Rain steers clear of youth competition

Just as Todd Biggs was tabulating the results of the Pitch, Hit & Run competition Saturday at JayCee Ballpark, a thunderstorm rolled through the area pelting the field with pea-sized hail.

No one was more thankful than Biggs.

Not for the rain, but for the fact that with a limited amount of participants, the annual competition, in conjuction with Major League Baseball, was able to go off with no weather interruptions.

“I did not know if we would get it in at all because we saw a bolt of lightning right before the pitching part started but, luckily that storm moved past us,” Biggs said. “I think we had about three storms move past us since we have been here but it was a beautiful day.”

Biggs said that he was expecting a larger turnout.

“I wish we had half the number of people out here that called me about it this week,” Biggs said. “But it was nice and, actually, the scores from the winners today were higher than last year’s numbers.”

Youth compete in different age groups and in three different categories — pitching for accuracy, hitting for distance and running for time.

Each individual and all-around champion will move on to a sectional competition and the winners there will go to Kansas City to compete at Kauffman Stadium.

From there, they have the potential to travel to the Pitch Hit & Run National Finals at Yankee Stadium during the 2008 All-Star Game.

“You have to meet a point criteria and they are compared to the other major league team competitors,” Biggs said. “It would be great for one of these kids to go and represent Pittsburg.”

Biggs said that each of the competitors get more out of the event than just a ribbon.

“They get enthusiam out of it and confidence,” Biggs said. “They also get the knowledge of the sport. Baseball is the greatest game in the world and we are doing our little part here to build as much enthusiam and confidence as we can and I do believe with as much hard-core competition as there is out there, and don’t get me wrong, competition is great, there is a of that ‘I am not good enough to compete’ out there.

“What we try to do is let these kids know that if we don’t build up the talent across the community, we are going to miss a lot of good ballplayers.”

Despite the threat of rain and thunderstorms, fun was also on the menu for Saturday.

“These kids that were here did not care that there were not a lot of competitors here,” Biggs said. “The bottom line was that they were having a blast and they were out doing something.”

Matthew Clark can be reached at matthew.clark@morningsun.net or at 620-231-2600, Ext. 140.