Justin Osborne All American Wifflefest: 2013

10/17/13

Wifflefest 8, Soggy but still leaves a good taste in your mouth

Rain dampened the fields of play, but not the spirit of the competition as the Justin Osborne All American Wifflefest 8 was held on Saturday, October 12^th. With 12 teams signed up to play, 11 teams showing up, and 10 teams competing after the two hour rain delay, wifflefest was quite simply a work in progress this year. All in all, everything went very smoothly, and it was business as usual at the Martin Tree Farm wiffleball fields. Wifflefest creator and wiffleball legend was all smiles as the event came to a close; “It was a great day and a great tournament. We had to make a field in about 15 minutes in a spot that wasn’t ideal for playing, but it was better than sloshing through the mud all day. Everyone played great, and I’m glad we were able to get all the games in despite the circumstances.”

A King added to the Hall

Jessica King was inducted into the Wifflefest Hall of Fame for being the creator of the now defunct www.yellowbatwhiteball.com website which hosted past stats, pictures, rules and directions for Wifflefest. Apparently not enough people visited the site for her to keep doing her work.

One Hit Wonders Simply Wonderful

After waiting an entire year to take the field, and then waiting an entire morning for it to stop raining, the One Hit Wonders picked up where they left off from Wifflefest 7 and successfully navigated to claim the Justin Osborne All American Wifflefest 8 double elimination tournament. Led by timely hitting, a catcher who only used her elbows and a really tall outfielder, the One Hit Wonders defeated Sean’s Sluggers twice in the finals to claim the coveted golden wiffleball. Playing without Wifflefest 7 star Corey “Ritz Cracker’

Campbell, who was sidelined due to his procreation ability, it looked to be rough going for the Wonders early on. After a shaky (1-0) victory over the Naturals, the Wonders were then defeated by Sean’s Sluggers and forced to fight their way through the loser’s bracket. However, they were up for the challenge, as they pitched well enough and pounded their way to multiple double digit victories as they cruised to a second title in as many years.

Wifflefest benefits Melaina’s Magical Playland

After six years and raising over $3500 for the Pujols Family Foundation, Wifflefest looked for a more local organization to benefit this year. The participants were blessed with the opportunity to donate to Melaina’s Magical Playland and doubly blessed by a guest appearance of Jeff and Andrea Cunningham, founders of the playland, at Wifflefest. Jeff was even nice enough to take an at-bat during one of the games! The Justin Osborne All American Wifflefest is please to announce that we raised a total of $750 for Melaina’s Magical Playland this year. Please visit the playland, which is now open in the Cape Girardeau County Park North.

9/12/13

I know what you are thinking…

Maybe I am wrong, but I have this feeling that for some reason, you are not as excited as I am for the upcoming Justin Osborne All American Wifflefest. Perhaps it’s the fact that your wiffleball skills are lacking in one way or another. It could be the fact that your team has never won wifflefest, and actually hasn’t even come close to winning….not by a long shot. You could have a case of cold feet, you could be a homebody, or, more than likely you are just plain sad. Whatever the case may be, chin up. Let not your heart be troubled. Today is a new day and I am here to offer even more evidence as to why the Justin Osborne All American Wifflefest is a can’t miss event!

Depending on your performance, you may find yourself with quite a bit of free time at Wifflfest and you may be wondering, what am I going to do with myself. Perhaps you are not a great linguist and more socially awkward than most, so I’ve put together a Wifflefest can do list to fill up all of the ‘valuable’ free time:

1. Take a walk. Did you know that walking is like one of the best things you can do for exercise besides play wiffleball? Apparently, studies suggest that if you could walk forever, you may also live forever, or close to it. The Martin Tree Farm where Wifflefest is hosted has over 300 acres, most of which have marked trails. Enhance your experience by taking a stroll through one, enjoying the fall foliage.

Canoe during the game

2. Canoe. The tree farm has a few canoes/paddle boats that attenders can take out for a cruise on the pond. If you get close enough to the wiffleball field, you may catch a home run.

3. Fish. Most people like to fish. I think it is kind of boring.
4. Camp out. The tree farm is a perfect place to camp out on fall evenings. Let us know ahead of time and we can even have a campfire and/or outdoor movie set up for your viewing pleasure.
5. Bounce house. Mostly for the young or young at heart. We will have two bounce houses set up, feel free to watch your own kids jump to their heart’s content or until they are injured.
6. Tree Swings. This should probably be the #1 reason why you should come to Wifflefest, as I go out and swing sometimes just to relax. It is amazing how putting a swing under a bunch of pine trees makes it that much better.
7. Hay Ride. We will have two hay rides at Wifflefest. The first will be in the morning, around 11 am giving people a chance to see a little more of the farm. The second ride will be after our pot luck lunch, probably around 2pm. They ride will last about thirty minutes.

