Patriots Bat Ninth in Cooperstown

The Palisades Patriots, a 12-year-old PPBA All-Star squad, was one of 104 teams that participated in last week’s Cooperstown Dreams tournament in Cooperstown, New York, site of the Baseball Hall of Fame. The tournament opened with several skills competitions. In the “Around the Horn Plus,” nine Patriots caught and threw the ball to each position in an impressive 25.17 seconds, good enough for seventh place. Hudson Ling circled the bases in 12.6 seconds in the “Road Runner” event (taking seventh). Matt McGeagh hit one home run and two balls off the wall in five swings in the “King of Swat” and Anthony Poulos competed in the “Golden Arm” competition. On August 2, the Patriots mercied the Boylston Lions of Massachusetts, 14-1, then beat the Pirates from Cinnaminson, New Jersey, 9-4. The next day, Reece Pascoe singled home Jack McGeagh with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning against the Lynbrook Cyclones of Long Island. That afternoon, Palisades knocked off the Bloomington Bandits of Minnesota, 7-3. Palisades’ final day of pool play resulted in a loss to the Stingers of St. Petersburg, Florida, and a 13-2 win over Willmete Grey of Illinois. Palisades was seeded 23 in the playoff round and faced the Coral Springs Seadogs in its first game. It was no contest, as Anthony Poulos allowed one hit and struck out four batters in six innings for a 9-0 victory. Half an hour later the Patriots were back on the diamond to take on the No. 10-seeded and heavily-favored Boston Black Jacks. Jonathan Sington pitched a three-hitter as Palisades advanced to the Sweet 16. Next, the Patriots took on the seventh-seeded SoCal Lumber Kings (a club team from Temecula) and led 4-1 after two innings before ultimately being eliminated, 9-5. The Patriots consist of Matt and Jack McGeagh, Ling, Pascoe, Poulous, Matt Douglas, Bryant Falconello, Daniel Hakman, Tyler McMorrow, Kevin McNamee, Nicky Rivera and Jonathan Sington and coaches Rick McGeagh, Sam Falconello, Gary Hakman and Rick Poulos. They finished 7-2 and ninth overall–by far the highest finish ever by a Pacific Palisades team. “This was a tremendous experience for all of our players and coaches,” Head Coach Rick McGeagh said. “We were living the dream. I am so proud of not only how they played but how they acted. We received numerable compliments from our competitors and we truly represented Pacific Palisades with pride.”