BOSTON -- Before the Mariners and Red Sox continued their three-game series on Saturday night, Fenway Park played host to the team championships of the Scotts Pitch, Hit and Run competition.u1:p
More than 650,000 children from ages 7 to 14 participated nationally in the competition, with Saturday's competition at Fenway featuring 12 baseball and 12 softball qualifiers from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. u1:p
In the pitching portion of the competition, competitors were tested on their accuracy by throwing six pitches at a designated strike-zone target from a distance determined by sport and age. u1:p
Contestants then moved to the hitting portion of the program, where they batted three balls off of a tee, with scoring determined by the distance and accuracy. u1:p
Lastly, contestants were timed in the running portion of the competition over a distance of 120 feet, starting from second base, rounding third and finishing at home. u1:p
Saturday's participants earned the honor of participating at Fenway Park by winning competitions in their local areas and then a sectional competition.u1:p
The winners of each division were determined by the total score of the three events, with those tallies being measured against competitors from the 29 other teams who hosted the event, with the top three overall scorers in each division earning a trip to the National Finals during the 2018 MLB All-Star Weekend in Washington, D.C. u1:p
Warwick, R.I., had a trio of divisional winners on the day, including Ken George (7- and 8-year-old baseball), Matt Wellington (9- and 10-year-old baseball) and Dylan Roberts (11- and 12-year-old baseball). u1:p
Isabella Sousa (7- and 8-year-old softball) of Cranston, and Jacob Cookinham (13- and 14-year-old baseball) of Tiverton gave Rhode Island two additional winners. u1:p
Massachusetts natives Samantha Barton (9- and 10-year-old softball) of Reading, Catherine Seay (11- and 12-year-old softball) of Marlborough and Eliana Raposo (13- and 14-year-old softball) of Dighton rounded out the list of winners, who were all honored on the field in a pregame ceremony before Saturday night's game.