The TC Select 12U travel baseball team put Holtville on the map this week.
TC Select, composed of 12 baseball players from Slapout, Prattville and Wetumpka, traveled all the way to Cooperstown, New York, to play in America’s Baseball Summer Camp, an 88-team tournament held at the Cooperstown Dream Park.
The team consists of 12 players – Case Clay, Rawlins Tubbs, Brayden Wright, Chaise Crownover, Ty Paxton, Blake Duett, Bentley Lightsey, Easton Smith, Tallan Cramer, Jackson McDonald, Oliver Brown and Cooper Jackson.
The local sluggers did more than just play, however.
The 12-year olds and under showed out while playing in Cooperstown. TC Select went 6-1 in the tournament and a perfect 5-0 in pool play, outscoring opponents 69-27 in those five games.
That earned them the No. 11 overall seed in the tournament and a spot in the Round of 32, which they won as well.
In the Sweet 16, TC Select fell for the first time to a team based out of Florida, 20-13, and ended its win-streak at six games.
Every game was filled with highlights that the boys will remember forever. In Game 1 of the tournament, against the Northstars of Palm City, Fl., Rawlins Tubbs hit a walk-off double off the centerfield wall to win, 4-3.
In Game 2 against Yeager, Ohio, Tubbs, Cramer and Jackson all slugged home runs as the team scored 11 runs. Cramer hit three home runs himself to lead the team.
The home runs continued in the next few games.
Tubbs and Jackson each hit another, while Brown and Wright each added their first home runs of the tournament. Jackson hit two more in Game 4, and then the team hit seven in the final pool play game.
The team scored 27 runs against the Backyard Ballers (Texas) while Tubbs hit two home runs, Smith hit two home runs, Paxton hit two homeruns and Clay hit one of his own.
Even in the loss, TC Select was hitting the cover off the ball. The Okeeheelee Tribe (Fl.) had only allowed 14 total runs in the entire tournament entering the Sweet 16 matchup. TC Select nearly matched that itself in the 20-13 loss, and even forced the Tribe to enter its pitching ace into the game to hold onto the lead late.
The team now has a 24-6 overall record this spring.
Not only did the team play in the tournament, but the kids were all inducted into the American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame. They all received Cooperstown Dreams Park home and away jerseys along with hats and warm-up sets.
When not playing, they stayed in the Baseball Village with the other 87 teams and had a photo session where they received personalized baseball cards.
The team was able to visit the Hall of Fame, where one of the team’s handmade wood bats was inducted into the Hall of Fame Museum.
