Sharks Hit Homers at Dreams Park Tourney

Three miles south of Cooperstown, New York, home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, is Dreams Park, the site of one of the largest U-12 baseball tournaments in the country. Dreams park was built because of a remark made by Louis Presuitti to his son and grandson as they stood in the Cooperstown Hall of Fame, “Every kid in America should have the opportunity to play baseball in Cooperstown.” Although Presuitti died in 1992, his grandson, Lou III, was determined to make his grandfather’s dream come true and construction began four years later. The site now consists of 22 baseball fields and barracks to house 96 teams. In its first season only four weeks of baseball were played there. This season there are 10 weeks followed by a “champions” week for the winning team from each week. The Pacific Palisades Baseball Association took its first U-12 team to Cooperstown in 1999 and has continued that tradition every year since. Last Friday through Wednesday, the Palisades Sharks, an All-Star squad made up of 12 players from the PPBA’s Bronco Division, joined 95 other teams nationwide to play in week seven of the invitational tournament. After the opening ceremonies, competitions included “King of Swat,” “Golden Arm” and “Road Runner.” Representing Palisades were Hunter Varnum for home run hitting, Ryan Page for throwing and Ryan Kahn for running. Page finished fifth out of 95 players. The Sharks played an average of two games a day. On the first day they were one-hit in their opening game, a 6-0 loss to Greensboro (North Carolina) Batting Center. The second game was played at night and Palisades lost, 2-1, to MVP Magic from Florida. “We were rusty and jet lagged,” Sharks assistant coach David Kahn said. “There are batting cages on the premises so we started hitting for an hour before each game. Some of the kids had blisters on their hands, but the bats started to come alive.” On Monday afternoon, the Sharks beat the Oakland Sea Dogs 13-5, with Varnum hitting a home run. That evening, Palisades lost 13-1 to the Sterling Virginia Xplosion. Tuesday proved to be the Sharks’ best day as they shut out the Ridgewood (New Jersey) Rebels 9-0 and edged the West University Texas Outlaws 7-6. In the final game to determine tournament seeding the Sharks defeated the Port Washington (New York) Legends 17-5, placing Palisades 39th. In their first game of the single elimination round Wednesday afternoon the Sharks beat the North Carolina Contenders 8-6. At night, they lost 14-2 to Team Fort Worth (Florida) and were eliminated. In nine games, Varnum hit four home runs and Will St. John added two. “It’s a great experience,” Sharks head coach Clark Porter said. “It’s important to play, win and have fun. We’re about growing and getting better.”