Chicago on the astro turf field I spoke about in a previous post. We started this game strong scoring 2 quick runs in the first. Our bash brothers Jaiden and JD were on fire this game with each having 2 doubles and a few RBIs. Dylan was handed the ball for game 2 and we allowed 3 runs across the plate in the first. Another run came in the 2nd and Dylan was replaced by Jaiden who shut the gate and didn't allow any runs through 4 and 2/3 innings. We added to our lead with a 2 run home run by Dylan and and a solid batting performance by everybody on the team and we won this game 7-3 to split day 1 one won and one loss. A quick dinner in the restaurant then shower and off to bed as we get ready to do it all over again tomorrow. I am very proud of the way out team played today. They didn't give up and throw in the towel, we kept battling until the last pitch. We certainly surprised a few teams today.
Day 6.
Was not a very good day at the office. We got the team up for breakfast at 8.00am then back to the dorm to get ready for the day. We had an 11.30 game against the Miracles from Florida. Brad had the ball and threw it pretty good. The Miracles pitching was outstanding and we could only plate one run. We were outclassed in this game as the Miracle ran away with it 15-1. Full credit to these guys. They are an elite academy out of Florida and have been together a long time.... They were a very good side. Some good news to come out of the game is the Florida head coach was very impressed with our catcher JD who is now in negotiation about attending the Florida academy. We had a quick lunch before heading back to the field to take on the west side Hawks. This team was on top of the ladder heading into our game only giving up 3 runs in their first 3 games so we knew we had to be on today. We came out hard in the first inning with JD hitting a 3 run homer. Jermaine had the ball and got to work. The hawks could play and countered with a 3 run homer of their own and at the end of 1 it was 3-3. A few errors and a few hits led to a 12 run inning by the Hawks in the 2nd. JD again came up in the 3rd and hit his second home run of the day which have us 5 runs scored against this team. The most runs scored so far but that was it for us as the Hawks put up another 9 in the 3rd and we couldn't come back doing down 24-5 to finish day 2 at 1-3 and in 14th place. A quick dinner, shower and an early night was in order as tomorrow we play the 5th placed seed and the 13th seed to get our pool play final standings before we go to single elimination play.
Day 7.
Had us playing our final pool round games and our first game was against the GBG from Cali. This team was another elite academy team which is run by formal major league shortstop Nomar Garciaparra. This team was very sharp and executed their plays perfectly. Jaiden got the ball today and ran into some early trouble giving up a 3 run home run. Our bats were quiet all day as GBG had us off balance and guessing. We have up another 4 in the 3rd and 3 in the 4th to end the g...ame 10-0. Then it was up for lunch and off to see the parents before we got ready for the night game. We were taking on the Diamond Dawgs. We started this game well with a 2 run home run to Jaiden but struggled in the field giving away 8 should be outs in defense before finally ending the first 5-2. We were kept scoreless in the 2nd and 3rd though we had our chances to score. The Dawgs scored another 5 in their 3rd the end the 3rd inning down 10-2. JD led off the 4th with a solo home run to left centre and Jaiden then went deep to centre to add 2 runs to our tally but it was too little too late as the Dawgs scored 2 in the 5th to end the game. This game was a lot closer than the score reads. We competed with them for 5 innings and those chances we had early cost is the game. With a 1-5 record we are seeded in 14th place on the ladder and tomorrow we start the elimination round. We will play GBG in a re match and see what happens. Jermaine will get the ball. If we win we play again at 7pm and if we lose we have 10 teams who want to play against us in a friendly game. The boys are all in high spirits, a few tired muscles but they have a fantastic medical team here which are on call 24-7. Boys are being treated like royalty at this tournament.
Day 8.
Was our first play off game. We came in 14th place so we faced the number 5 seed the GBG from Cali again. Our pitching depth was very thin and the boys were getting tired and it showed on the field. We gave up 5 runs in the first and gave away some cheap hits in the 2nd where we should of made the plays but instead we gave up 9 runs and this game was getting ugly fast. Another pitching change in the 3rd but it didn't s...top the bleeding as they added another 6 runs to their total to make it 20-0 after 3. We couldn't do any damage in the 4th and the game was over, we had been eliminated. After lunch, we went and cheered on our new friends, 10u team the Legends. They could play and were only 9 and 10. After that game we headed back up for dinner and a quick visit with the parents before bed.
Day 9.
