The EP baseball families set up "home" for the week in two large homes. They were great houses for playing in the yard, having big team dinners, and playing cards and guitar into the night!
The boys stayed with the families the first night. The next morning we moved the boys into the barracks (#52 of 104 total) where they stayed as a team for the week with the coaches. They ate there (even though meals not so great), showered there, slept there, and traded pins there!
The week started with a great opening ceremonies and skills competition. We ran into some MN friends from another team before the ceremonies. And Mom was selected to be a part of the ceremonies to do a kick line on the fields. The ceremonies honored the tradition of American baseball and the ability for kids to play in DreamsPark. The boys walked on to the field as they do for the Olympics to kick-off this special week. Canyon was selected from his team to participate in the roadrunner competition to see how fast he could run the bases. While he wasn't one of the top 6 of the 104 teams, he had a very reputable performance and it was a great honor to be selected as the fastest kid on his team.
The teams EP played were extremely tough, representing all-star teams from various states. Our EP team struggled in the tournament overall but Canyon played great against some really tough competition. He batted ~.500 for the week, hit the homerun wall 3 times, got a double (which is tough to do on these fields), threw out kids stealing as catcher, stole 4 bases himself, and made some amazing plays at 3rd.
While the kids were in the barracks, the families enjoyed spending some time in Cooperstown. We hiked in the Catskill mountains, explored downtown Cooperstown including Otesaga Lake, and played games and music into the night.
The week provided some unique memories for Canyon as well including:
Playing a baseball game at 1 AM in the morning in advance of some anticipated bad weather (not our best game)...
Visiting the National Baseball Hall of Fame..
And researching/role playing his favorite Hall of Famer (Canyon chose Babe Ruth)...
Definitely a great week of memories for our young baseball player (and the rest of our family too!)
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