Tracy Press

A local traveling baseball team sweeps the competition at a Cooperstown tournament.

The All-American Sports Academy’s 12-and-under baseball team swept 10 games last week at Cooperstown All-Star Village in Oneonta, N.Y., to win a 6-foot championship trophy and claim one of the top honors for 12-year-old traveling teams.

“There were teams from 19 different states, so it was good to compete with teams from across the country and see where we stand,” head coach Adam Barba said.

He added that the tournament, part of a summer-long series near the Baseball Hall of Fame, was also a chance for the team members to make friends from around the country.

“By the championship game, we had a lot of the other teams cheering for us,” Barba said.

The All-American team plays in major division tournaments, a step above AAA teams. Because there are no qualifying tournaments for the Cooperstown event, there were some lopsided scores in pool play the first part of the week. All American won five of its first six games by 10 runs or more. Barba figured about six of the 24 teams played at the “major” level for traveling teams and gave All-American some tough competition.

“By the time we got to bracket play, they got a little tighter,” he said. “Our pitching and defense just gave our hitters more time to break loose.”

Through the weeklong tournament, All-American’s players had a collective batting average of .486, hit 24 home runs and outscored opponents 111-21. Barba said the only time his team trailed was in a July 9 game against the Pinecrest Pirahhnas from Florida. All-American came back from a 3-1 deficit to win, 5-3.

The Dalton Tigers from Georgia also were undefeated going into the championship game Thursday. The Tigers batted .505 as a team throughout the tournament, scored 135 runs and smashed 42 home runs.

But All-American beat the Tigers, 8-3, in the championship game.

Joseph Herrera and Jordan Kron both hit homes run for All-American, and Herrera had four RBIs. They were also the leading batters for their team through all 10 games, Herrera with an average of .696 and four home runs and Kron with an average of .690 and six home runs. Robert Buenatello batted .643 and hit four home runs, and Alec Barba batted .500 with two homers.

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