Anthony Cinicola’s wrist healed in time for him to take part in the opportunity of a lifetime.

The Cranberry Township resident is currently in Santa Clara, Calif., where he and his baseball teammates will compete in the 2016 Palomino 18-under World Series.

Cinicola’s squad, made up of players from the Youngstown Class B League, open up play today in the eight-team double elimination tournament against Caguas, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean representative.

“I think our chances are pretty good,” said Cinicola, 16. “We have a lot of depth and a lot of pitching and that’s going to help us.”

Cinicola injured his right wrist in late May and didn’t return to the field until early July. Playing for Youngstown’s Knightline Embroidery team, he did his best to make up for lost time, batting .372 with 11 runs scored and seven RBI in 15 games as a second baseman.

“The fact that he was hurt, we were very fortunate to get him on the roster for this tournament run,” said Youngstown coach Tom Otto. “He has a lot of defensive ability and offensively, he puts the ball in play, moves runners over and doesn’t strike out much.”

In fact, Cinicola was a strikeout victim just once in his 43 at-bats for Knightline. Sixteen of the squad’s players make up the tournament team. Cinicola is one of only two 16-year olds on the roster. The rest of his teammates are 17 or 18.

Youngstown went 3-2 at the East Zone’s Western Regional tournament and advanced after losing in the title game.

Cinicola helped the team go a perfect 4-0 at the zone event, held in Struthers, Ohio, last weekend. In the final, he went 4-for-4 in a 3-2 victory over Worthington-Kittanning, punching the team’s ticket to the World Series.

“We played a lot of good teams so far and have had to come back to win several games,” said Cinicola, who is an incoming junior at Seneca Valley High School. “The goal has always been to get to California, but we just tried to take it one game at a time.

“I thought my chances of playing for the tournament team were pretty slim after my injury,” he added. “I’m just thankful for the opportunity.”

Cinicola was Seneca Valley’s starting shortstop as a sophomore last spring. His goal is to play in college.

Otto sees no reason why that can’t happen.

“I expect nothing but great things for him,” he said.