Baseball Players From Around the World Flock to Freeport for Invitational

by Jake DeLuca

The Freeport International Baseball Invitational (FIBI) is set to celebrate its 22nd anniversary as local players face off against players from around the world from Tuesday July 25th to Saturday July 30th.

This year’s FIBI will see players from Texas, France, Australia, Japan, and Israel compete against local area baseball players ranging from fourteen to nineteen years old.

The teams involved in the invitational this year include: Burrell Colt, Bourbon County Bootleggers Colt, Freeport Colt, Bourbon County Bootleggers Legion, France, Freeport River Pirates, Tri-Continental Roos (Japan/Australia/Israel/USA), Kiski Valley Vikings, Kiski Palomino, Kiski Valley Colt, Apollo Colt, Mercyhurst, Cannonsburg Knights, Bucs Baseball Colt, Bucs Baseball Legion, Armstrong Jayhawks, Armstrong Jr. Legion, Armstrong Sr. Legion, Valley Legion, and Springdale Athletic Club.

The event will take place at six different locations in the area, including Ford City High School, Kiski High School, Freeport Community Park Field, and Agan Field in Springdale.

This year FIBI raised around $40,000 to $50,000, thanks to gracious donations and sponsors for this exhibition baseball event. The money raised goes to pay for housing, transportation, umpires, grounds crew, etc.

Luckily the past few years there have been host families who have offered to house the foreign players and coaches. FIBI President Chuck Sarver discussed what it means for families to open their doors to these players.

“For the last four or five years we have had families step up and host players. It’s really worked out well because the foreign players get to come over and learn the culture and live with these people for a week or eight days. It’s kind of a struggle sometimes because teams register late sometimes, but we have pretty much the whole French team housed as well as the Australian and Japanese boys. That helps with their expense; that way, we don’t have to pay for hotels,” Sarver explained.

The biggest draw for the FIBI happens on Saturday, according to Chuck Sarver.

“In our tenth anniversary we started the USA vs. World game, because the 8:00 PM game at Freeport was the place to be. We have Zambelli fireworks after the game and we have been doing it ever since. We have coaches select X amount of American players and X amount of international players and we play by major league rules,” Sarver said.

The event starts on Tuesday, July 25th, and will end on Saturday, July 30th. For more information on the FIBI or if you have any questions about the event, check out their website at www.fortheloveofthegame.org .

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