Hometown Cup returns for Migley Field farewell season in 2026

The Hometown Cup returns to Migley Field from July 24-26, and the Old Republic Wiffleball League is treating the weekend as more than a bracket. Teams from across North America are headed to New Carlisle, Indiana, for the league’s marquee event, and 2026 carries a final-season weight after Commissioner Koby Keck announced in late April that Migley Field would be in its farewell season.

That timing matters because Migley has been the center of ORWBL’s identity from the start. The field was built in 2006, the same year it became the home of the New Carlisle Newts and the site of the Hometown Cup Finals. Since then, it has hosted the final rounds of The Championship every season, and the league says it has staged all but one of its All-Star Games there dating back to 2007. Ten ORWBL World Series have also been played at Migley, with the title clinched there four times.

The league’s roots run just as deep in New Carlisle. The Wiffle®Ball Championship began in 2005 as part of the Hometown Days summer festival, then ORWBL began play in June 2007 after being founded by Jared Emmons and Koby Keck. What started as a local summer event has grown into one of the largest wiffle events in the nation, with Migley Field serving as the destination every team tries to reach.

The competitive backdrop is sharp, too. Elkhart BFAM won the 2026 ORWBL World Series by beating the Granger Panthers 4-0, and Nick Fritz was named World Series MVP. Elkhart finished the regular season 29-1, went 11-2 in the postseason and closed at 40-3 overall, a run that underlined how much talent still sits at the top of the league heading into the summer’s biggest weekend.

That is why the 2026 Hometown Cup carries so much more than trophy value. It arrives in the 20th season since Migley Field was built, with the league’s signature title chase, its most familiar ballpark and its strongest regional draw all colliding at once. If Migley’s final summer is going to matter, it starts with the weekend that has long defined Old Republic Wiffleball.