In what ended up being a trip of a lifetime, the 10u Florida Pokers, ranked 16^th by Travelballselect.com, played some of their best baseball at just the right time of the year to earn their way to the USSSA Elite World Series July 10-17 at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports.

The Pokers traveled to Columbus, Oh June 3^rd for their third try at claiming a berth to the prestigious World Series.  Their first two tries in Atlanta (ended in the semi-finals) and Ft. Pierce (ended with a slugfest with the Piranaz in an early round elimination game), came up empty.

The Ohio trip proved to be different.  Already going shorthanded on the trip, The Pokers played lights out baseball.  In Pool Play, the Pokers went 3-0 beating the Cincinnati Stix 7-6, Indiana Prospects 8-2 and Michigan Mudhens 6-0.

With all the bad weather that rolled through late Saturday and early Sunday morning, Elimination day proved to be as grueling as ever.  Up at 6am only to play the first game at 2:30pm, the Pokers sent Indiana’s #1 team packing with another resounding win 8-1. 

The second game vs the #14 ranked (Travelballselect.com) Cincinnati Flames (Ohio’s #1 ranked team) lived up to it’s billing as “The Game of the tournament”.  The Flames struck first in the top of the first 1-0 but the Pokers answered with 2 in the bottom of the first to lead 2-1.  The Flames then answered with 3 runs in the 3^rd to lead 5-2.  The Pokers countered with 1 in the 3^rd and then rallied for 3 more in the bottom of the 4^th to go up 6-5.  The Pokers held on for a 6-5 win that advanced them to the Finals vs Beaver Valley Red (Pittsburgh, Pa) who had already qualified for the World Series. 

The Pokers lost the Final, which did not start until 8:45pm 9-1 but had already secured the berth with a thrilling win over the Flames in the semi-finals.

The offensive MVP for The Florida Pokers was Jake Hershkowitz but key contributors were also, Christian Scott, Caleb Roberts, Jarrett Hall, Jake Schultz and Riley Allison.

Defensively, Jake Schultz pitched 8 innings of spectacular baseball both against the Indiana Prospects where he walked 1 batter but shut them out completely.  Other key contributors defensively were Robert Joy @ shortstop and Jacob Mercado on the mound who also shut down the Flames.  Jake Hershkowitz, Caleb Roberts and Riley Allison also were very solid defensively.

The baseball part of the trip turned out to be great but what made the trip even more special was the VIP tour of The Ohio State University Athletic Department facilities.  The Pokers toured the Woody Hayes Athletic Center which houses the football practice facility and is not open to the public to see.  The Pokers even had a chance to meet and take a team picture with Head Coach Jim Tressel along with posing with one of Archie Griffin’s 2 Heisman Trophies.

The Pokers also toured the softball and baseball complexes before heading over the Men’s Basketball office for a locker room tour and were given permission to shoot some hoops in the practice facility.  Last but not least was a stop in historic 105,000-seat Ohio Stadium.

The Pokers look for take the next step at the 2010 World Series where they finished 1 game short of the Final Four at the 32 team event as a 9u team last year.  Before heading to Orlando, The Pokers will be heading to Cooperstown June 18-25^th.