July 28, 2009
Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THINK DETROIT PAL SENIOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TO PLAY FOR STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
TDP TEAM WILL PLAY IN SOUTH PORTAGE, MICH. WEEKEND OF JULY 31  

DETROIT,Mich.—Think Detroit PAL’s senior league baseball team won the state’s sectionals Little League tournament last week and has advanced to the state championship in South Portage, Mich.   

The TDP team will play teams from Western, South Portage and Delta County, Mich. in the state tournament.  They will advance to regional competition if they win the state tournament.  The boys’ senior league team is the first TDP team to advance to a Little League State tournament.

TDP beat a team from Kimball, Mich. twice at Northwestern High in Detroit last weekend to advance.  TDP won the first game 12-7.  Jemar Rooks had two hits and drove in two.  Joshua Allen and Brandon Austin each scored three runs.  In the second game, Jemar Rooks had another two hits and two RBIs.  Pitcher Alexander Wilson closed out the game with two shutout innings.  Rooks, Austin and Alexander are veterans of Think Detroit PAL’s baseball program.  

This was the second year Think Detroit PAL’s all star baseball and softball teams competed against other Metro Detroit teams for the chance to play in the Little League World Series.  Think Detroit PAL sent more than 100 players aged eight to 16 to the tournament this year.  The teams, which represent Southwest, East and Northwest Detroit, were selected via try outs towards the end of the regular season.

Think Detroit PAL was formed on March 1, 2006, by the merger of two of the leading youth development organizations in the Detroit area:  Think Detroit, Inc. and the Detroit Police Athletic League (PAL). The organization is one of the largest non-profit urban youth leadership programs in the nation, and serves nearly 12,000 youth annually.