COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — A trio of Richmond County baseball players went on a “once-in-a-lifetime” trip earlier this month to play on one of the biggest stages in the country.
Brooks Calhoun, Isaac Hinshaw and Landon Taylor, who have been playing together since they were six years old, traveled with Showcase Baseball Academy (Matthews, N.C.) to Cooperstown, N.Y., to compete in the 24th annual Dreams Field Tournament.
A 12U only event with 13 weeks of competition throughout the summer, the Richmond County players and SBA joined 103 other teams for Week 5 of the event, which started on June 29. SBA is coached by Anthony Andujar and Dan Patterson, and the team finished 33rd overall.
This year’s theme was “live the dream,” and the tournament challenged players to “be your own hero” as the official motto.
Calhoun is a rising seventh grader at Ellerbe Middle School, while Hinshaw (rising eighth grader) and Taylor (rising seventh grader) both attend Rockingham Middle School. Accompanying them on the trip were family members, and it was a family affair that saw a lot more than baseball.
On the way to New York, the group made a pit stop in Pennsylvania, with some attending Hershey Park, while others visited Amish country. SBA went as a team to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and the trip ended with a visit to New York City, where the Richmond County players visited Times Square and went to a New York Mets game.
During the four-day tournament, the SBA Nationals played 10 total games and went 5-5 overall. They opened with six guaranteed pool games, going 2-4, facing off against teams from California, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, South Carolina and Virginia. The Nationals defeated the Hartland Eagles (Mich.) 16-1, and ended pool play with a 12-8 win over SC Heat (Calif.).
The championship bracket was held July 3, and was a single-elimination format. SBA went 3-1 in the win-or-go-home tournament, beating the Nordonia Knights (Ohio), Mason Monarchs (Ohio) and Alabama Ballers (Ala.) by a combined score of 56-11.
In the fourth round, the Nationals fell to the Hawaii Khaos 13-8, but for Calhoun, Hinshaw and Taylor, they found their newest friends in what they called their “championship game.”
“It was fun playing against all the new teams and making new friends,” Taylor commented. “My favorite team we played was the Hawaii team. They were a really unique team and they gave us pineapple gummies. The players and families were really nice.”
The fields at Dreams Park, all 22 of them, use 50-foot mounds and 70-foot bases. The wall the entire way around the fence is 200 feet from home plate, and games were six innings long. As a team, the Nationals hit 42 home runs, with Hinshaw belting a team-high 12 dingers in 10 games. Taylor smacked five of his own and Calhoun added one.
According to the team’s official stats during its six pool games, Taylor, who hit third in the lineup, batted 12-for-19 (.632 average), with two homers and seven runs batted in. He also pitched 4.1 innings. Taylor had a homer and three RBIs in two games: South Chiefs (Va.) and S.C. Heat.
Hinshaw during those six games went 11-for-18 at the plate in the cleanup spot (.611 average) with nine bombs and 15 RBIs. He hit three solo shots in the team’s first game against the South Chiefs, and tallied a tournament-best six RBIs in the win over S.C. Heat. Hinshaw hit at least one homer in each of the six games. He also threw a complete game against the Upstate Mavs (S.C).
Calhoun, who plays with the team in bigger showcase tournaments, went 2-for-9 (.222 average) with a pair of singles during pool play.
SBA played four games in the final day of the tournament, routing Nordonia, Mason and Alabama on its way to its matchup with Hawaii. In those handful of games, Taylor hit 11-for-17 (.647 average) with three homers and seven RBIs. Hinshaw went 8-for-13 (.615 average) with three more home runs and six RBIs, and Calhoun finished the tournament 2-for-6 (.333 average) with a bomb and two RBIs.
All three players connected for at least one home run and two RBIs against Alabama, with Hinshaw hitting two in that game. His 12 total homers were five shy of tying the all-time tournament record.
In the field, Calhoun played most of his innings at third base, while also pitching an inning in the win over Mason. Hinshaw split his reps at first and third base, and pitched seven total innings. Taylor loomed in center field when he wasn’t pitching his 6.1 innings of work.
“Going to Cooperstown made us better baseball players,” Hinshaw explained. “We learned to come back and deal with pressure. Sometimes things happened that we didn’t want, but we came back and did it to other teams. It was good to see a lot of good hitters and tougher competition.”
“I learned a lot of sportsmanship during the tournament,” Calhoun echoed. “It was pretty cool to see players from different states and there was a lot of diversity. The competition was fun and so was meeting all the other players.”
The SBA Nationals spent the week together in a team barrack, using that time to bond and form friendships. Among the several extracurricular activities that took place between games, the barrack life saw Calhoun, Hinshaw and Taylor play a lot of wiffle ball and basketball and participate in pin trading.
“Every team has its own pin,” Taylor explained. “So you just try and trade pins with as many teams as your can.”
Landon Taylor’s pin collection towel.
With still a couple of years of middle school ball left for Calhoun and Taylor, and one more year before Hinshaw heads off to the high school level, all three expressed the trip to Cooperstown made them better baseball players and competitors, while dealing with some high-pressure situations.
“It taught me to never forget this experience,” Hinshaw said. “I knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance, so I really wanted to enjoy it.”
