Emmons closing in on expansion team

LAPORTE- League co-founder Jared Emmons is reportedly close to bringing an expansion team into the ORWBL for the 2016 season. The team is expected to play somewhere in the LaPorte area, although details have not been released.

Emmons was a key figure in establishing the league in 2007. His original franchise, the Pterodactyls has been one of the pillars of ORWBL. Under his leadership, the 'Dactyls won the 2009 ORWBL title. He posted a 101-61 record in Bourissa Hills and currently ranks fifth out of 40 in the all-time managerial wins list.

He sold the franchise after the 2011 season to Dewey Gorny. The team has been through three managers since Emmons left and has not posted a winning season.

Expected to join the franchise are 'Dactyls legends Denis Jedrysek and Jordan Smoroske. Two-time MVP Jedrysek, like Emmons, spent his post-Bourissa Hills career with the Newts on a limited basis. Neither saw action in 2015. Smoroske, who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2015, has been out of wiffleball since his MVP campaign in 2010. After helping the 'Dactyls to a 38-4 record, he left the league for military service.

Despite their time with the Newts, Emmons and Jedrysek haven't made an impact on the wiffleball scene since their 2012 run to The Wiffleball Championship Game at Hometown Days. Under the name the Taco Punchers, the squad defeated Cult West in the semfinals before falling to Lou Brock in the title game.

It is rumored that the Taco Punchers will be the name of the new franchise.