Griggsville baseball player heads to Cooperstown
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By BETH ZUMWALT
Pike Press
A youth baseball team largely comprised of athletes from the 12u Jamison’s Future Swings team is gearing up for competition in Cooperstown, N.Y. a town synonymous with baseball.
Knox Dunham, of Griggsville-Perry, is a member of the team.
“I’m excited about it,” Dunham said.
Dunham usually plays catcher and when not behind the plate, he is at third base or pitching. He says offense is his favorite side of the inning and loves a high, inside fastball.
“There will be 100 teams there,” he said. “We will play five games.”
The team will arrive in Cooperstown, N.Y. Monday, July 3 and participate in the opening ceremony. Then they will take the field for their first competition.
Dunham is not stranger to the ball diamond, having played since he was five, but never on such hallowed grounds.
“There are a lot of major league baseball players who have played on that field,” Dunham said.
The “Playing in the Cooperstown Dreams Tournament is exciting for my team for a number of reasons: the tournament is held in Cooperstown – the ‘Disney World’ of baseball, your team has to be selected to play in the tournament and the tournament is only offered to one age group,” Brett Rohlk, the coach of the team, said. “The 12u team I assembled was lucky to be selected to play during the Fourth of July week, which will be special for these athletes and their families, but it is a big financial commitment.”
During the week-long tournament, the team will stay in barracks with other athletes from across the United States and the Baseball Hall of Fame. The entry fee for the tournament is approximately $2,000 for each player. The team raffled a meat bundle recently to help fund about a quarter of each athlete’s entry fee and invite anyone interested in sponsoring part of the trip to contact a team member. Team members are from Jacksonville, Chatham, Winchester, Morrisonville, Springfield, Mt. Sterling.
