Freedom Shows Team the Ropes

Posted Mar 31, 2010 by Jarrett Guthrie

Updated Mar 31, 2010 at 01:37 PM

TAMPA - Freedom’s baseball team will play special host tonight to the Frozen Ropes Rays, a 10-year-old club baseball team prior to tonight’s Patriots home game against Chamberlain.

The Rays will join the Patriots on the field at 5:30 for the team’s warm-up drills prior to tonight’s 7 p.m. game. The event is a part of a fundraiser for the youth team as it prepares for a trip to play in the Cooperstown Dreams Park tournament June 19-25 in Cooperstown, NY.

The Rays, coached by Patriots assistant coach Jay Recher, are one of only a handful of 10-year-old teams who will play in this seasons tournament as the Cooperstown experience is primarily for 12 and under teams, but opens up to 10-year-olds for one week a year.

“It is crazy how serious these guys are at 10 years old,” Recher said. “I hope working out with Freedom will give them a chance to see how hard work now has a place where it can pay off in the future.”

Recher said the trip for his 13 players to Cooperstown will cost somewhere in the range of $25,000 and that the team has already raised just under $19,000 with help from the non-profit Be The Dream Foundation.