VFW Fall Ball Closes Out 23rd Season With Annual World Series

October 11, Lawrence Twp Rec Park – The Gold Team outlasted the Green Team, 1-0, in a terrific pitcher’s duel, capturing the annual Fall Ball “World Series” in dramatic fashion. Both teams played errorless baseball, as starting pitchers Elijah Quick and Hunter Rumsky locked horns in the championship final. Quick threw a complete game three hit shutout for the Gold, while Rumsky and Anthony Lopez combined for a three hitter as well. The only run in the game came at the top of the first when Nate Owens scored on a Hayvin Bumbarger double. Cole bloom had two hits for the Green Team.

Team Green opened the series on October 4th with a 5-2 win, Rumsky getting the win over Quick. Bloom and Morgen Billotte scored two runs each with Bloom tripling and Billotte adding a double. Elijah helped his own cause with a triple. He and Braison Patrick scored the Gold runs. Hunter had a multi hit game with a double and single.

Game number two ended in an odd way with Team Gold bouncing back for a controversial 4-3 win. In a rare start, Cole Bloom took the mound for Green, pitching well through the first inning, striking out two of three batters. However, he ran into trouble in the second, surrendering four runs due to walks and a couple of costly errors. With Hayvin Bummy on the hill for Gold the score remained 4-0 until the fourth. Then Team Green erupted for 3 runs thanks to a booming triple off the bat of Morgen Billotte and a clutch hit by Matt Irvin. The score stood at 4-3 Gold going into the top of the 6th inning, but the Green Team came alive, exploding for 7 runs. At that point both umpires determined that it was too dark to continue. As both teams assembled at home plate to shake hands the Green players began celebrating. However, much to their surprise, The Gold team was declared the winner. They had not had a chance to bat in the bottom of the 6th so the score reverted back to the last complete inning. Final score: Gold 4- Green 3. And five innings is a complete game according to the rules of baseball. Tough pill to swallow! But the beauty of baseball is that there is always another game. Key hitters in the game were Elijah Quick with two hits and Cole Bloom with a double. Landon Brady contributed a key single in his team’s second inning rally.

So the final game was slated for Tuesday, Oct 11th. In the meantime we had a spot in the Pink Ribbon Rundown Tournament in Tarentum, PA. The High School Tournament, made up of Pittsburgh Area teams, provided some good competition for our guys, which was an excellent way to finish up a successful 2022 Fall season. On Saturday, we played tough in both games, dropping 6-5 and 7-6 contests. Making a good comeback to defeat Nextier by a 13-7 score on Sunday put us in the final game. In that game we ran up against an excellent Fox Chapel lefty and were defeated 6-1. But in the ceremony after the tournament we were declared runners up, and each player received a medal. It was a great experience, and next year we hope to enter more of those types of tournaments. Morgen Billotte was the only senior participating this Fall, so we are looking forward to next year. Several players hit well in the tournament. Hunter Rumsky (5), Cole Bloom (5), Morgen Billotte (4), Hayden Rumsky (4), Hayvin Bumbarger (3), Tony Lopez(2), and Braison Patrick (2) all had multiple hits.

This year marked the 23rd consecutive year for VFW Fall Ball, and it was another successful one. The program is for Clearfield Area School District students in grades 7-12, and there were 40 players participating. Players were divided up into two groups with Matt Peacock, Kevin Lykens, Damien Reinke, and Larry Spaid coaching the younger group. Sean Quick, David Patrick, Cory Hoover, Clair Wriglesworth, and Sid Lansberry handled the older group. The program is intended to be instructional with an emphasis on fundamentals with some intrasquad as well as outside competition. We thank the Clearfield VFW Post 1785 and Pennsylvania Grain Processing for their sponsorship. Many thanks to all the parents who helped with concessions, with Amanda Quick and Brandy Owens as the Organizers.

The complete roster: Brodee Owens, Jake Bloom, Rex Butler, Chase Foster, Zane Dunsmore, Landon Brady, Rolland Cummings, Jayce Brothers, Connor Peacock, Owen Lykens, Ty Magnuson, Xavier O’Link, Hunter Leigey, Elijah Gardner, Jacob Clark, Caleb Gibson, Avry Schenck, Colton Norris, JT Strischock, Brody Ryen, Noah Troxell, Matt Peace, Matthew Rowles, Brett Fletcher, Morgen Billotte, Hunter Rumsky, Cole Bloom. Elijah Quick, Anthony Lopez, Hayvin Bumbarger, Craig Mays, Matt Irvin, Xavier Lutz, Nate Owens, Noah Wriglesworth, Braison Patrick, Colton Bumbarger, Hayden Rumsky.

Many thanks to those parents who helped in the concession stand, with Amanda Quick and Brandy Owens serving as organizers.