Meridian boy wins HR derby
CENTER TWP — Garett Goslaw remembered last year's Butler County Home Run Derby well.
Not that he cared to. The Meridian Little Leaguer hit one home run as an 11-year-old entrant in 2008.
"I was nervous," Goslaw admitted. "I wasn't very patient and swung at a lot of bad pitches.
"Still, it was fun. That's why I wanted to come back."
Goslaw came back with a vengeance Thursday night at Moose Field in Center Township, hammering 15 home runs to win the fifth annual event.
"I swung at better pitches this time," he said.
Goslaw hit 11 homers in the first two rounds of the event, reaching the final round with Saxonburg's Troy Hixon, who hit 10 homers in the first two sessions.
Each batter gets 10 outs — any swing not resulting in a home run — per round.
Hixon hit two home runs in the final round. Goslaw followed with four and took home two trophies. One was for being the overall winner, the other for hitting the most homers in the Derby.
Hixon wound up hitting 12 homers.
"My arms were getting tired during that last round," Hixon said. "We were taking a lot of swings."
Hixon didn't compete in last year's Derby.
"They invited me to come out this year, so I said yes," he said. "It's different. It's harder than it looks (trying to homer on every pitch)."
Goslaw hit seven home runs during the Little League regular season and tournament play. Hixon hit six.
Brandon Spinneweber of Butler Township led all 18 participants with six home runs in the first round, but managed only two in the second round. Also reaching the second round were three Zelienople hitters: Vince Augustine, Tyler Hudanick and Richard Buletko.
Jay Fennell of Nothing But Baseball organizes and runs the derby every year.
"I got about 20 calls this year from people asking me when the Home Run Derby was going to be," Fennell said. "I call around to all of the leagues in the county to get their best hitters.
"It's tough finding a date when everyone can make it. Once we got rained out, two kids from Cranberry and one from Slippery Rock couldn't make it tonight."
The Derby was scheduled for last Monday, but it had to be postponed.
Other participants Thursday included 11-year-olds Lane Palmer of Zelienople and Drake Zappa of Evans City, along with 12-year-olds Johnny Brittner of Zelienople; Jeremy Moorehead of East Butler; D.J. Perez of Butler Township; Corey Godlewski, Mitchell Bachman and Hyte Urich of Saxonburg; Mason DeHart of Evans City; Tyler Atkinson and Logan Ruggles of East Butler and Nick Reamer of Butler Township.
The 18 participants combined to hit 158 home runs during the season. Reamer led all entrants with 14.