Was a nice relaxing day. After breakfast we caught the bus into Oneonta to get the OPT to Cooperstown and visit the Baseball Hall Of Fame. The OPT (Oneonta Public Transport) were having a ceremony for a new bus route when we got there and the manager remembered is from last year so he wanted to use us for some PR work with the Mayor and Director of Commerce etc. We had a few conversations with the Directors of the city and explained how the OPT was an essential part of ...our tour. We took some photos with the Mayor then got the bus to the Hall. Seeing we did such a great job with our PR work, the Director of Commerce phoned the Director of operations at the Hall and got us a personal greeting and information session. The HOF official photographer took a group photo by the inductee plaques and sent them to the ABF as he worked media and public relations with the Aussie team at the World Baseball Classic. Small world after we took everything in at the HOF it was time to shop, wall to wall baseball memorabilia. Then it was back to the village for dinner, the championship game and the closing ceremony. We leave the village tomorrow to head back to Manhattan. See you there
Day 10.
After cleaning up the bunkhouse,it was time to head up to the top of the All Star Village and board the bus for the city. A 4 hour ride back to Manhattan to reflect on our time in Cooperstown. once we checked into the hotel it was a quick shower then off to see the Flatiron building, play some chess with the locals at Jefferson Square before climbing the Empire State Building.
Day 11.
We were of to Central Park. 27 baseball fields in the park. A light stroll around the park before going across the road to the Museum of Natural History. You could spend hours there but we didn't have hours, The Yankees are in town! we had to get on the subway and head to Yankee Stadium. After the game it was back to the hotel for a shower before heading out to dinner.
Day 12.
The last full day in New York. Early start on the subway to get down to Battery Park to board the ferry to the Statue of Liberty island. From there we took a stroll up to Wall St to see the financial district then across to the World Trade Memorial. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the new museum as the ticket line was a mile long. Quick lunch and off to walk the Brooklyn Bridge. Once everyone was across it was back on the subway to Coney Island before heading back to pack our bags. Tomorrow morning we go to the top of the Rock observation deck. Then back to finalise our packing before the bus gets here. I hope players and supporters have had a great time. We will be back on the 26th when the 16U team gets here. See you in Florida.
Today was a very long day. Arriving at Brisbane Airport at 7.30am for our flight to New York with our little league team. 12 1/2 hours to Los Angeles then we had 2 hours to clear immigration and be ready to board the connecting flight. We made it in time then it was another 41/2 hours to JFK. Once we collected our bags in New York, it was on the bus then into New York traffic for our drive to the hotel. We checked in pretty quickly, had a shower and walked down to Bubba Gump ...Shrimp in Time Square for dinner. There is nothing like arriving at the restaurant at 9pm and being told there was a 25 minute wait ........... really... we finally got seated not before Mick had to take a photo of the naked singing cowboy! Dinner was a hit, didn't have time for M&M World tonight, will come back later in the tour. Back at the hotel for a well earned sleep.
Day 2.
After a good night sleep, we headed down to breakfast at 8am to be greeted by light rain and heavy fog. Not what we wanted for our day of sightseeing but we pressed on anyway. We started off with a casual walk around Manhattan visiting the UN Building, Public Library and Chrysler Building before heading to Grand Central Station to get out to the Bronx. Next stop, Yankee Stadium tour. What an experience for the boys on this tour, we started in the Yankee museum where th...e guide spoke everything Yankee before we moved down to Monument Park and then in to the Yankee dugout where we took a team photo with the scoreboard in the background. Lunch across the road at Maccas then down to "old Yankee Stadium to check out the park and baseball fields then it was back on the subway and back to the hotel to shower before the mets game, Back on the subway and headed to Flushing and City Field, The game was great with a 1-1 score after 9 innings. The Mets wished Jaiden a happy 13th birthday via the scoreboard in the 4th inning. Some of our players were struggling to stay awake so we ended up leaving after 9 innings. We have the rockafella centre tomorrow before we get on the bus to Coopersfield. Boys look good. Talk to you tomorrow
Day 3.
After a 7.30 wake up call it was down to breakfast before we headed out for the rockafella centre. For the second straight day there was light rain and fog all morning. We were scheduled to go up to the 70th floor to the observation deck but with zero visibility we decided to postpone it until we get back to the city. We walked down to M&M world and the Disney store. The rain came down all morning and made us change our plans. Was back to the hotel to pack then we checked out of the hotel and boarded the bus for Cooperstown. A 4 hr bus ride into the country and we arrived at all star village where we found our bunkhouse and settled in. The players jaws dropped when they saw the fields we will be playing on. A brief tour around the complex then we headed off to dinner at a local steakhouse. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Back to the dorm for an early night before check in tomorrow.
