Cooperstown, NY – Every year, a group of 12 year olds from the Hamlin Park Baseball Association embark on a journey that will become one of the moments of their lives they will never forget.

Their parents, grandparents, friends and siblings all participate on this journey which ultimately takes them to the stunning beauty of upstate New York to play baseball against some of the best 12U teams in the nation at the epicenter of baseball, Cooperstown, New York.

This year, the memories for those players who played the games, coaches who coached the kids and the fans who witnessed the competition, will forever be etched in their memories and be recalled by the simple phase, “I was there”.

Two weeks ago, our 12U team participated in the National Youth Baseball Hall of Fame Championships at the legendary fields of Dreams Park, where magical dreams are realized and the best baseball is played.

The 12U team of the Hamlin Park Baseball Association played as if they were the defending National Champions and ran the table in pool play, going an unprecedented 6-0. This feat of going 6-0 is one that will forever change the expectations for every player who plays in Cooperstown for the Hamlin 12U team.

Never before has a house travel team from Hamlin competed as flawlessly as these boys, with contributions from each of the 13 players resulting in a 13 ranking out of 103 teams, which out ranked 90 other teams from the U.S.A. and Canada.

The team composed of the following boys, Jack Yalowitz, Benny Friedman, Julian Luna, Arron Kruse, Joe Rimac, Dante Davis, Stephan Milatovic, Brandon Logan, Josue Montes, Brandon Barahona, Jonathon Eng, AJ Janowski and Drew Williams.

Expectations for this tournament are difficult to measure. With some teams flying players in from around the country to play as one, we are at a distinct disadvantage as our pool of players is limited to those kids who play at Hamlin. Because of this, we hope that our 12U team wins a few pool games and then hope to advance in the single elimination championship tournament a game or two.

If our boys do just that, the Hamlin team has had a tremendously successful season.

But this year was different.

Brought together by a committed program, experienced and dedicated coaches and most importantly families who were willing to sacrifice time and money for 2 years, this team reached deep into their baseball souls to play as a team, ignoring the magnitude of the stage they played on and dismissed the building pressure that each pool game wrought and did the unthinkable.

The accomplishments of these players at Cooperstown are awe inspiring. Fantastic defense, excellent pitching and big time hitting led the way which allowed the team to go 2-0 after one day of pool play by defeating teams from New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

In game 2 against the Horsham Heat from Pennsylvania, our boys defeated the 2009 Little League World Series District champions. The Heat lost in the Regional’s thus missing out on a trip to Williamsport.

Day 2 brought more unbelievable action. The Hamlin team opened up with an 11-0 victory over East Haven Connecticut. With that victory, our boys were now 3-0 in pool play, an achievement never before realized by any Hamlin team in Cooperstown.

The second game of the day pitted our boys against a team from Andover Massachusetts. A complete team effort resulted in a 16-1 victory. The Hamlin Park Lions now stood 4-0 after 2 days of competition.

The final day of pool play found the team scheduled to play a team from Canada in game 1 followed by the toughest test of the tourney for the boys in game 2, the Long Island Prospects.

With hitting and defense leading the way against the gritty team from our neighbors to the north, our boys overcame a 3-0 first inning deficit to prevail 18-3. Now 5-0, the team prepared to do the unthinkable and finish 6-0 in pool play.

However, the Long island Prospects were up to the challenge. Our boys trailed 3-2 in the top of the sixth with one out when Josue Montes came to the plate and hit a game tying home run. The fans and team went nuts.

Holding the Prospects scoreless in the bottom of the inning our boys went to the seventh hoping to take a lead. Grinding out a run by playing small ball, the boys took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the seventh.

In order to secure the win and finish 6-0 in pool play, Jack Yalowitz had to face the top of the Prospect lineup, facing hitters 1, 2, and 3 with the 4 hitter ready to bat if any of the three hitters got on base.

With ice in his veins and a steeled defense behind him, Yalowitz enticed the first and second hitters to fly out on stellar catches by Drew Williams in right field, and then sealed the deal with the number 3 hitter striking out swinging.

Game over. Hamlin 4, Long Island 3. Hamlin 6-0 in pool play.

Great performances by AJ Janowski, Brandon Logan, Arron Kruse, Brandon Barahona, Benny Friedman, Drew Williams and Stephan Milatovic thru stellar pitching, big time hitting and incredible defense supported the big guns of the team, Yalowitz, Montes, Rimac, Luna, Davis and Eng.

The resolve of these boys to dedicate themselves to the success of the team over individual accomplishments allowed the coaching staff of Tom Gibson, Jose Mercado, Josue Montes and Enrique Luna to manage a selfless team to a final ranking of 13 after pool play and head into the tourney as one of the final 32 teams.

In their first playoff game in the single elimination tourney, our boys from Hamlin played a late night tilt against the Richmond Virginia Hit Dogs, a team with a 56 ranking.

The Hit Dogs won 3 previous games to find themselves pitted against the Hamlin Lions, and they were fully up to the challenge.

The Hit Dogs took a 4-0 lead after the top of the first and our boys of summer rallied to score three times in the bottom of the frame to trail 4-3 after one inning of play. The game seesawed back and fourth until the bottom of the fifth inning when the kids from Hamlin took an 8-6 lead on Benny Friedman’s 2-run homer that cleared the 200 foot left field fence by 30 feet.

It was Friedman’s second two run homer of the night. Benny’s first homer was also a two run shot that tied the game 6-6 in the fourth inning. An unlikely hero indeed but Benny’s bomb was clearly representative of every player’s contribution to the incredible tourney that Hamlin was experiencing.

But the game of baseball can be very cruel indeed.

With Yalowitz on the mound to secure the victory and a spot in the Sweet 16, the game and momentum swung in favor of the Hit Dogs.

Errors by our boys and a heart sinking three run homer propelled the Hit Dogs to an 11-8 lead going into the bottom of the sixth.

Finally succumbing to the pressure of the moment and running out of innings to play, our heroes from Hamlin went scoreless in the bottom of the sixth, thus losing 11-8. The Hit Dogs lost their next game to the # 4 ranked California Lumberjacks, 14-2.

With the dream over, sadness overwhelmed our boys. The disappointment of losing a game they had in their grasp was too great to ignore. This team gave it all they had and more.

But what the Lions had accomplished will forever be remembered and pointed to. From this point forward, the goals of the Hamlin 12U team in Cooperstown will be to compete on every pitch, play as a team and not be afraid to succeed and know that they can.

Every child will now know that the preparation, unity and commitment to the 12U Cooperstown team can result in having success beyond what was previously thinkable. These future 12U players can and always will look to the 2009 12U team, a group of remarkable kids and say, “We can do this too”.

This is a priceless gift given to the Hamlin Baseball program achieved by a group of selfless 12 year olds, their coaches and families. And for that, we are all forever indebted.

And because of the remarkable and courageous accomplishments of the 2009 12U Hamlin Park Lions team, someday in the future, a group of Hamlin 12U players, their families and fans will witness tremendous accomplishments by their boys in Cooperstown and they too will be able to say, “I was there”.