Mineola Hurricanes 12u invade Cooperstown

After 3 years of planning, fundraising and practicing the Mineola Hurricanes arrived at Cooperstown All Star Village in upstate New York to test their skills against teams from around the country. 

The festivities started on Sat August 17, 2013 with opening ceremonies.  The team was introduced and marched into the stadium to rousing cheers form the many family members who came out to cheer us on.  After the skill competitions the boys would go back to the bunkhouse and celebrate with a pizza party and to get ready for the games to begin.  Another big event for the boys at this tournament is to trade team pins with the other teams.  The Mineola hurricanes had one of the hottest pins at the tournament.

In the first game of the tournament the Hurricanes squared off against the Vestal Golden Bears from Binghamton, NY.  Mineola fell behind 3-0 in the top of the 2nd but then in true Mineola fashion the boys instead of getting down and giving up responded by scoring 5 in the bottom of the inning.  They sustained a few key injures in the inning and despite having a 7-5 lead in the 5th they could not hold on to the lead and lost. 

Later that day they faced off against West Coast Baseball from California.  The Hurricanes scored 2 in the top of the 1st inning but quickly fell behind 3-2 after the bottom of the 1st.  Trailing 5-2 in the top of the 3rd inning the Mineola Bats came alive scoring 5 runs to take a 7-5 lead.  West Coast battled back to tie the game in their last at bat and Mineola had to settle for the tie. 

After finishing the first day of game 1-0-1 the Mineola Hurricanes came ready to play on day 2.

Mineola faced off against the KP Arrowheads from MA.  In the 2nd inning Mineola would send 13 men to the plate scoring 8 times to take an early lead.  The Arrowheads would not go quietly and continued to put pressure on Mineola and scored 9 runs of their own.  Mineola would go on to the win the game 9 -11.

Later on day 2 Mineola would face the Valley Forge Patriots from PA.  The Hurricanes found themselves down 6 runs before coming to bat in the bottom of the 1st inning.  Mineola would score 1 run n in the bottom of the first and fell behind 8-1 before coming to bat in the bottom of the 3rd inning.  Once again the team showed the Mineola Hurricane spirit and did not give up.  The Hurricane bats woke up and they scored 5 in the bottom of the 3rd and 3 in the 4th to take a 9-8 lead they would not relinquish. 

Mineola would finish the first 2 days with a 2-1-1 record.  This had them placed as the # 15 seed going into day 3.

Later that night the team would take over Christopher’s Steakhouse and enjoy a wonderful time of good food, laughs and spirits.  Upon returning to All Star Village the parents took over the courtyard and turned it into party central aka “Mulbery Street”. 

On Day 3 Mineola would face off against 2 teams from Long Island.

In the first game against the Sachem Greys Mineola once again would fall behind early trailing 2-0 after the 2nd inning.  Mineola would score 1 run in each of the next 3 innings while holding Sachem scoreless in a very tight game.  In the top of the 6th inning the Mineola Hurricanes woke up sending 13 boys to the plate scoring 7 times to cruise to a 10-3 victory. 

In the last game of pool play Mineola would square off against the North Shore Thunder.  Mineola would score 3 runs in the bottom of the first inning and never look back cruising to a 9-2 victory.

The entire Hurricane family would then head out to Sabatini's to once again celebrate.  This was another night of fun highlighted with the boys performing impersonations of the coaches in front of the room.  This lead to tremendous laughs by everyone in attendance and also a bit of shock from the coaches who were not always sure the boys listened to them.

Mineola would finish the pool play with a 750 winning percentage and a record of 4-1-1.  This was good enough to finish as the 7th seed out of the 32 teams and the highest ranking town team in the entire tournament.   This enabled Mineola to get 2 byes and advance to the 3rd round of the playoffs.

In the first game of the playoffs the Hurricanes faced a very tough team in the San Ramon Hawks from Ca.  The Hawks jumped out to an early lead one in which the Hurricanes could not overcome in the 14-1 lose.  Despite the loss the Hurricanes had a great time and memories that will last a lifetime. 

The Hurricanes then headed to Gilbert State Park where they would engage in swimming, boating, and fishing and of course the kids’ vs. parents whiffle ball game.  This was a great day for everyone allowing the boys to forget about baseball for a while and have fun.

The Hurricane players and coaches would like to thank all our family and friends who came to Cooperstown to watch us fulfill our dream.  You are the greatest fans a team can ask for. 

Mineola Hurricanes Players – Isaih Alonzo, Ryan Duffy, Jason Eccher, Jake Fraher, Marc Giordano, Joseph (coach Joey) Lubrano, Kevin Perlow, Kevin Roach, Jordan Sandler, Eddie Pardo, Nicholas LiBrandi, Anthony Tramonte, Chris Wiercinski.

Mineola Hurricanes Manager – Jon Perlow

Assistant coaches – Ken Eccher, Tom Fraher and Billy Duffy

The entire Hurricane family would like to thank all of our sponsors over the years that helped make this dream come true.  Anthony’s Coal Fried Pizza, Your Mother’s House, Dr Ira Goldberg, The Juliano Family and Jericho Terrace. 

We would also like to thank the entire Mineola community for supporting us at our various fundraisers over the years and say we were proud to represent Mineola, NY at this tournament

If you wish to catch a Hurricane game we will be continuing our 2013 campaign with the NJBL fall season playing home games at Jackson Ave School.  We will also be playing another tournament in Baseball heaven the weekend of Oct 25th  

The Hurricanes are planning on attending another tournament next summer as a 13U team at Cal Ripken’s baseball camp in Aberdeen MD.  If you would like to sponsor us please contact us at jon@mineolaaa.org