Courage Kenny Minnesota Rolling Twins take 2026 USA Wheelchair Softball World Series Championship Division title
After 29 years, countless surgeries, a handful of just-out-of-reach title chances, an eight-year retirement and an unretirement, Jeff Gustafson finally got to hold a USA Wheelchair Softball World Series championship trophy.
Go figure it was his daughter, Emilee Gustafson, who recorded the final out to help the No. 3-seeded Rolling Twins finish off a 12-6 Championship Division bracket title game win over the No. 2-seeded Lincolnway Special Recreation Association (LWSRA) Hawks on Saturday afternoon at First Interstate SportsPlex in Valley, Neb.
With two outs in the top of the seventh inning, LWSRA’s Devin Lockett hit a bouncing ground ball to second baseman Emilee Gustafson in between first and second base. She fielded it on a hop near second and threw it over to first base to make the third and final out.
Her dad was the first to embrace her, as he zoomed over from shortstop and they looked at each other for a moment before sharing a long hug. Soon after, other Rolling Twins wheeled over to make it a group hug.
“As soon as I saw her bend down to grab it, I knew where it was going. She wasn’t going to miss it. So, yeah, I can’t even. It’s incredible to be on the field with your daughter,” Jeff Gustafson says. “You know, it’s like you try to get here for your entire career. And then it happens when your daughter’s your teammate. I mean, it’s like it doesn’t get any better, you know?”
For the Gutafsons and other Courage Kenny Minnesota Rolling Twins players, it sure doesn’t.
It marked Courage Kenny’s second title in three years and the team’s fifth championship overall. Each of the past two Rolling Twins titles have come in Nebraska on the Barons’ home field.
Jeff Gustafson, 55, thought he might be done with wheelchair softball. He retired in 2017 because of health issues and to spend more time with family before his brother-in-law, Scott Rickford, convinced him to give wheelchair softball another chance in 2025 and join him on the Rolling Twins.
Then, Emilee Gustafson, who finally got to play with him at the National Wheelchair Basketball Association Adult Division Tournament a couple of years prior, wanted to play with them, too. They tried last year, but the 2025 USA women’s national wheelchair basketball team member was too busy with that to join him for major tournaments. But this year, the 25-year-old was named as an alternate on Team USA’s women’s wheelchair basketball team — which allowed her the chance to play wheelchair softball with her dad.
Both Big Lake, Minn., residents have hereditary spastic paraplegia, a group of rare inherited disorders that cause weakness and stiffness in the legs.
“Oh my gosh, I can’t even put words to it. I can’t even wrap my head around it. This is just so exciting and so surreal,” Emilee Gustafson says. “Playing on another team with my dad, that’s just, that’s the best. That’s as good as it is. Even if we lost, I don’t care. I’m out here with him.”
The Rolling Twins had a couple of slow starts in the tournament. It looked like that’d happen again, as they faced a 2-0 deficit after the first inning and a half. But in the bottom of the second inning, Courage Kenny’s offense erupted.
The Rolling Twins batted around the order once and scored eight times in the bottom half of the inning to take an 8-2 lead after two innings. After Brian Chavez opened the inning with a single, Erik Mossberg scored him on an RBI single. Four batters later, pinch-hitter Kurt Greniger recorded an RBI walk to tie the game at 2-2, and Jayson Gorton hit a two-RBI single over the Hawks’ left fielder in shallow left field for a 4-2 lead.
Two batters later, with the bases loaded and two outs, Jeff Gustafson reached base on an error and two runs scored. Then, Chavez added a two-RBI double to center field to give the team the six-run advantage.
That was enough.
LWSRA cut the deficit to 10-5 in the bottom of the fifth, as Leo Onuki and Daniel Palmer each hit RBI singles and another run scored on an error, but the Hawks’ inning ended on first base-to-third-base double-play.
Courage Kenny’s Troy Beckford added an RBI forceout in the bottom of the fifth, and Chavez had an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth, while Onuki also added a solo home run in the top of the seventh for LWSRA. Alex Parra (RBI single) and J.R. Boyer (RBI bunt groundout) also contributed for the Hawks.
LWSRA reached its second straight title game, as the Hawks outlasted the No. 5-seeded Columbus Pioneers, 16-10, in the morning’s Championship Division consolation game final to advance to the championship game.
The Rolling Twins’ Jeff Yackley, who has permanent left foot drop from a 1996 motorcycle accident in Frankfort, Ill., changed teams from LWSRA to Courage Kenny this season. He usually pitches, but played catcher for the first time in a game on Saturday while Gorton pitched. He says the Rolling Twins didn’t panic, and that helped.
“The sport is based off of panic. That’s how teams lose games. We stay calm, we stay cool,” Yackley says.
Wheelchair Cubs Take Division II
The No. 9-seeded Chicago Wheelchair Cubs hung on for a 5-3 Division II victory over the No. 8-seeded Deep South Hurricanes out of Mississippi on Saturday afternoon.
Cubs player and 35-year-old Dashay Torry, who sustained level T9 and T11 spinal cord injuries (SCI) in 2012 from a gunshot wound in Chicago, has played the sport since 2014. He was happy his team won a title.
“We stayed aggressive, communicated with each other and didn’t give up,” Torry says.
Giants Nab Division III Title
The No. 12-seeded Wheelchair Giants held on for the Division III championship, as they defeated the No. 6-seeded Ability360 Arizona Diamondbacks, 5-3, on Saturday morning.
Wheelchair Giants pitcher Dewayne Jackson says they had great teamwork and listened to their coach. A 49-year-old Stockton, Calif., resident, Jackson sustained a level L1-L2 SCI from a gunshot wound in 2000. He started playing wheelchair softball for the team, based out of Sacramento, Calif., about six years ago.
“I mean, we had a lot of struggles coming to this point, and it’s good to finish strong,” Jackson says. “Everything was good — the communication, the getting over bad plays and picking people up when they’re down. Let them know, you know, our motto was ‘next play.’ We don’t gripe over this. You make a mistake — ‘next play.’ You throw a bad ball, ‘next play.’ You can’t stick and be sad in that moment. Just keep going, keep going.”