A dream several years in the making is about to come true for a dozen members of the Franklin Township Baseball League’s 12 and Under team. The players will leave at the end of August for Cooperstown, NY – the home of baseball and its Hall of Fame – for the Cooperstown National Invitation Tournament. Starting Aug. 29, the Franklin ballplayers will face a variety of teams from around the country. They’ll play six games in the first three days, then their record will determine whether they progress into the championship tournament, said coach Larnie Booker. "It’s a good opportunity for them to play against teams they know nothing about,” Booker said. The 12U team has had a pretty good season so far: the team finished 31-19-1, with a 12-2 season championship over Monroe and won the United States Amateur Baseball League 12U World Series with an 8-3 victory over the Lincroft Renegades from Monmouth County. The team also won the USABL Frazier Elite Showdown with a 3-2 victory against the Locked In Expos of Pompton Lakes, and finished second in the Bridgewater Memorial Day Weekend Tournament and the Covino Summer Baseball Tournament in Montgomery, Booker said. This will be the first time a Franklin team has traveled to Cooperstown for this event, Booker said. The team has held fundraising events for the past two or so years to make the trip, he said. He said the team has raised about $4,500 to help offset expenses for the trip. "Over the years, we’ve had 17 or 18 kids we made eligible,” he said. "Anybody who played from our 8-year-old team through to now is elegible to go, for the most part. It ended up that 12 parents wanted to pay for their kids to go." Franklin will be one of 104 teams to take the fields for that week, Booker said. The tournament hosts about 104 teams each week from mid-June through the end of August, with a “Tournament of Champions” held in September. “It’s a great group of kids,” Booker said of his team. “They’ve been playing together for so long." Fans who want to see how the team is doing will be able to watch via a streaming Web cam, Booker said. To find the 12U Warriors schedule, click on this link Starting on Aug. 26.
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