Grayslake Coyotes At Cooperstown: Nationwide Competition

Another in a series on the on the Grayslake Coyotes 12U travel baseball team. They spent a week at the premier baseball competition in the country at Cooperstown Dreams Park in New York. Over 1,000 teams arrived throughout the summer from all over the country to play on those hallowed grounds.

Nationwide Competition

"The kids were able to play games against other teams from all over the country and see what type of talent is out there," said Assistant Coach Michael Dean. "Our boys rose to the occasion and played fantastic."

In the opening pool play rounds, Grayslake beat a team from Connecticut 4-2 before losing the nightcap to an Alabama team 7-4. On the following day, the Grayslake Coyotes lost 13-1 to a powerhouse team from East Cobb, Georgia. The evening contest was against a 3-County all star team that was the third ranked team in Maryland. Holding on to a slim lead in the last inning, the Hughesville, Maryland team was able to come back and defeat Grayslake 11-8.

"This was a huge game for us," Spicer said. "We more than held our own against one of the elite teams in the nation. We’re just a small town community based travel team and we were beating a team that drew the best players from three counties and flew in studs from Florida and Texas."

"The boys and parents were so excited about how well we played," Spicer said. "They were singing and dancing and laughing. They just seemed to relax and really started to believe in themselves that they could compete on the field with some of the best teams here."

This attitude carried over to the next day as the Grayslake Coyotes started their morning off with a 9-5 victory over a team from Pleasant Hill, California. That evening Grayslake defeated a Colorado team 2-0 on a 1-hitter by Justin Wold. Officials told the coaches that this was the second fastest complete game ever played at Cooperstown Dreams Park.

Spicer had to attend a seeding meeting for the tournament after going 3-3 in the pool play. His excitement was somewhat muted due to the 3 a.m. time of the meeting with the managers of the 103 other teams at Cooperstown.

The Coyotes earned a 46th seed (out of 104 teams) which is the highest ever for a Grayslake team. Unfortunately, the team ran into a buzzsaw with their first round opponent. The Novi Heat Black from Michigan defeated Grayslake 13-0 and ended their run in the tournament.

Though understandably disappointed with the loss, there were too many good times to taint the experience for these lucky 12-year-olds.

"It was great to get to know these kids as kids and not just baseball players," Coach Ed Pietschmann said. "I will remember that part the most about this trip."

One of the fun traditions the team had was that if any player made a base-running mistake he would have to wear a Justin Bieber backpack during all of the warm ups and pre-game activities for the next game. The kids had a blast with it.

"In our big game versus the Hughesville, Maryland Orioles, the kids were singing Justin Bieber’s ‘Never Say Never.’ Good stuff," said Spicer.

Get the full experience of this unique trip:

• Cooperstown A Hit With Grayslake Coyotes

• Coyotes at Cooperstown: Bonding in the Barracks