Click on the Logo to go to CDP website

The Hawks go 4 - 6 at the NATC, losing to 4 teams from Southern California, Washington and NJ.  Details soon.  Ryan Hertling and Brian Trabulsi advance to the finals of the Golden Arm and HomeRun Derby in the skills competition.   

Hall of Fame Yankee Dave Winfield and the Hawks in 2007

 HAWKS RETURN TO CDP IN 2007

The Valley Stream Hawks returned to CDP for the National American Tournament of Champions for the 4th consecutive year in 2007.  Coach Trabulsi along with long time friend and former teammate Bruce Windisch lead the group against some of the most talented 12 year olds in the country.  The Georgia Bandits defeated the Andersen Bats for the championship.  In 2006 the Andersen Bats of California defeated the Peachtree National Travel Team of Georgia for the prestigous National Championship.

Game 1 - The Hawks opening game opponent was the NY State Little League Champion from Binghamton, NY.  Aaron Fernandez took the mound and held the Titans to one unearned run in a heart breaking 1 - 0 loss. 

Game 2 - In a strange twist of fate the Hawks second opponent was the NY State Little League runner up from Plainview.  The teams had scrimmaged twice in preparation for CDP.  Plainview's ace held the Hawks scoreless for 4 innings in the 8 - 2 loss.  Dan Oddo hit a 2 run homer for the Hawks runs.

Game 3 - Jordan Boyer took the hill against the Mississuaga Majors from Canada.  Boyer held the Majors in check and the offense exploded in the 15 - 2 win.  Tom Hackimer and Frank Nacarrato had 3 hits each in the win and Boyer had 3 rbi's.  Oddo hit a long grand slam in the win.

Game 4 - Austin Konegstein took the mound against the huge Blackstone Valley Reds and survived a difficult first inning on the mound.  Jake Delorenzo's long lead off home run and Eric Carman's two singles were the only offense as the bats never got going in the loss.

Game 5 - Brian Trabulsi held the Sun Valley Park Bums of California to 2 runs in the first game on Tuesday.  The Park Bums pitcher was very strong hurling a shutout in the 2 - 0 defeat.

Game 6 - Zach Beneharon took the mound against the undefeated Utah Horns and threw a strong 4 innings.  Sloppy defense contributed to the loss against the # 7 ranked team for the week.

Game 7 - Tournament day emerged and the Hawks were looking to get off to a big day against the NJ Nationals.  The Nationals scored early and often but Dan Gibbons provided 3 innings of strong relief setting the stage for late game heroics.  Tom Hackimer and Brian Trabulsi hit home runs in the 4th and 5th innings as the comeback was underway.  With 2 outs and nobody on in the 6th inning Jake Delorenzo singled to provide hope despite the one run deficit.  Dan Oddo doubled and Tom Hackimer walked bringing Brian Windisch to the plate.  Windisch rockected the first pitch to left center for a walk off double in the thrilling 10 - 9 win.

The Hawks finished as the 57th seed and were matched against the Central Jersey Jaguars in the playoffs.  The Jaguars were a well estalblished tournament ready team which must have received a difficult schedule in order to finish 3 - 4 at CDP.  Aaron Fernandez took the mound and held the heavy hitting Jaugars in check over 3 innings.  Jake Delorenzo hit his second homerun of the week in the 12 - 6 loss.

 _______________________________________

Cooperstown Dreams Park in 2006

    The Hawks returned to the National American Tournament of Champions at CDP for the 3rd consecutive year in 2006 led by Tom Pfingst, Dan Donovan and Rich Trabulsi. The core group of players won the summer NCYAA crown as 11 year olds and went to the Grand Slam league finals in 2005. They competed at CDP against some of the nations strongest 12u teams after having played in tournaments at Baseball Heaven and Ripken Stadium in the last few years.  Rain played havoc with the highly organized tournament on Sunday and Tuesday as CDP received over 3 inches of rain.  All games were cancelled on Sunday but the grounds crew worked wonders and games were played Tuesday night.  Game summaries follow: 

Sunday - washout as 100 games are rained out

Monday - 3 games

 VS Hawks vs LI Playmakers(NY)
Hawks Win Game One at CDP
Hawks score 5 in top of the 6th to beat the Playmakers.
  Tyler Bivona's bases loaded double is the big hit and
Alex Weingarten pitches 4 strong innings before
Vin Sharkey slams the door on  the mound.
Nick Scibelli misses hitting 2 long homeruns 
as the balls are just foul. 
  
