Oak Park-River Forest based Chicago Lightning baseball team strikes in Cooperstown, New York

The locally based Chicago Lightning baseball team recently finished up a successful run at Dreams Park in Cooperstown, New York. The team is headed by longtime coach and River Forest resident John Lynch, who has brought a team to this tournament for over 12 years. Coach Lynch strives to provide local players with the opportunity to play at Dreams Park in Cooperstown, which is widely known to be the largest and one of the most prestigious youth baseball tournament for 12 year old players in the country. This years’ team consists of standout players from Oak Park, River Forest, Chicago, Hinsdale, and one from as far away as North Carolina.

The Lightning played at Dreams Park from August 3 – 9th against 103 other teams from around the country. They ended their pool play games with a solid 5-1 record, which seeded them #14 of the 104 teams. The Lightning lost in the playoffs to a good team from Honolulu, being one win shy of making the “Sweet 16”. The Lightning played teams from 7 different states, including California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Highlights of their game play include being among the Final 6 in both the Around the Horn and Golden Arm skills competitions, completing multiple double plays, and having 9 players of the team hit over the fence homeruns.  They also visited the National Baseball Hall of Fame in downtown Cooperstown and each player was inducted into the American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame.

The players for the 2013 Lightning include: Michael Cerceo, Nathan Diamond, Luke Fitzgerald, Josh Grant, Hank Hamilton, Lucas Kolovitz, Carter Madden, Brian May, Owen MacKinnon, Tim Moser, Cory Schmidt, and Mark Whittelsey.  Head coach John Lynch was assisted by Dennis Alcock, Brian Fitzgerald, Dave Moser, and Jack Gallo. The players, coaches, and families all had a great time and will keep their memories from Cooperstown for a lifetime.