8. Ball Park Snacks. I’m a snacker. I could snack on things all day, rather than sit down and gorge myself on a big meal. We will have snacks available all day long at Wifflefest. Everything from hot dogs, popcorn and nachos, to cotton candy, snow cones and candy bars. Drinks are also provided at no charge! Please just help yourself.

9. Wiffle Golf. Sometimes being bad at wiffleball has its advantage. Like when being bad, lets you have a lot of extra time to play wiffle golf on a 18 hole home made course at the tree farm. The course is complete with bunkers, greens, and tee boxes carved throughout the woods. Clubs and balls are available in the tree house for use. Tee times are not necessary.

10. The Tree House. If you have a baby or you need to sneak away for some sort of private business, the Tree House is a perfect place to do just that. Complete with three bedrooms and two baths, it is available for anyone to use during the weekend of Wifflefest. Make your plans now to join us for our great event! You only need five players (two girls) and a willing heart!

9/6/13

Wifflefest Rules of Play, Change

As if the Justin Osborne All American Wifflefest wasn’t exciting enough, the powers that be have added two new rules to enhance the game that much more. There will be one new rule to help the batting team and one new rule to help the fielding team. See the new rules below.

Not a real wiffleball bat

While batting, one person on a team can use the BIG RED BAT for one at-bat per game, per team. The at-bat starts when the first pitch is thrown, and the batter can’t switch after the pitch is thrown.

While fielding, the fielding team can place Ozzie Smith at any position in the field to help them field. If a batted ball hits Ozzie Smith on the fly, the batter is out. If a batted ball hits Ozzie Smith after bouncing, but in front of the white single line, the batter is out. If a batted ball hits Ozzie Smith after bouncing, but behind the single line, the batter will be awarded a single or double, depending on the position of Ozzie Smith.

A complete list of the rules of Wifflefest can be found here!

8/27/13

Wifflefest 8 open for business

The Justin Osborne All American Wifflefest 8 is now open and accepting registrations for our great event. This year, the event will be held on October 12, 2013. Teams will compete in a double elimination, coed, wiffleball tournament made on custom designed wiffleball fields.
Over the past few years, we have had as many as 14 teams sign up for wifflefest, with the minimum five players per team (2 girl minimum), but founder and good guy Justin Osborne feels that they could handle more. "Wifflefest has room to grow. We could easily handle 16 or more teams. We have another field site close to the others that we could utilize." More people would also mean that there is a better chance at raising money for the charity Wifflefest benefits.

This year Wifflefest will benefiting Melaina's Magical Playland, whose vision is to "bring the area's first public all-inclusive and fully-accessible playground to our community designed for all ability levels." The playland is located in Cape Girardeau County Park. To date the playland has raised over $600,000, but is still in need of funding. Donations over $100 in total also get to engrave a brick paver on the sidewalk leading up to the playland. This is an awesome opportunity for Wifflefest goers to bless a local organization.

The Wifflefest 8 launch would not be complete without our homemade promotional video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djQR4vdLn7o

To sign up for Wifflefest, just click the sign up now link on the side of this blog and someone will be in contact with you. Start practicing!

7/24/13

I bless the rains down in Africa

Somewhere between Jackson, Missouri and the mighty Mississippi river there is a small farm that owns exotic animals. They buy and sell them as pets. They also rent camels for parties and they have recently opened a petting zoo where visitors can pay their daily wage and feed them a small sack of feed. Just down the road lives my eighty four year old grandmother.

She passes the farm each morning on her way to work. It really is a beautiful place; sometimes you might catch a glimpse of a gazelle or mule deer eating dewy grass. Over the past few days, the drive in to work has been even more exciting for her as she has caught a glimpse of a new guest to the farm, a giraffe, who is basking in the morning sun. “It is just so beautiful to see him standing there”, she tells me as we talk over the previous days events, “it reminds me of my time in Africa”. My grandmother visited Malawi on a mission trip within the last ten years, and she often talks about her experience. I can honestly say that anytime I see a giraffe, my mind immediately drifts to thoughts of the African plain. How awesome it would be to catch a view of a giraffe in the wild.... it is only slightly less awesome to see one down the road from your home.

My mother, who also works at our family business, chimed in, “Are you talking about the new giraffe by your house? You know that is just a statue.” Apparently, the petting zoo has purchased a rather large giraffe statue for some reason, and that is what my grandmother had been seeing the last few mornings as she drove in to work. She had not realized it was a statue she was seeing. “I was just amazed that each day he was standing in the same place”, she admitted, after realizing her mistake. We all had a good laugh about it.

I share this story simply for the fact that we are all like my grandmother. Everyone is looking for some sort of awesomeness to add to their daily life, to make it more beautiful. The Justin Osborne All America Wifflefest may be just the thing you are looking for. A one day, coed, double elimination wiffleball tournament which benefits children with down syndrome could be your chance to do just that.

Driving Directions to Wifflefest

Driving Directions to Fruitland Community Church

Fruitland Community Church
6040 US HWY-61
Jackson, MO 63755

Wifflefest Rules of Play

General Rules for Wifflefest

1. No Alcohol, Drugs, or Weapons allowed on Martin Tree Farm grounds

2. No Foul or Abusive language

3. Questionable calls or disputes will be handled between the two teams involved

Rules of Play for Wifflefest

All games will be 30 minutes in length. A game that is tied at the end of 30 minutes will be allowed to start an additional inning. Scorekeepers on each field will keep the time and score. If there is still time on the clock, another inning will start, allowing the home team to bat if they are behind in score.

1. Teams will be co-ed consisting of five or more players.

2. If both teams have six players, all of them will be allowed on the field at the same time. If not, only five players will be allowed.

3. All players will be allowed to bat in normal batting order.

4. Five players will be allowed on the field, with at least two girls on the field at all times. More than five players are allowed on the field if the other team has the same amount of people.

5. Fielding team must provide a pitcher, catcher and three other fielders.

6. All games will be either: Five full innings or 30 minutes in length. The home to is allowed to bat last.

7. Home team is team selected by coin toss at scorers table before game.

8. Pitcher must not throw “to hard” while pitching. If batter complains that pitcher is to fast, they must throw ball slower. (Do not be afraid to ask them to slow it down)

9. If pitched ball hits strike zone (a box) it will be called strike.

10. Four balls constitute a walk.

11. No running the bases. (We walk bases to keep track of where all the runners are)

12. Single is ball hit past white “single line”.

13. Double is ball hit past outfielder.

14. Triple is ball hit off of fence.

15. Home run is over the fence .

16. Any ball hitting a tree is considered in play until the ball lands (landing fair would be fair/ foul would be foul) where the ball lands is what will count. Any ball hit that goes over the fence and hits a tree, will be counted as a home run, even if the ball comes back into the field of play.

17. Any ball hitting tree above fence is a home run. Any ball hitting a tree that is the fence, is considered a triple (if hitting it in the air).

18. No run rule in effect.

19. Three outs per side during half inning. An out is described below:

a.) Strikeout

b.) Fly out

c.) Foul ball caught in air

d.) Groundout - Player fielding the ball cleanly before crossing the white single line

20. Only official white wiffleball and yellow wiffleball will be used. No tape or sand allowed

21. Teams must rotate pitchers every inning, allowing everyone on their team a chance to pitch. Every team member who is 12 years old and over must pitch to at least four batters to constitute a "chance" at pitching. If a team member is not 12 years old, they do not have to pitch.

22. Pitcher must stand on designated pitcher’s mound, no moving in.

23. a) Errors will be determined by opposing team.

b) If ball is bobbled then caught while still in the air, it will be considered a “catch”.

c) If ball is bobbled and then dropped, it will be considered an error.

d) If ball is to an outfielder on the ground and they commit an error, the batter will be allowed another base.

24) All questionable calls will be worked out by the teams involved, although the announcer may help decide the call if an agreement can’t be reached.

25) While batting, one person on a team can use the BIG RED BAT for one at-bat per game, per team. The at-bat starts when the first pitch is thrown, and the batter can’t switch after the pitch is thrown.

26) While fielding, the fielding team can place Ozzie Smith at any position in the field to help them field. If a batted ball hits Ozzie Smith on the fly, the batter is out. If a batted ball hits Ozzie Smith after bouncing, but in front of the white single line, the batter is out. If a batted ball hits Ozzie Smith after bouncing, but behind the single line, the batter will be awarded a single or double, depending on the position of Ozzie Smith.

6/21/13

It's About Time

I'm feeling fresh. My body is rejuevenated. I am pumped up. Thank you Lebron James. You, with your words of inspiration during a pre-game team huddle, have encouraged me to seize the moment and announce the date of the:

Justin Osborne All American Wifflefest 8