Day 4.
Cooperstown All Star Village kitchen was not open today so we caught a cab to Denny's before going across the road to Dicks sports store. The boys did plenty of shopping then it was back to the dorm for team check ins. We had a tour of the complex before lunch and this place is amazing! Photos to follow. They built a full astro turf field last year which cost $600,000 to complete. A quick coaches meeting then it was off to the skills contests. First up was the team ro...und the horn fielding skill and our boys were a bit nervous. We made a few mistakes and finished well out of the final round. Next up was our double play skill. Not a bad effort here with JD picking the ball out of the dirt at first base but again we didn't advance. Tyreece took on the base running home to
Home challenge and was fast but still not quite quick enough to advance. One last event was the home run derby and Jaiden was successful at keeping our homer less streak going as we finished the day will 0. After watching the championship finals it was time go dinner then back to the dorm for a shower and a sleep. Tournament starts tomorrow. Tyreece has the ball for game 1. Lets see what happens.
Day 5.
Was just like any other day except it was game day! We let the boys sleep in until 7.30am with an 8am breakfast time. Once breakfast was over it was back to the bunkhouse to relax for an hour before we got ready to play. Our first game was at 11.30am against the Brentwood Blast from California. We got to the diamond and took batting practice then did our warm up and throw program before putting on our shirts and hitting the field. Tyreece was our starting pitcher and he... threw the ball exceptionally well. We gave up 2 x 2 run home runs in the first inning but he stayed composed and we were out of the inning without any more damage. In our first at bat, we swung the bats well and Jaiden Holly hit a 2 run shot over the green monster in left centre to bring it back to a 2 run game however that was the only offensive highlight of the game for us. We have up another home run in the 2nd and 3rd and at the end of 4 it was 10-2. The wheels fell apart in the 5th and we made some critical mistakes which led to another 10 runs crossing the plate to end the game 20-2 Mercy rule. The boys didn't play that bad and the score doesn't reflect the game as we were competitive through 4 innings and let it slip away. We made some great defensive plays including a double play with a catch in centre field then getting the runner out at second. Some good catches in right by Ethan and Locky was solid at shortstop. We had a few nerves but it was a great job considering this team plays together year round in Cali and have been together 4 years. Up to lunch then it was free time until 5 when we had to get ready for our second game. Some of the parents took their kids into town and the others just relaxed I'm the room. Come 5pm and it was time to get dressed. Out to the diamond and we were playing Evanston Orange Cats from Chicago on the astro turf field I spoke about in a previous post. We started this game strong scoring 2 quick runs in the first. Our bash brothers Jaiden and JD were on fire this game with each having 2 doubles and a few RBIs. Dylan was handed the ball for game 2 and we allowed 3 runs across the plate in the first. Another run came in the 2nd and Dylan was replaced by Jaiden who shut the gate and didn't allow any runs through 4 and 2/3 innings. We added to our lead with a 2 run home run by Dylan and and a solid batting performance by everybody on the team and we won this game 7-3 to split day 1 one won and one loss. A quick dinner in the restaurant then shower and off to bed as we get ready to do it all over again tomorrow. I am very proud of the way out team played today. They didn't give up and throw in the towel, we kept battling until the last pitch. We certainly surprised a few teams today.
Day 6.
Was not a very good day at the office. We got the team up for breakfast at 8.00am then back to the dorm to get ready for the day. We had an 11.30 game against the Miracles from Florida. Brad had the ball and threw it pretty good. The Miracles pitching was outstanding and we could only plate one run. We were outclassed in this game as the Miracle ran away with it 15-1. Full credit to these guys. They are an elite academy out of Florida and have been together a long time.... They were a very good side. Some good news to come out of the game is the Florida head coach was very impressed with our catcher JD who is now in negotiation about attending the Florida academy. We had a quick lunch before heading back to the field to take on the west side Hawks. This team was on top of the ladder heading into our game only giving up 3 runs in their first 3 games so we knew we had to be on today. We came out hard in the first inning with JD hitting a 3 run homer. Jermaine had the ball and got to work. The hawks could play and countered with a 3 run homer of their own and at the end of 1 it was 3-3. A few errors and a few hits led to a 12 run inning by the Hawks in the 2nd. JD again came up in the 3rd and hit his second home run of the day which have us 5 runs scored against this team. The most runs scored so far but that was it for us as the Hawks put up another 9 in the 3rd and we couldn't come back doing down 24-5 to finish day 2 at 1-3 and in 14th place. A quick dinner, shower and an early night was in order as tomorrow we play the 5th placed seed and the 13th seed to get our pool play final standings before we go to single elimination play.
