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Getting a final tuneup: Cumming Motors prepping for Rust Belt, AAABA baseball tournaments

Altoona AAABA League

By Michael Boytim 6 min read

Cumming Motors swept an Altoona All-American Amateur Baseball Association doubleheader over Imler's Poultry on Thursday at Vets Field as the team tunes up for both the Rust Belt League playoffs and the AAABA national tournament.

"Our goal tonight was to get everyone in and get everyone some reps," Cumming Motors coach Chris Sanders said. "We really wanted to see some of our arms throw, because we'll need them at Johnstown. I was really impressed with how they threw."

Cumming Motors won the first game, 7-2, and the second game, 12-1, in six innings.

Originally, that would have made Cumming Motors the top seed in a three-team Altoona AAABA postseason with Imler's and Brent Cogan Electrical playing in a three-game semifinal series starting Tuesday for the right to play Cumming Motors in the championship series.

But most of Imler's roster is made up of players from the Altoona Babe Ruth 18U team that qualified for the World Series in Florida the same week as the AAABA national tournament, so Imler's dropped out of the playoffs.

"We aren't doing it now, because Imler's is going to Florida for the Babe Ruth World Series," Sanders said. "It's just going to be us and Cogan, and we have the runs against them tiebreaker. We're the No. 1 seed, and we're choosing to play in the bottom bracket at the national tournament."

The decision was made not to hold an Altoona championship series following Imler's exit and the Philadelphia franchise not coming to the national tournament this year due to a death in the organization that led to Altoona getting two entries, meaning both Brent Cogan and Cumming Motors advance.

"We announced our roster today," Sanders said. "A lot of what we played in the first half of these games today is what our roster is going to be. There were a lot of tough decisions to make this year. There were a lot of players that really played above expectations, and that made it very hard for us as coaches to make the decision of who goes and who doesn't. It's hard to tell guys who have played hard all summer that they aren't going to make it, but that's why we carry the roster that we do and play in the games we play in so everyone gets the reps they need out of our program in the summer."

Before the national tournament, Cumming Motors will compete in the Rust Belt League playoffs where it will host a quarterfinal game on Tuesday at Claysburg-Kimmel at 6:30 p.m.

"The Rust Belt means a lot to us," Sanders said. "The pitching we see in the Rust Belt is the pitching we see in Johnstown. We gauge that as one of our goals at the beginning of the year. If we do well in that, we know we'll do well in Johnstown."

Aidan Steinbugl, who had a three-run double in Cumming's 12-1 win on Thursday, said playing in the league and having weekend doubleheaders most Saturdays and Sundays throughout the summer benefits his team.

"We were lucky enough to get in that league a couple years ago," Steinbugl said. "It has been great for us heading into the tournament. We have had a lot more experience and seen much better pitching. City League is a good time seeing people from our local area, but when we go out and play teams from the Pittsburgh area and see better pitching, that helps us with that national tournament. It has shown the past couple years."

Cumming Motors has steadily improved in the Rust Belt League since joining.

"We have seen a lot of great arms in that league and a lot of great pitching," Sanders said. "The pitching that we see every weekend is what we're going to see at nationals. We have had some success, and we're looking forward to what's ahead."

Cumming Motors will be represented by several local stars including Central graduate Devon Boyles -- who hit a towering home run on Thursday. Tyrone graduate Zac LeGars also homered.

"I am very excited for the tournament," Steinbugl said. "With it being my last year, I want to go on a run for the city. I represent Altoona with pride, and I definitely want to take us as far as I can. I think we have a really good team. We have played a lot of good competition, and we're prepared for the tournament."

Imler's came into Thursday's games with a 7-5 record combined over the Altoona Greater City League and AAABA, a big improvement over last year.

"This is our second year in the AAABA," Imler's Poultry coach Brian Bell said. "The first intention was to see better pitching and for our kids to play some better competition to prepare us for the Babe Ruth. This year, we weren't sure what was going to happen. We were much better and more competitive. Fortunately we won regionals in the Babe Ruth, so we had to back out here, but it's solid baseball playing in AAABA."

Bell is hoping the bumps his team took on Thursday pay off in Florida.

"That's the reason we are playing here, to play teams like (Cumming Motors)," Bell said. "The pitching we saw here today is the type of pitching we will see in Florida. We were short some players, but tonight is the reason we play these games to see these types of pitchers."

GAME ONE

IMLER'S POULTRY (2): Hileman cf 402, B. Steiner ss 311, Ulery lf 311, Albarano 1b 402, Bell rf 400, Farabaugh p 201, Slowik c 301, T. Steiner 200, Sankey 2b 300. Totals -- 28-2-8.

CUMMING MOTORS (7): Green cf 422, Steinbugl 2b-p 300, Detwiler rf 000, LeGars rf 201, Angus rf 010, Boyles dh 000, Smearman dh 111, Jansen p 000, Ebeling p 000, Kormanic p 000, Beauchamp lf 000, Albright lf 000, Vancus ss-p 311, Witherow 3b 000, Stover 3b-p 311, Knable c 101, Marko c 000, Helms eh 100, Cooper eh 100, Schimony 1b 200, Sell 1b 100. Totals -- 24-7-7.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Imler's Poultry 002 000 0--2 8 0

Cumming Motors 100 321 X--7 7 2

E--Steinbugl, Knable. 2B--Smearman, B. Steiner. 3B--LeGars. RBI--Albarano, Bell, LeGars, Smearman 2, Knable 2, Vancus. WP--Kormanic. LP--Farabaugh. SO--Jansen 3, Ebeling 3, Stover 2, Kormanic 1, Steinbugl 1, Farabaugh 2. BB--Farabaugh 4, Jansen 1, Stover 1.

GAME TWO

CUMMING MOTORS (12): Green cf 212, Albright cf 301, Angus rf 413, Knable eh 100, Cooper eh 100, Perry eh 200, Boyles dh 211, Marko dh 110, Detwiler 3b 101, Kormanic 3b 322, Jansen lf 100, LeGars lf 322, Ebeling 1b 100, Schimony 1b 010, Savage 1b 201, Steinbugl 2b 111, Stover 2b 211, Vancus ss 000, Smearman ss 211, Helms c 100, Kellog-Long c 000. Totals -- 33-12-16.

IMLER'S POULTRY (1): Hileman cf 210, B. Steiner ss 302, Ulery lf 201, Albarano 3b 300, Bell rf 300, Farabaugh 1b 201, Slowik c 300, T. Steiner p-2b 201, Sankey 2b-p 300. Totals -- 23-1-5.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Cumming Motors 215 112 X--12 16 0

Imler's Poultry 001 000 X--1 5 1

E--Ulery. 2B--Detwiler, Steinbugl. HR--Boyles, LeGars. RBI--Steinbugl 3, Green, Angus, Boyles, Detwiler, LeGars, Savage, Vancus, Kellogg-Long. WP--Witherow. LP--T. Steiner. SO--Witherow 6, Beauchamp 4, Sell 3, T. Steiner 4, Sankey 1. BB--Sell 2, Beauchamp 1, Witherow 1, T. Steiner 3, Sankey 2.

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