A Close 2nd Annual Celebrity Game Ends with All-Stars Win Over Veteran Team

Sept. 1, 2024

Louisville Slugger Warriors, a team of wounded veterans, poses with the Sin City All-Stars, a team of local Vegas celebrities and former MLB players at the 2024 World Championships.

By Donna McGuire
Softball News Report

Towering home runs, scorched line drives, and athletic double plays dazzled fans who watched a hotly contested Sin City All-Stars vs Louisville Slugger Warriors game during the Senior Softball-USA World Championships in Las Vegas.

The Honor Guard from North Las Vegas' Rancho High School performed in the opening ceremony of the 2024 Celebrity Game vs. Warriors Game.

The two teams combined for 58 hits, including 24 home runs, during an extra-inning battle won 29-27 by the All-Star squad Sept. 14 at Big League Dreams softball complex. 

The Warriors — a team of military veterans, active service personnel and former collegiate baseball player amputees — travel the country playing ball. They have played for years at SSUSA events, including the Tournament of Champions. Some of their players lost limbs while serving their country, but they have adapted so well with prosthetics that they play lights out.

The Louisville Slugger Warriors won last year's inaugural Celebrity Game, 22-11 over the 2023 All-Star team.

“None of us like to lose,” said pitcher Leonard Anderson, a retired U.S. Air Force veteran from Texas who used a specially adapted lacrosse stick head attached to his left arm in place of a glove. “We will not take a play off.”

Neither team could pull away from the other in this second-annual affair. The score was tied 5-5 after two innings, 12-12 after four innings and 27-27 after seven innings. Even the final out came on a hard-hit ball.

Justin Jones, currently a volunteer assistant coach to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' baseball team, is also a former MLB player with the Oakland Athletics.

Afterward, the two teams gathered for handshake, photographs and awards.

“First and foremost, it is an honor for all of us to get to play against you guys…to share a field with you, to be competitive with you,” Sean Farnham, an ESPN analyst who played basketball for the UCLA Bruins, told the Warriors after the game. “You are true heroes.”

Former Major Leaguers Jose Canseco and twin brother Ozzie Canseco headlined the celebrity team. Their teammates included All-American softball pitcher Amie Stewart, former NBA player Evric Gray, and several former collegiate baseball players.