Madison Academy fifth grade baseball players make Perfect Game national tournaments

MADISON – Major League Baseball’s World Series ends the 2025 season for the professional ranks of baseball and two upcoming Perfect Game national tournaments will also end the seasons for two Madison Academy fifth grade travel baseball student-athletes.

Joshua Sumner and Will Clark have each been selected to play in season-ending competitions with Sumner headed to play in Houston, Texas for the Perfect Game National All-State Championships while Clark will play in the American All-State Championships scheduled to be held in Marietta Ga.

Clark plays catcher for the Alabama Bandits 11U travel team while Sumner splits his time as a pitcher and centerfielder for the Alabama Prospects 11U travel squad. Each attended Perfect Game All-State Games back in August and earned their spots on the national level competition as this is the third year in a row for Sumner to be selected while Clark is in his second effort at this level.

“This will be great as I get the chance to play with the best players in big tournaments as my Bandits’ coach, Andrew Myrick, will be our coach in Georgia,” said Clark, son of Jordan and Lauren Clark, who is a straight ‘A’ student and member of the National Honor Society.

Sumner, also a straight ‘A’ student and son of Jonathan and Barbie Sumner, will use what he said, “My cannon for an arm and I’m fast and known to make plays in the outfield by diving to make a catch as I’m willing to risk my body to make a play.”

Each player on the team’s 15-player roster will receive Perfect Game athletic gear with their name on some pieces of the gift bag they will receive for being selected to the big tournaments. Sumner and his mother will fly out to Houston for his National tournament Nov. 7-9 at Daily Park. Clark and his family will make the four-hour trek to the Atlanta area at the East Cobb Complex for his action set for Nov. 14-16.

The two Madison Academy schoolmates actually once played on the same travel team, but went their separate ways and now only see one another when their two respective teams face head-to-head, which this year Sumner’s squad got the best of Clark’s team. In 2025, Sumner batted .533 and was named All-Tournament in six tournaments for his batting and three All-Tournament selections for his pitching. Clark was named to eight All-Tournament selections at catcher while he batted .418.

Clark has grown in his talents as a catcher as he said he frames in his area of play, is very vocal for his team and is very efficient at making blocks behind the plate. He said he’s working on his arm strength and added, “At bat, I attack the first pitch if it’s there. I try and get ahead on the count and hit a lot of line drives. I wear gold batting gloves on both hands and my teammates call me ‘Willie Gold Hands’ because of my love for the gloves.”

“I throw mostly fastballs with a few curve balls on the mound and have a heck of a pickoff move,” said the left handed throwing and batting 5-foot-5, 100-pound Sumner. “I’m not a power hitter, but I pull the ball a lot at the plate.”

For Clark, who stands 5-foot and weighs in a whopping 110 pounds and is a righty at pitching and batting, he began baseball in recreational leagues before escalating quickly to move to travel ball. He and his neighborhood buddies have been known to play Wiffleball games at all hours of the day. “My coach asked me to try playing catcher. I love it as I get to be in the moment on every pitch,” said Clark.

Sumner seemed to have a natural gift at playing baseball at a young age as early as two years old as his parents would toss a ball to him and his eye-hand coordination was outstanding. He plays football and basketball and once played soccer, but its baseball that he seems to gravitate to for his love of sports. “In baseball, you get highs and lows in many different ways and I get to play with my friends,” he added. “I played first base when I was younger and my coach soon asked me to move to centerfield, but I do like pitching.”

The fifth-year National Championships in Houston will include 24 states/regions and will feature a team as far away as Puerto Rico. The American Championships in the Peach State is the first of its kind and will be composed of teams which were hand-picked by Perfect Game directors to represent their regions. For Sumner and Clark, many times they were fierce competitors against one another, can now richly cheer for each another as dear, longtime friends and classmates both with the love for baseball.