Cooperstown 2013 - Minnesota Muskies

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Game #1 - Muskies lose opener 16-10

The Muskies fell behind early and rallied back twice before eventually losing to a good team from Texas. Cameron hit two home runs including a grand slam but the Muskies couldn't keep pace with five home runs from the Texas squad. Cameron, Joe and Corbin pitched for the Muskies.

For those of you following the game on Game Changer we experienced some technical difficulties. By the end of the game I think the system was working properly. Thanks for your patience as we work through the kinks.

Game #2 starts on about an hour. Check back later for pictures of both games along with a more detailed summary of each game. Game 2 is on field 2 and can be viewed online. All games that are played on fields 1 – 10 are played live on line. Go on line, get registered and pick the game.

https://secure.dreamsparktv.net//Accounts.aspx?Action=Register

We will 2 other games that will be televised. Those are:

· Monday 8/19 8:30am (EST) vs. So Cal National on field #2

· Monday 8/19 1:45pm (EST) vs. Jersey State on filed #4

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Opening Ceremonies

Today we enjoyed a beautiful day in Cooperstown along with a number of cool events ahead of the tournament play that starts Sunday morning. The boys got up for some practice this morning before team pictures, player orientation and more pin trading.

The opening ceremony was a very meaningful event and it is hard to do it justice with pictures. Image 104 teams with 10-12 players on each team all lined up and entering a stadium filled with parents, grandparents and other fans. There were some speeches including recognition of military veterans, grandparents and the American flag. The owner of Cooperstown Dreams Park spoke and relayed a number of stories about how Cooperstown came to be and thoughts about keeping it a meaningful event for teams from across the United States and Canada.

All the Muskies were involved in one phase of the skills competition which followed the opening ceremony. Corbin participated in the home run competition; Joe Trollen in the road runner competition and Cameron Hunter in the golden arm competition. The rest of the Muskies participated in the "around the world" competition which tested the team's throwing accuracy around the field. None of the Muskies advanced out of the preliminary rounds but they had fun.

Here is the Muskies' pool play schedule for the week. Their schedule on Wednesday will depend on how they do in pool play.

Sunday

11:00 AM Eastern vs. HP Baseball (TX)
4:30 PM Eastern vs. West Seattle Rainiers (WA)

Monday

8:30 AM Eastern vs. Southern California National Travel
1:45 PM Eastern vs. Jersey State Bombers Blue (NJ)

Tuesday

1:45 PM Eastern - Syracuse Nationals (NY)
7:00 PM Eastern - Taunton All Stars (MA)

Morning practice

The Muskies outside their dorm room

Coaching the guys through the team picture process

Minnesota's flag among countless state flags around the complex

Baseball players as far as the eye could see

The Muskies during the processional

The Minnesota Muskies!

Players filing into the stadium during the opening ceremony

The opening ceremony included three guests who arrived via parachute

Corbin participates in the home run competition - this one left the yard.

The Muskies entering the stadium

A view of the crowd at the opening ceremonies

Other teams in line during the opening ceremonies

Friday, August 16, 2013

Early check-in day is here. The Muskies players and their families start arriving tonight. Saturday the check-in process will continue and in the afternoon there will be a skills competition - running, pitching, home runs and others. The boys also go through a team orientation and a pin-trading frenzy. Each Muskie player has been provided with about 60 pins to trade with players from other team. The way things looked tonight most of their pins will be traded by tomorrow.

Here are some additional tidbits for our fans around the country. Each team will receive two jerseys - a red one and a blue one. So, no Muskie hats and jerseys during the games. Each team will wear one of those jerseys for that game. Pool play starts on Sunday and goes through Tuesday. Single elimination bracket play will begin on Wednesday with the championship round beginning on Thursday. Let's hope to see the Muskies on the field come Thursday. It is a fun atmosphere around here with people from all over the country. We will face some very stiff competition but we expect to play well and represent Minnesota proud along with seven other teams from the State making the trip.

More posts to come as we start the tournament play on Sunday. Go Muskies!

Our view from the long line of cars waiting to check in the players and their equipment.

This place is beautiful - welcome to Cooperstown Dreams Park!

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Track the Muskies' Progress at Cooperstown

In addition the this blog and the pictures of the Muskies in their Cooperstown run, we have another way for fans to track the progress of the team. Evan Cross, Corbin's dad, has been knighted "official scorekeeper" and will be tracking every pitch of the games on a web site called Game Changer. You can check out the link to the team by visiting the Minnesota Muskie page on Game Changer.

Some of the features of the Game Changer system are free, like the score of the game, basic game summaries and e-mail updates. You can become a "fan" of the Muskies on the web site to begin receiving e-mail messages. The site also allows you to pay a subscription for more detailed game information (you probably want to go with the $7.99 option unless you use this site for other teams). You can still see the game scores and some box scores without paying the subscription. With the paid subscription each player can also request their detailed stats from Evan - like batting average, hits, RBI, etc. We hope you enjoy keeping track of the game scores and results on the site and the blog.

It's hard to believe the check-in for Cooperstown is basically a week away! Keep checking the blog for additional information regarding the trip and the tournament.

Go Muskies!

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Trophy Fish - Muskies finish 2nd at St. Paul's Highland Fest

In their first weekend playing together, the Minnesota Muskies brought home second place trophies in this late-season tournament held at the Ford Little League Fields in St. Paul, MN. The Muskies looked as if they played together the whole season behind strong pitching and solid hitting by all the players.

In pool play, the Muskies drew a tough first game against the eventual tournament champion and host team Highland Park. However, the Muskies surged to an early 5-1 lead, holding onto a 7-4 victory. Game #2 in pool play pitted the Muskies against a 13-year-old team from Prior Lake that ended in a forfeit by the Lakers who wanted to guarantee themselves a 6:30 PM game on Saturday. That meant the Muskies earned the #1 seed in their pool and the rest of Saturday off by avoiding an extra pool game.

Sunday proved to be a repeat performance of Saturday's games except this time the Muskies faced the Lakers in the tournament semi-finals. This time the Lakers moved out to an early 2-0 lead. The Muskies fought back and took what looked like a commanding 7-2 lead that crumbled leaving the two teams tied at the end of 6 innings. It took two extra innings for the Muskies to pull off a thrilling and hard-fought 8-7 victory setting up a repeat performance against the Highland Park squad in the championship game.

This time around, the Highland Park scored first and built an early 2-0 lead. The Muskies kept the game close throughout but could not capitalize with runners on base, eventually losing 6-4. The Muskies have a lot of good things to build on for the Cooperstown tournament where they will face equal or higher levels of competition from teams all over the country. Check out the pictures below highlighting Sunday's action: