BY RAY WILDE

Sports correspondent

LEWISTOWN — The Mifflin County Babe Ruth League has announced its managers for the 2026 All-Star tournaments.

In charge of the 15-16-year-old All-Star team will be McVeytown’s Denny Yetter. The McVeytown manager will be entering his sixth year this spring. Yetter has a 59-42 record in McVeytown and has managed three All-Star teams for a 15-10 record. Yetter’s overall mark is 74-52 and is 17th on the Mifflin County win list.

Yetter guided the 2021 13-year-old Babe Ruth All-Stars to the state title and finished second in the Mid-Atlantic regionals, losing to Atlantic Shore (Atlantic City), which went on to win the national title.

Yetter is one of just three Mifflin County managers to take a team to the Mid-Atlantic regionals’ final four. Along with the 2021 13-year-olds, he also managed the 2023 15-year-olds to a third-place finish and in 2025 he guided the 14-year-olds to a runner-up spot.

In 2022, he was an assistant coach on the Mifflin County 14-year-old All-Star team that won the regionals and went to the World Series in Williston, North Dakota, where they finished in a tie for fifth place in the country.

Yetter also was an assistant coach on the 15-16-year-old team in 2024 that finished third in the regionals.

Last year, Yetter guided McVeytown to the league title.

The 15-16-year-old Mid-Atlantic Regionals will start on July 15 in Williamsport.

Also named the 14-year-old manager was Belltown’s Keith Baker. Baker is in his third season and has a 16-23 record at Belltown. He also was an assistant coach on the 2024 15-16-year-old team.

The 14-year-old regional will be held in Old Bridge, New Jersey, starting on July 16.

The manager for the 13-year-old team will be Lewistown’s Josh Snook. This will be Snook’s fourth All-Star team that he has managed. Snook has a 9-8 All-Star record with all three of his teams finishing in the Pennsylvania final four, 2022, 15-year-olds; 2023, 14-year-olds and 2024, 13-year-olds. Snook’s record at Lewistown is 20-55 and his overall mark is 29-63.

In 2022 Snook and the 15-year-olds just missed going to the World Series as Mifflin County was the Mid-Atlantic runner-up, losing in the regional finals to Southern New Jersey, 2-1.

The 13-year-old regional will start in Old Bridge,New Jersey on July 22.

NOTES — Trent Hidlay was a national runner-up twice in the NCAA wrestling tournament. But do you remember, Trent was also a runner-up to another national champion as a 15-year-old. Trent was a Babe Ruth All-Star on the 15-year-old Mifflin County team that lost to Broomall-Newtown, 8-3, in the state finals. Broomall went on to win the national title that year.

Here is some more information on the four professional players that played against Mifflin County. Travis Wood (Arkansas) played against Mifflin County in the 2002 World Series (a 16-0 win for MC). Wood played in the outfield. Wood pitched in the major leagues for the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals… Josh Edgin (Raystown) pitched for the New York Mets. Edgin was born in Lewistown and pitched against Mifflin County in a 13-year-old game in 2000 (a MC win, 12-1. Andre Thorton (Phoenixville) played for three teams, Cleveland Indians (now Guardians), Chicago Cubs and Montreal Expos. Thorton and Phoenixville beat Mifflin County, 8-5, in a 14-15-year-old state game in 1965. Phoenixville went on to win the state tournament and regionals and went on to its only World Series. Kevin McGonigle (Drexel Hill) is a rookie for the Detroit Tigers and just signed an eight-year contract for $150 million. McGonigle played against Mifflin County in a 14-year-old game in 2019 (MC won, 6-5).

On a sad note, West End of Williamsport reported that its long time umpire, MIke Sharrow, died earlier this month. Sharrow, 68, was the only umpire in the Pennsylvania Babe Ruth Hall of Fame. Sharrow had worked in games for West End since 1973.