Never before has a Tampa bay area AAU, U-13 team finished in the medal bracket in the prestigious Cooperstown, NY “Baseball World” Summer Tournament… up until now!
Valrico’s Ostinger Baseball Academy brought home the silver recently after competing in its inaugural season losing 3-2 in to the California Demons in the championship game.
Jim Osting, manager and owner of the Academy along with assistant coaches Dave Reed, Shawn Reed and Jack Bartlett helped 13 local U-13 boys achieve what began last summer as athletes and parents pledged to start a travel team that would compete throughout Florida against top ranked clubs.
“The goal was simple,” Osting said. It was to compete for the USA National Crown at the Baseball World National Summer Tournament.
Team parents and players organized two successful fundraisers which have included a “Dinner to Go” night at the Brunchery Restaurant as well as golf tournament that helped raise the funds required to travel and participate in the coveted tournament during the Baseball Hall of Fame induction week.
“It was a dream come true for all of the boys, the parents and the coaches while provided the inspiration to build a world class area Baseball Academy,” said Bill Farley owner of the Brunchery restaurant.
Osting had a vision to create a baseball academy in the Valrico area dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs primarily focused on Baseball. The inaugural season goals were to finish with a record above .500 and to compete well in the Cooperstown Baseball World Tournament. The Ostingers finished the second half of their season going 20-6 including a 6-1-1 record in Cooperstown.
But Cooperstown did not end the summer success for the young athletes at the academy.
At the end of August the Ostingers won the 14-U USSSA tournament in Leesburg Fl., beating the Central Florida Predators 12-3. The Back to School Classic had six teams from the state.
“It was a total team effort and everyone played their part in winning the tourney,” said Osting adding, “The dedication of our young players have started to pay off.”
Former major league pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers Jim Osting, has built a successful program training area children starting as early as U-9 up to top prospect Varsity HS Baseball players that have gone on to receive scholarships to top colleges in the country. He is also has broken ground on the Academy Training Facility that is located just east of Lithia-Pinecrest Road and Highway 39 and estimates that the facility will be completed by October 1st.
The Academy now has 2 AAU teams competing as U-13 and U-14 that will play out of the new FishHawk Sports Complex. For more information about the Osting Baseball Academy please call 404-1775.