Day 7.
Had us playing our final pool round games and our first game was against the GBG from Cali. This team was another elite academy team which is run by formal major league shortstop Nomar Garciaparra. This team was very sharp and executed their plays perfectly. Jaiden got the ball today and ran into some early trouble giving up a 3 run home run. Our bats were quiet all day as GBG had us off balance and guessing. We have up another 4 in the 3rd and 3 in the 4th to end the g...ame 10-0. Then it was up for lunch and off to see the parents before we got ready for the night game. We were taking on the Diamond Dawgs. We started this game well with a 2 run home run to Jaiden but struggled in the field giving away 8 should be outs in defense before finally ending the first 5-2. We were kept scoreless in the 2nd and 3rd though we had our chances to score. The Dawgs scored another 5 in their 3rd the end the 3rd inning down 10-2. JD led off the 4th with a solo home run to left centre and Jaiden then went deep to centre to add 2 runs to our tally but it was too little too late as the Dawgs scored 2 in the 5th to end the game. This game was a lot closer than the score reads. We competed with them for 5 innings and those chances we had early cost is the game. With a 1-5 record we are seeded in 14th place on the ladder and tomorrow we start the elimination round. We will play GBG in a re match and see what happens. Jermaine will get the ball. If we win we play again at 7pm and if we lose we have 10 teams who want to play against us in a friendly game. The boys are all in high spirits, a few tired muscles but they have a fantastic medical team here which are on call 24-7. Boys are being treated like royalty at this tournament.
Day 8.
Was our first play off game. We came in 14th place so we faced the number 5 seed the GBG from Cali again. Our pitching depth was very thin and the boys were getting tired and it showed on the field. We gave up 5 runs in the first and gave away some cheap hits in the 2nd where we should of made the plays but instead we gave up 9 runs and this game was getting ugly fast. Another pitching change in the 3rd but it didn't s...top the bleeding as they added another 6 runs to their total to make it 20-0 after 3. We couldn't do any damage in the 4th and the game was over, we had been eliminated. After lunch, we went and cheered on our new friends, 10u team the Legends. They could play and were only 9 and 10. After that game we headed back up for dinner and a quick visit with the parents before bed.
Day 9.
Was a nice relaxing day. After breakfast we caught the bus into Oneonta to get the OPT to Cooperstown and visit the Baseball Hall Of Fame. The OPT (Oneonta Public Transport) were having a ceremony for a new bus route when we got there and the manager remembered is from last year so he wanted to use us for some PR work with the Mayor and Director of Commerce etc. We had a few conversations with the Directors of the city and explained how the OPT was an essential part of ...our tour. We took some photos with the Mayor then got the bus to the Hall. Seeing we did such a great job with our PR work, the Director of Commerce phoned the Director of operations at the Hall and got us a personal greeting and information session. The HOF official photographer took a group photo by the inductee plaques and sent them to the ABF as he worked media and public relations with the Aussie team at the World Baseball Classic. Small world after we took everything in at the HOF it was time to shop, wall to wall baseball memorabilia. Then it was back to the village for dinner, the championship game and the closing ceremony. We leave the village tomorrow to head back to Manhattan. See you there
Day 10.
After cleaning up the bunkhouse,it was time to head up to the top of the All Star Village and board the bus for the city. A 4 hour ride back to Manhattan to reflect on our time in Cooperstown. once we checked into the hotel it was a quick shower then off to see the Flatiron building, play some chess with the locals at Jefferson Square before climbing the Empire State Building.
Day 11.
We were of to Central Park. 27 baseball fields in the park. A light stroll around the park before going across the road to the Museum of Natural History. You could spend hours there but we didn't have hours, The Yankees are in town! we had to get on the subway and head to Yankee Stadium. After the game it was back to the hotel for a shower before heading out to dinner.
Day 12.
The last full day in New York. Early start on the subway to get down to Battery Park to board the ferry to the Statue of Liberty island. From there we took a stroll up to Wall St to see the financial district then across to the World Trade Memorial. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the new museum as the ticket line was a mile long. Quick lunch and off to walk the Brooklyn Bridge. Once everyone was across it was back on the subway to Coney Island before heading back to pack our bags. Tomorrow morning we go to the top of the Rock observation deck. Then back to finalise our packing before the bus gets here. I hope players and supporters have had a great time. We will be back on the 26th when the 16U team gets here. See you in Florida.
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