| 7/26/2010 8:42:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | NJCAA All-Star plays for Team USA
If there was anything that was sure in Tyler Hall's life it was that he loved baseball. The 2008 Rockford High School graduate played for the Rams, and then followed with an impressive career as a Raider at Grand Rapids Community College.
What came as a wonderful surprise, however, was a phone call he received on April 5. Hall and his family were enjoying dinner at The Score when they received great news. Hall had been selected as one of the 24 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) All-Stars to compete in the 25th Annual Honkbal Tournament, in Haarlem, Amsterdam.
Hall was the only NJCAA player selected from Michigan and joined 23 other players from around the country on July 5 at Tampa University, Tampa, Florida to meet and practice as Team USA for the first time. On July 7, the 24 players and coaches boarded for their trip to the Netherlands.
Hall said he was honored to be selected to play with this amazing group of athletes.
The tournament was slated to begin on July 9 with six teams from around the world including Japan, China/Taipei, Venezuela, Cuba, Netherlands and the United States. The Venezuelan team experienced some travel problems which brought the competitors down to five.
TEAM USA was selected from junior college players from around the U.S.; however, many of the other teams' fielded players who competed at the national or professional level for their country. The competition was extremely tough and Team USA's only two wins came against China/Taipei. Team USA finished the tournament in fourth place with a record of 2-6.
Hall helped his team stay strong against their competition with a .333 batting average (second highest on Team USA and tied for 12th overall), .429 slugging-percentage (third on TEAM USA, 12th overall), and .440 on-base percentage(seconc on Team USA, 9th overall). Hall also led Team USA with six runs scored.
"There were many great parts of the trip like meeting other baseball players from around the world, touring around Amsterdam on our days off, and playing in front of huge crowds when we faced the Netherlands home team," Hall said. He also said that it was pretty cool to sign autographs for the fans. "I signed everything from baseballs, to t-shirts, shoes, hats and bats."
The NJCAA All-Star team has its own web page at www.njcaausabaseball.wordpress.com/ that highlighted each stage of the team's journey to the Netherlands and throughout the Honkbal Tournament, which includes team articles and game pictures.
The official Honkbal Tournament Web site is www.honkbalweek.nl.
"It was a once in a life time opportunity that I will never forget," Hall said of the experience.
Besides being honored by playing for Team USA, Tyler was honored this spring by being selected for the 2010 All-Region XII First Team, ALL-MCCAA First Team, and NJCAA All-District First Team (North District) and NJCAA Division II First Team All-American, this was a dual honor as he was only the fourth player in DII history to ever receive First Team All-American honors in back-to-back seasons (2009 and 2010). Hall will continue his college baseball career for the Central Michigan University Chippewas.
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