The Firefighters’ 2025 Season Review

The team had returners to Banana Ball who only played 19 games, so the team was inexperienced in intricacles of Banana Ball rules. That proved to be a significant wrinkle that was eventually ironed out after the team went 6-27 in the regular season.

"There were a lot of close games that we lost, not because we lost in the baseball skill side of things, but we just straight up got out Banana-Balled," said head coach and former firefighter Valerie Perez. "Almost every game that we played, we out-hit the opponent. We've had numerous games where we had double-digit hits, almost every single one of them."

Cinderella championship run

The understanding of the game wasn't ironed out until it truly mattered. The Firefighters played the Bananas in the semifinals and took the first game of the best-of-three series. However, the Bananas got their revenge and tied up the series.

"We started at the end of May, so come playoffs our guys were in midseason form," recalled Perez. "Our guys were ready to go. They knew what they had to do to prepare. I think that's why you saw an increase in success in the playoffs. Additionally, I was able to run our lineup as we intended. There was more of a focus on the Banana Ball competitive side for the playoffs. They also added the new rule of the trick play equalizer point, so that was a huge incentive to make sure that we're still ripping trick plays. However, all the teams that were involved understood that we're not just trying to win a game. We're trying to grow a sport."

With the tie, a showdown ensued. The outcome punched the winner’s ticket to the championship game. The Firefighters' Dalton Cornett played hero ball by launching a ball over the fence to automatically end the game.

"It didn't feel like a team that had lost its sense of competition," Zach Staton, voice of The Firefighters, told Firehouse.com. When we beat the Bananas in the first game, it gave us all the momentum. They were feeling themselves in a way of 'we can do this'. Then, Dalton Cornett hits a home run over the fence. If you hit a home run over the fence in showdowns, no matter what, the game is over. When he hit that, even as a broadcaster, I blacked out for a minute because I couldn't fathom that you go from the team that was the least favored to that moment where you walk it off in that style. Everybody is now on your side because you're sort of the Cinderella story.

“I think that was something the brand needed to see, the heroics,” Staton continued. “What we do in the game is not anywhere close to what real firefighters do, but to have a hero-like moment, in the Banana Ball sense, was awesome. You get asked about it consistently, but it really gave our fans something to latch on to, a moment that they could now associate with The Firefighters. They have that moment on the field that you cannot take away. The beautiful part of it is that we gave ourselves that moment that will last however long the sport goes. That moment will stand the test of time."

One swing was all it took for the least favored team to be playing for the big trophy. Unfortunately, that is where the magic ended for The Firefighters. They got handily beaten by the Party Animals.

"When it came to the playoffs, we beat the Bananas; we did not play well against the Party Animals," Perez told Firehouse.com. "I think we beat ourselves in that championship game."

"2025 was an unbelievable year for the team's sake," Staton said. "Making it to the World Tour Championship game, from a performance standpoint, was just a super fun thing to be a part of and to have a small view of it from my job on the sidelines. It was fun, from a holistic standpoint, seeing the brand grow. I'll never forget going to New York City, and it was one of the first times you could legitimately see the firefighter brand becoming something more than just a team."

All-Star Games

Even though the season was over and The Firefighters finished in second place in the Banana Ball League, play still carried on for their second annual All-Star Game. A combination of players that stood out throughout the season for each team in the league were honored by playing against the Auburn Tigers and Clemson Tigers college baseball programs.

"They love that you can buy-in, get a little loose, and have some fun while still playing at a high level," Perez told Firehouse.com. "For both universities, I know that it paid dividends. For Clemson, they implemented some of the things that we do within our game. They do a salute to service every game. They go out and have players in the stands to shake the hands of the service members, who they honor every game. Things like that are takeaways from Banana Ball that are bleeding into other programs that are really elevating them, which is really cool to see."

The stipulation on these games was that the college baseball players were playing with Banana Ball rules. The Firefighters had six All-Star selections, including Logan Lacey, Cornett, Ben Dum, Bradford Webb, Ron Franklin Jr. and Austin Temple. Additionally, Mat Wolf, corporal for the Oklahoma City Fire Department, was selected as an All-Star Entertainer.

"It was a huge honor to be selected as an all-star," said Webb, who is a pitcher for The Firefighters. "I was very flattered that the team, coaches, and the league think that much of me. Going to hang out at Auburn and at Clemson, then seeing how the coaches and players bought into having fun for that weekend was super surprising to me, because those young men are getting ready for a season. They're getting ready to try to win a championship, and some of them move on and try to get drafted to pro ball, so they have big sights. To dial it back for a weekend, to our roots, to when we were kids having fun, was cool to see them embrace that and have so much fun all weekend."

There was major preparation by both ends to give fans the best show possible, from talent, skill and entertainment aspects. It was evident that the college programs that were preparing for their season were able to get a bit loose.

"We're trying to teach them trick plays, giving them the opportunity to be creative and the freedom for them to play loose," said Perez. "To get as creative and as flashy as they want to be, because any other day of the week it's a very strict regimen, so it was fun to see the guys get loose. From the beginning of practice to the end, it was night and day. These guys were laughing, joking, dancing a little bit and having a good time."

Clemson took the win against the All-Star team, and The Firefighters were in awe of the talent that the college team displayed. Tides turned when the All-Star team was able to take down Auburn just two days later.

"Clemson can just hit," exclaimed Perez. "They're hitting gap-to-gap and hitting bombs. It's kind of hard to defend that, but it was good. Same thing with Auburn. You could tell they were more out to win, more out to take the game back. Auburn lost last year, and right out of the gate they were fired up. The coaching staff, the players, everybody involved."

"These pitchers were bringing the heat. They're bringing it to our guys and started hitting better," Perez told Firehouse.com. "With Auburn, we went down to a showdown, which was exciting. I don't know that they were expecting that or knew what to do, but we ended up coming out with a win there. All in all, the coaching staffs, Clemson and Auburn, their ability to be open-minded to bring banana ball to their program and letting it be one of their fall ball games is huge for recruiting."

2025 results

For having a late jump to the season and a rather inexperienced team, The Firefighters outperformed expectations late in the season and built momentum to take into 2026.

"Banana Ball truly is a different sport," Webb told Firehouse.com. "It's almost like you are five or six learning baseball for the first time. It's kind of like we're doing that again, but in front of 50,000 people in Yankee Stadium. It just took a little longer for this team, but we got together and made that awesome run there at the end. We leaned on each other, and I think we did something really cool in our second inaugural season.

Here are the results for The Firefighters’ 2025 season: