2022 Recap
Hello Home Runs for the Homeless sponsors & teams,
14th Year is In the Books!! We are estimating over $70,000 raised for Harford Family House after another full day of 29 teams competing at Iron Birds Stadium!!
This year had some new teams, fresh faces, and old rivalries. Excitement about the overall winner carried on until 8 pm when former C. Milton Wright All County performer Cory Poulsen made the most of his extra swings and blasted a homer with one of this last balls. That home run vaulted his Team Yetter to 1,645 points, passing rival Team DICORP Blue Jays with 1,560 points and secured second place for Team Yetter who was led by Bel Air High’s former star, Michael Yetter with 580 points and two home runs. Overall winner Maryland Mortgage ran away with the competition by scoring 2,655 points (not a typo) and blasting nine home runs to win the trophy. Their blasts were unbelievable to watch and even though DICORP Blue Jays and Yetter could not push them for the title, everyone in the stadium enjoyed their star-studded lineup and power-hitting exhibition!!
The Corporate Award, given to a team whose four batters all belong to one firm, goes again to Harkins Builders with 1205 points and who edged out corporate sponsor Harford Mutual Insurance who was in second place with 1095 points. Captained by former Edgewood High football and baseball standout, Chuck Leftridge, Harkins is the “light at the end of the tunnel” because they come into the end of the day with enthusiasm and volunteers, always helping us cleanup which is greatly appreciated. This year, President Ben Nichols was on hand to watch his team and take some swings. Thanks Ben! And thanks Chuck!
The Officer’s Cup presented to the area’s highest scoring law enforcement team goes to the Bel Air Police Department who scored 1320 points. Meanwhile, the Mark Logsdon Award, given to the highest individual scorer belonging to a law enforcement agency, goes once again to Aberdeen Police’s Will “The Thrill” Reiber with 400 points.
HRS4Homeless featured its first softball competition where female members of Harford Mutual’s team took swings against legendary softball pitching ace, Frank Kellner. Nicknamed “Special K” for his ability to strike out even the most determined batters, Frank met his match this year when someone dyed the softballs florescent green prior to the competition and made his pitches easier to track. Cleanup hitter and HRS4Homeless Legend, Brittany Stein, refused to face Special K and his brightly colored balls and selected the classic pitching machine at 60+ mph instead. She got the loudest cheers of the day as she smacked four shots into the outfield for a total of 190 points. These weren’t fly balls either, they were smoked!! While Brittany got the cheers, her brave act to face the machine cost her the Georgia Peach Award (given to the highest female scorer) because teammate Allison Pomroy put a hurting on Special K for a total of 255 points on the day! Congrats to Allison!
At the end of the day, we like to reflect on some of the mammoth shots seen during the competition. Our Silver Slugger Award is given to the highest individual total and to nobody’s surprise, Zach Nadolny posted a record for himself of 975 points on six home runs. Zach won the award last year with 600 points, two home runs and three warning track blasts. But his performance was nearly overshadowed by Ethan Gallagher of Team Alaimo. Although Ethan finished with 600 points and three home runs behind Dicorp Blue Jays’ Conor Reynolds who scored 650 points with two home runs, Ethan accomplished two things we haven’t seen in HRS4Homeless before. His second homer sailed into the Iron Birds scoreboard which is over the 404-foot sign. It landed with a loud crash about ¼ of the way up the scoreboard and got everyone’s attention. A few pitches later, Ethan struck again, this time sending a ball OVER THE SCOREBOARD ENTIRELY!! We hurried to retrieve that ball and put it in the HRS4Homeless Museum, but according to Ripcord and Ferrous, it landed in the back of a manure carrier on I95 and was transported south towards Florida at last glance. When it finally hits the ground, it will have traveled an estimated 870+ miles!
Thank you for participating, supporting, and donating to HRS4Homeless. We can’t do this without the support of Special K, Steve Linkous and Harford Mutual and all our sponsors. It is the organization of our MVP Heather Volk at Harford Family House that ties us all together. And it’s the Harford Family House staff with our new Welcome One family led by Liz and Robin that make the day go smoothly. To co-founder Brian Walker, volunteers Tom Noel, Ed Coogan, BJ Alaimo, Rob Yetter, Matt Hurff, Chuck Leftridge, Frank Kellner, Brian Smith, Brent Slutzky and the Iron Bird’s Jack Graham and Becca Ashman…It is an honor to work with you the day of the event and I’m never happier than on that field with you guys for the day!!
Scott Elliott
Vice President, Business Development
Harford Bank
Harford Family House is a 501(c)(3) organization. Your contribution is fully tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. IRS regulations require we inform you that Harford Family House did not provide you with any goods
or services in exchange for your gift, other than those outlined above. A copy of our current financial statement is available upon request by contacting Harford Family House, 53 E. Bel Air Avenue, Suite 3, Aberdeen, MD
21001 or by calling 410-273-6700. Documents and information submitted to the State of Maryland under the Maryland Charitable Solicitations Act are available from the Office of the Secretary of State.