VS Hawks vs Alta Loma Storm (CA)
 Matt Testani and Ryan Pfingst pitch well
against the top seeded team from California after
Day One.  Nick Colasurdo hits his first
homerun of the tournament in the loss.

VS Hawks vs Burlington All Stars (CT)
Colasurdo goes deep again, Vin Sharkey has 3 hits,
Doug Kraeger, Brian Trabulsi and Tyler Bivona 2 each as the
offense surges.  Milton Tembelis allows 1 run over
 4 innings for the win

Tuesday

VS Hawks vs  North Alabama Braves
Doug Kraeger goes 4 innings with 2 innings of relief
from Nick Colasurdo.  The Braves were an All Star Team
from Alabama which had gone 88 - 12 in preparation
for the NATC.  Vin Sharkey has 2 hits and Brian Trabulsi
and Colasurdo one each against the hardest throwing pitcher
the team has ever faced.

Playoff Wednesday

The Hawks finish pool play with a 2 - 2 record and
receive the 56th seed and draw a strong Tom River NJ
River Rats in the single elimination tournament.  Danny Donovan 
makes several outstanding plays at third base in the loss.  

  ____________________________________________________________

COOPERSTOWN 2005 Recap

 
2004 Cooperstown Recap

Our arrival on Friday afternoon to departure the following Friday morning seemed to be only hours apart.  The boys easily took to pin trading and quickly owned impressive collections.  While chatting with a father in the lunch line I learned that the Say Hey Kids from California had recruited his son to play with them for the tournament.  I asked where he was from to learn he lived in Rochester - Rochester, NY!!  I had heard the stories about recruiting for the Tournament of Champions but always viewed them with suspicion – not anymore.

Everyone was settled in by Saturday morning and the opening ceremony and skills competition followed.  Joe Florio, Chris Patti and Nick McQuail all headed in different directions for their individual competitions while Tom Tolan stayed with the around the horn team.  Ricky Gerbino was the odd man out as only 12 or 13 team members could compete.  Ricky had graciously offered to sit out the competition because he had competed in a previous trip but his name had been picked out of a hat in a random selection.  While the skills competition did not produce winners failure is not part of the CDP experience. 

Our first game against Team Kado from California was broadcast on the internet.  A sloppy first inning and 12 walks lead to an 11 – 7 loss but it was clear that we belonged.  Chris Bifulco pitched 2 innings of scoreless relief and Nick McQuail and Chris Patti hit homeruns to lead the offense.  The team rebounded with a 15 – 3 win in the nightcap against an overmatched Middletown Magic from NJ.  Joe Florio, Kyle Ambury and Nick McQuail shared the pitching duties while Michael Dern, Chris Patti and Sean McCartney led the offense.  Joe Clines screaming line drive off the Magic pitcher’s left hip provided a few scary moments but we were relieved to find him running around his bunk the next day with only a bad bruise.

Ricky Gerbino survived a difficult first inning against the Boys of Baseball National Travel Team from Alabama on Monday morning to pitch 4 innings.  Kyle Ambury and Tom Tolan led a balanced offense as the score was 9 – 7 in the fifth inning with the bases loaded.  Joe Clines battled through a 3 – 2 count to hit a vicious line drive that appeared to be headed for a collision with the centerfield wall only to be snared by a leaping and fully extended 6 foot 2 inch 12 year old.  The Hawks were playing in the big time.  (At the closing ceremonies the coach of the Alabama team announced that his team had 5 players from Alabama, 3 from California, 2 from Kentucky and 1 each from Louisiana and Pennsylvania!)  4 late game runs led to a 13 – 7 final. 

