Youths compete on first day of All-Star Week

CLEVELAND -- If Saturday was any indication of what’s to come in Monday’s T-Mobile Home Run Derby, hometown representative Carlos Santana may have fate in his corner.

The first competitions of the 2019 All-Star Week took place at Progressive Field on Saturday morning, beginning with the fourth annual MLB Jr. Home Run Derby National Finals, which ended in a Cleveland sweep.

Twenty young sluggers who have defeated countless opponents from over 1,800 local competitions across the United States and Canada arrived at the ballpark bright and early, ready to flex their muscles. Ten boys competed in the 12-and-under age group, while the other 10 battled in the 14u division. Each contestant had 18 live pitches to take as many balls out of the 200-foot park as they could. And the two left standing -- one from each division -- were the two hometown heroes.

While they weren’t specifically from Cleveland, Ohio, Ryker Parker of Charleston, W.Va. (12u) and London Perry of Holidaysburg, Penn. (14u) had each won the Cleveland Region Jr. Home Run Derby to advance to the finals.

“It means a lot,” Parker said when asked what it was like being the hometown representative. “It really does.”

“They advanced from the 1,800 local events to 10 regional events across the entire country,” Jr. Home Run Derby and Pitch, Hit & Run representative Matt Engleka said. “And the winner from those regional events made it here for the national finals for a wonderful experience today.”

Parker hit the most home runs in the first round, blasting eight pitches over the wall before hitting nine more in the finals. While Parker held the lead of his age group the entire morning, Perry was in second place after the first time through the order, hitting 10 homers. In the finals against Logan Wirt of Orlando, Fla., Perry forced a five-pitch hit-off by tying Wirt with his third-to-last swing. Wirt put up two long balls, but Perry was able to best him on the fourth pitch of sudden death.

“I was excited, and I was nervous,” Perry said. “But I was mostly excited because I’m at an MLB park hitting home runs.”

After the boys finished swinging for the fences, the next 24 participants competed in the MLB Pitch, Hit & Run Finals. The top three baseball and softball participants from four age divisions (7-8, 9-10, 11-12 and 13-14) showcased their skills, throwing from a shortened mound into a net, hitting for distance off tees and sprinting from second base to home plate.

“There’s a lot of practice that goes into it,” said Emma Bolding, winner of the 13-14 year-old softball division. “It’s definitely not just coming here, obviously. And I’ve done this for a while, too, so over the years, I kind of go along with it from experience.”

Just like the Jr. Home Run Derby contestants, the Pitch, Hit & Run finalists must advance through local and regional competitions to reach the big stage during the weekend of the All-Star Game. This year, more than 4,200 competitions were held in both the softball and baseball sectors, and each of the 30 Major League ballparks hosted team championships from late May through early June.

“It starts off with a lot of hard work,” said Sylas Boris, winner of the 13-14 baseball division. “It’s really fun going through each stage. Just got to go take it one by one.”

Joining Bolding and Boris in Saturday’s winners’ circle was Aurora Cobb (7-8 softball), Samantha Barton (9-10 softball), Mariah Harrison (11-12 softball), Charlie Compher (7-8 baseball), August Backman (9-10 baseball) and Brady Blanks (11-12 baseball). Each of them was named champions in front of their friends in family at Progressive Field.

“It’s unbelievable,” Engleka said. “We’ve had the opportunity to bring these kids out where their idols are gonna be standing in a couple days. And the fact that they’re here today and dug in at home plate just like their idols do, it’s an unbelievable experience for these kids and their parents as well.”