Storm returns from Cooperstown

Bryce Alderton

They made friends, traded pins and played some baseball. What more

could a 12-year-old ask for?

The So Cal Storm, a traveling 12-and-under baseball team returned

from Cooperstown, N.Y., where they went 1-6 in the Cooperstown Dreams

Park Tournament, a 64-team national invitational tournament at the

Cooperstown Dreams Park.

Storm Manager Rick Campo said the players, coaches and families

reveled in the weeklong festivities that included visiting the

National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

“The kids made many new friends from around the country and

established a special bond with the people from Hawaii in the cabin

next to us,” Campo said.

The Storm entered their first playoff game as the No. 48 seed and

led 3-0 against the Westchester Warriors from Pennsylvania as Bryan

Culbertson hit his second home run of the tournament. But the

Warriors came back to take a 5-3 lead and the Storm didn’t score

again as the Warriors eliminated the Storm from the tournament.

But Storm players made some significant individual contributions

throughout the tournament.

Culbertson hit his first home run in the team’s 13-4 loss to the Hawaii Warriors in the Storm’s sixth game. After the game each Hawaii

player gave each Storm player a pooka shell necklace and each coach

was given a box of macadamia nuts.

At one stretch of the tournament, Costa Mesa’s Ryan Redding went 5

for 6 in two games, going 3 for 3 in the Storm’s only win, a 10-2

triumph over the Hornell Raiders from New York on the first day of

play.

Taylor Austin pitched a complete-game three-hitter against the

Raiders while collecting two hits and scoring two runs. Art Carahure

hit a home run and added another hit while scoring three runs.

In the Storm’s first tournament game, a 12-5 loss to the St.

Charles Travelers from Illinois, Eddie Tomasek hit a three-run home

run over the left-center field fence to give the Storm a brief 4-3

lead in the third inning.

Day Two saw the Storm lose by a combined two runs in their two

games.

The Storm had a 4-0 lead against West Boynton Beach, Fla., but

Boynton rallied to tie the game in the fifth on a grand slam and won

the game in the seventh on a wild throw to first on a dropped third

strike. Mike Robinson pitched seven innings for the Storm giving up

seven hits as Redding went 2 for 3.

In Game 2 on Day Two, the Storm lost in the final inning with two

outs, but Brandon Maurer pitched all six innings, striking out 10

while walking only one. He also had two hits.

With runners on first and second with two outs in the bottom of

the sixth, the Storm’s Austin fielded the ball and fired to second

for the double-play, but the ball deflected off the base runner’s leg

and rolled into center field, allowing the winning run to score.