Monday afternoon’s game with the Chargers Baseball Club of California was next.  Joe Clines did not have has best stuff but battled through 3 innings on the hill.  Nick McQuail had 2 hits and homeruns by Chris Patti and Joe Florio left the score at 8 – 6 in the fifth inning.  A 6 run 5^th inning rally by the Chargers put the game out of reach. 

The rains of Monday night made for a delayed start against the Monarch Matrix of New Jersey.  The bats were silent but the Hawks led 2 – 0 going to the 5^th inning.  Kyle Ambury pitched masterfully and appeared to have a strikeout with 2 runners on board only to be squeezed by a shrinking strike zone on a 2 strike curve ball.  The batter tomahawked the next pitch for a 3 run homer leading to a 3 – 2 loss.  After an afternoon visit to the Hall of Fame the Hawks faced the # 1 ranked North Alabama Vipers at 7 pm.  Kevin McCarthy survived the first inning and held the powerful Vipers in check through 3 innings.  The offense could not provide any energy and a 13 – 0 mercy shortened game quickly ended.

Playoff Wednesday began and the bats quickly reemerged.  Joe Clines and Tom Tolan pitched well in relief as Nick McQuail, Chris Patti and Chris Kornfeld each had 3 hits and Ricky Gerbino, Mike Trabulsi and Kyle Ambury contributed 2 each in the 20 – 10 win over the Massapequa Mavericks.  Kornfeld also contributed 4 rbi’s and scored 3 runs in the win.  The homerun barrage had begun as McQuail, Patti (2) and Sean McCartney went deep.
 
A first round playoff showdown with the Tri-County Titans of Pennsylvania at 2pm was set.  McQuail and Patti hit first inning bombs and Patti added his second of the game in the third inning.  5 fifth inning dingers from McQuail (2^nd), Mike Trabulsi, Chris Patti (3^rd), Joe Florio and Kyle Ambury led to a 17 – 5 mercy shortened win.  Tom Tolan, Kevin McCarthy and Chris Bifulco each contributed 2 hits in the 18 hit attack.  Sean McCartney pitched 3 solid innings with Ricky Gerbino closing out the final frame.  The #35 seeded Somerton Spartans from Philadelphia were greeted by first inning long balls from Trabulsi and McCartney as the Hawks posted 5 in the first inning.  Patti and Florio continued lighting the sky in the third as the lead increased to 7 – 2.  Ambury and McQuail added 5^th inning blasts as the lead swelled to 15 – 2.  McCartney, Gerbino and Florio overcame a tiny strike zone to close out the win as Somerton posted 11 runs in the last 2 innings of the 17 – 13 win.  The defensive highlight of the week was Michael Dern’s sprawling grab in rightfield to end a bases loaded threat in the 5^th inning. 

The 19^th seeded Southern California Thunder were next.  They were greeted with line drives from Ambury, Florio and Trabulsi which produced a quick 4 run first inning lead.  Chris Patti’s 7^th homerun of the day (and 19^th for the team) cut the lead to 9 – 5 in the third before the offense was done for the day and our 10 game run ended in the loss to the nationally ranked Thunder.

CDP keeps extensive records and Chris Patti’s 7 homeruns in one day is now posted as a record performance.  The 19 homeruns hit by the team are not but certainly was impressive.

Thursday’s playoff games were spectacular as anybody who sat on the hill overlooking fields 7 and 10 will attest.  Six 6^th inning homeruns by the Huntington Beach Vikings lead to an 11 – 9 win over the top seeded Chino Hills Storm and the Orange County Juice outslugged the North Alabama Vipers 18 – 16 in the semi-final games.  The 14 -13 final game where the HB Vikings won the Tournament of Champions by beating the OC Juice was anti-climatic.

After playing 3 teams from Southern California and 2 from Alabama one thing is clear – the Hawks can compete with anybody in the country.  Baseball on Long Island and the North East can compete with the rest of the country. 

The memories of the 2004 CDP Tournament of Champions will live for a long, long time. Several of the boys are eligible to return to CDP again in 2005 with the goal of making an even better showing and having even more fun.