McFarland: Dawgs pitcher Forno gets dirty as pinch runner in WCBL All-Star Game
Okotoks Dawgs pitcher Brody Forno (Calgary, Alta.) got to pinch-run in the Western Canadian Baseball League All-Star Game on July 19 at Seaman Stadium. Photo: Angela Burger
*This article was originally published on Alberta Dugout Stories on July 25, 2025. You can read it here.
July 29, 2025
By Joe McFarland
Alberta Dugout Stories
You weren’t going to wipe the smile off Brody Forno’s face after the Western Canadian Baseball League’s All-Star Game.
It also wasn’t going to wipe clean his jersey after a head-first slide into home to score the West Division’s final run in a 10-3 loss to the East Division at a rain-drenched Seaman Stadium in Okotoks.
Despite the loss and the rainout after six innings, the hometown Dawgs’ hurler was all smiles right before helping roll out the infield tarp in the downpour.
After all, he got to step onto the field for the star-studded affair, although it wasn’t to be a pitcher like you would expect.
The righthander donned baserunning gloves and a batting helmet as a pinch-runner.
“I’m grateful for any moment I get to go on the baseball field,” Forno told Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast.
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Listen to Alberta Dugout Stories interview Brody Forno here.
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“Whether it’s just a practice, batting practice, a normal game, regular season, playoff game, all-star game, it’s always a treat to get out here. It’s just awesome.”
It became yet another memorable moment for the veteran righthander, who essentially grew up at the southwestern Alberta ballpark.
ALL IN THE FAMILY
Forno’s father, Pablo, grew up in Plano, Texas before moving to Calgary when he was 18 for better opportunities.
One of those was joining the Calgary Dawgs when they first arrived at Foothills Stadium, then began working with a Grand Slam Sports outlet.
A few years later, Pablo and his family followed the Dawgs to Okotoks in 2006 and haven’t looked back.
Brody is a Dawgs Academy alum who has had successful collegiate stops with Williston State College and, most recently, Campbellsville University, where he’s now a junior.
This is now his fifth season with the summer college Dawgs, posting a record of 11-2 with a 3.68 earned run average in 76 career games, and three WCBL championship rings.
Each of them has been won at Seaman Stadium, the setting for the 2025 WCBL All-Star Game.
JUST PLAYING AROUND
The idea of coming into the All-Star Game as a pinch-runner started earlier in the season.
Forno says he was in the outfield shagging fly balls in his bare feet during batting practice when he was approached by Dawgs co-head coach Mitch “Big Bear” Schmidt.
“He comes up to me one day and says, ‘You’re kind of fast, aren’t you?’” the righthander recalled. “I was like, ‘Yeah, I could say I can run a little bit.’”
Forno says Schmidt then asked if he would be game to run in the all-star game, to which he responded, “Sounds like a blast.”
With his West Division down 10-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning and the rain pouring down, Forno got his chance.
JUMP UP AND GET DOWN
Coming in for Dawgs teammate Barry Eiseman after he slapped a base hit into left-centre field, Forno says he wanted to get his money’s worth.
“I was thinking about it all day,” Forno laughed. “I was telling every single guy on the West Division team that I was swiping a bag today and they’re like, ‘Aren’t you a pitcher?’”
With Home Run Derby champion Matt Rhoades of the Fort McMurray Giants at the plate, Forno took a sizable lead off from first.
“I get out there and I was thinking to myself, ‘Don’t get picked off,’” he said. “Coach Petey (Andy Peterson of the Dawgs) was whispering in my ear, ‘You better go, you better steal,’ and then the pitcher slide-steps first pitch and I’m like, ‘I can’t, I’m going to get thrown out here.’”
Forno then took off for second when Medicine Hat’s Xander Roberts uncorked a wild pitch to Rhoades, who later walked in the at-bat.
Forno took several steps off the bag at second, hoping to distract the East Division pitcher, who was facing Elijah Olaybol.
The Fort McMurray outfielder turned on a 2-0 offering from Roberts and dropped it into right field.
Forno was off to the races.
“Base hit … I was going,” said the Williston State College and Oklahoma Wesleyan University alum. “I was blowing through the stop sign all the way and sliding into home.”
While the throw into home was cut off, the pitcher-turned-baserunner still slid into home before pumping up the hometown crowd in scoring the final run of the rain-shortened contest.
“I haven’t been dirty in six years,” Forno continued. “It was pretty fun sliding headfirst into home plate for a run.”
Okotoks Dawgs pitcher Brody Forno (Calgary, Alta.) shows off his dirty jersey after his head-first slide into home plate at the Western Canadian Baseball League All-Star Game on July 19. Photo: Angela Burger
He also didn’t have to worry too much about his white Dawgs uniform jersey getting covered in mud, as he said a few teammates were in charge of laundry the next day.
CREATING MORE MEMORIES
As he and his single-day teammates dried off and got ready to head back to their respective homes, Forno was grateful for the opportunity to once again represent Okotoks and the Dawgs.
“This place means everything,” he said of the organization. “Everyone around me and has that ‘Forno” last name has been so close with the Dawgs over the years, it’s just so awesome … it feels like one big family.”
Before he returns to Campbellsville University for his senior season, Forno still has a playoff run to go on with the Dawgs.
To say he’s excited for the postseason and the chance to four-peat would be an understatement, judging by the smile on his face just talking about it.
“Playoff baseball is just honestly the best,” Forno says. “Everyone’s more locked in, more competitive and it’s a better atmosphere for sure.”
Just more memories for a young man intent on taking advantage of every opportunity that baseball throws his way.
A special shout-out to Angela Burger of the Okotoks Dawgs for letting us use her fantastic photos of Forno on the basepaths.