Community Corner
Woodbury Warriors Make It To Cooperstown
A group of local 12-year-olds—and their parents—have the experience of a lifetime at the Cooperstown Baseball World national tournament.
After two years of playing together on the baseball diamond—and the same amount of time spent fundraising for the trip—the WYAL Woodbury Warriors 12s AAA baseball team finally made it to Cooperstown, NY.
They not only made it there, they made it to the championship game, losing 5-4 in extra innings (eight instead of the standard six) to a team from New York.
Sharon Gerst, whose son Sam plays on the team, said finishing in second place simply capped off an exciting week for the 12 players, their coaches and parents: the Woodbury contingent numbered 67.
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"Every parent was there. We even had several grandparents who made the trip, too," Gerst said.
The players and coaches were all housed in a nearby college dorm, which gave the boys a little taste of what it's like to live at college, Gerst said.
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The Warriors played a lot of baseball in Cooperstown: nine games total, including the championship game. After emerging from pool play, they were seeded second. Their overall record was 7-2.
One of the highlights of the trip, of course, was the team visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
"The fact that they all got to go through it together was very special," said Gerst. "They saw the plaques for Bert Blyleven, Harmon Killebrew and Kirby Puckett. It was a great experience."
On top of everything, members of the team all received rings, indicating they are now members of the National Youth Baseball Hall of Fame, an honor that comes along with participating in this tournament which is specifically for 12-year-olds.
"They knew they'd be getting the rings, but they were still so thrilled about it," said Gerst. "They were all wearing them around and thought it was pretty cool."
Parents and players worked hard to raise the amount needed for the team entry fee for the tournament—everything from and nights to newspaper subscriptions and more.
"We had a lot of people who really supported us and that was great," said Gerst.
Although they hosted a small ceremony in Cooperstown after the final game, the team plans to host a party here at home which will feature trip down memory lane about their once-in-a-lifetime experience.
"One of our parents took more than 400 pictures, so we're going to put together a slide show and watch it together," said Gerst.
