The Miramar Canes 12U Travel Baseball Team from Miramar, FL streaked to a
remarkable 11-0 record and earned a berth in the venerated championship
game at Cooperstown Dreams Park on the July 4th week. The Canes – ranked #7
and 7-0 after the seven-game pool play --  defeated three top-10 teams in
elimination games to get to the championship game against #1 Team Rawlings
from Lakeland, FL.

Team Rawlings, ranked among the top three teams in the USA by Travel Ball
Select Magazine, ended the magical run for the Canes by a 13-1 score to
clinch the week #5 championship in Cooperstown in the famous national
98-team American Youth Baseball Hall-Of-Fame Tournament. It was the fourth
time in five weeks that teams from Florida had played in the Cooperstown
Dreams Park Championship Game, and this time it was an all-Florida game
featuring teams from South Florida and Central West Florida.

It was also the first time in Dreams Park history that teams finishing in
the top 8 in pool play were the final eight teams  -- “The Elite Eight” --
heading into the finals.  Week #5 featured five of the top fifteen teams as
ranked by Travel Ball Select Magazine, easily the most competitive week in
Cooperstown this summer.

The Canes were very impressive in playoff round victories over the #39 HCYP
Raiders from Maryland by the score of 9-2, the #10 Mac-N-Seitz Indians from
Kansas 10-4, the #2 Georgia Titans with a 26-1 offensive explosion that
featured a 20-run 4th inning and 6 home runs, and the #3 Paulding County
Vipers from Georgia in a pitchers’ duel 3-0.

Leading up to the championship game, the Canes had scored 13 runs per game
and belted 37 home runs overall, had seen phenomenal pitching allowing only
2 runs per game and performed outstanding defense with less than one error
per game…. an all-time best streak for the team in 11 games. The Canes
batted .446 overall for the 12 games and were best described as a
disciplined and team-ball driven team.

The Canes were led offensively by second-baseman Carlos Cartaya, Jr., (22
hits and 7 home runs), left-fielder Yoni Rodriguez (18 hits and 3 home runs
including 2 grand slams) and shortstop/pitcher Brandon Melendez (17 hits
and 6 home runs) who set the table for the middle of the order.  Melendez
pitched a no-hitter in game #7 against the Westerville Warriors (OH).

Michael Hernandez (7 home runs) and Brian Gonzalez (6 home runs) provided
the run-producing power in the lineup.

Hernandez was 2-1 as pitcher, with wins over the South Wake Storm (NC) and
Mac-N-Seitz Indians (KS).  Hernandez had thirteen hits and played 7
different defensive positions.

Gonzalez was 2-0 with dominating shutouts over two Georgia teams (Tyrone
Astros and Paulding County Vipers) and one save in three pitching
appearances.  In the semi-final game showdown against the Vipers, Gonzalez
faced and beat Mitchell Webb, ranked the top right-handed pitcher in the
USA, with a one-hitter recording 13 strikeouts. The game was recognized as
“the best game of the tournament” by CDP officials.

David Fernandez blasted three home runs, had nine hits and made four
pitching appearances both as starter and reliever, and was most impressive
in shutting down a potent South Mississippi Longhorns team in the Game #5
victory. Fernandez pitched in games 1, 5, 9 and 12.

Adam Murray hit three home runs and was 2-0 as pitcher in three
appearances, including the Elite Eight game against the #2 Georgia Titans.
Murray scored 11 times and played 5 different defensive positions during
the week.

Center-fielder Andrew “Drew” McCoy hit a home run and had 13 hits, and made
two terrific defensive plays to preserve the no-hitter against the
Westerville Ohio team.

Brian Sokol hit a home run and was the key pitching reliever in pressure
games for the Canes in two appearances against the Park Ridge Jr. Hawks
(IL) and the Longhorns.  The versatile Sokol also played seven different
defensive positions for the Canes, including catcher in the semi-final
game.

Right-fielder Alex Guzman hit safely in four straight games and had 6 RBIs
during that stretch. Guzman knocked in a total of 10 runs and scored 7
times during the week.

Alexis Herrera pitched in three games including the championship, and was
2-0 in his two starts with wins over the Hawks and the Raiders. Herrera’s
wednesday night complete game dominance over the Raiders put the Canes into
the Sweet Sixteen.

Derick Garcia was 1-0 with a complete game one-hitter over the Michigan
Mustangs in three appearances on the mound, and delivered clutch two-out,
run-scoring hits in two games against the Hawks and Canon Mac (PA).

Catcher Jordan Cristobal was stand-out behind the plate during outings by
10 different Canes’ pitchers, called and caught the no-hitter by Melendez
and was the championship game catcher.

The Canes also earned a 2nd place/runner-up finish out of the 98 teams in
the “team skill competition” with round-the-horn-plus times of 22.96 and
23.14 seconds.

The fourteen Canes Players, including reserve Yonel Rodriguez, were
inducted into the American Youth Baseball Hall-Of-Fame during the Thursday
closing ceremonies preceding the championship game.

On Saturday, July 12th, 2008, the Travel Ball Select Magazine website
awarded the Miramar Canes an “Honorable Mention” as one of the top-25
national 12U teams as a result of the team’s overall performance and
strength-of-schedule at Cooperstown Dreams Park.

Michael Deno, head coach of the Miramar Canes 11U team and volunteer
umpire, received special recognition at Cooperstown Dreams Park as Crew
Chief for umpiring 21 games during the week.

The Miramar Canes 2008 Cooperstown Team was coached by Carlos Cartaya, Yoni
Rodriguez, Nelson Cristobal, Aramis Garcia and Team Manager Carlos Guzman.
The Canes were accompanied to Cooperstown by 75 family members and Canes
fans.